Engine name

why the engines are named as 1.2 L (for entry level hatchs)

is there any specific reason ?

and what exactly does 1.2 L mean ?

Engines are not named "1.2L", rather it shows the capacity of the engine (and also doubles up as a marketing tool). A 1.2L engine means that the engine has a total cylinder capacity of 1.2 litres or 1200 cc - in practice due to excise regulations a 1.2L engine will usually have the actual capacity slightly less than 1200 cc (for example, 1198 cc which when converted to litres and rounded off become 1.2L). Why slightly less than 1200cc - that's because excise rules are strange and based upon engine capacity. For example if cc is less than 800 the excise is least - from 800 to less than 1000 a greater amount and from 1000 to less than 1100 another, from 1100 to less than 1200 another amount, and from 1200 and up an even higher amount. Now if an engine has 1198 cc, it is almost 1200cc but from excise point of view it falls in the 1001 to less than 1200 bracket thereby avoiding the greater excise that 1200+ has.

 To summarise,

< 800 - least excise

800 to < 1000 - more

1000 to < 1100 - still more

1100 to < 1200 - even higher

...and so on

Looking at the above the ubiquitous maruti 800 or alto both have a 798cc engine (which is almost 800). The old santro has a 998cc engine (nearly 1000cc but less than the excise limit). The 1.1L santro xing has 1086cc capacity - again nearly 1.1L but less than the excise limit, and so on...

well this is the new information.thanx rohit

i was thinking its related to power of the engine.something like power is directly proprtional to stroke length and area of the cylinder which ultimately can be taken as volume in CC .

i dint know that engines are specified with CC for excise obligation.

Well, excise regulations are based on CC rather than power since CC is a constant depending on the cylinder dimensions. However for the same CC we can have two engines with different power output - for example, turbo-charged or super-charged engines. In these the cylinder size does not change but the amount of air pumped in is increased by way of compressing air. This means that compared to a naturally aspirated engine the turbo/supercharged engine will have more air in its cylinder (for the same volume) due to the compression of air and thus will give more power per ignition stroke.

Power is dependent on CC but not only on CC: CC is only one of many other factors influencing it (as in the above example). CC gives only the engine's total physical volume (i.e., capacity) in which the air-fuel mix will be burnt.

CC (in cm³) = no. of cyl. * stroke * bore² * PI/4 (for a 4 cyl. engine, it simplifies to stroke * bore² * PI), all dimensions in cm.

In fact there are engines of the same CC and all naturally aspirated, but with different power outputs due to differences in technological era: If you see, the old Premier Padmini's engine is also 1000cc - compare it to any modern day 1000cc car (for example, the old Santro) and you will know what I am talking of. The older engines have less power output for the same CC.

means turbocharging and supercharging greatly reduces the CC(engine size) or produces higher power with same CC.more air/more fuel can be burnt to make the air fuel ratio apropriate.

i think the basic query is already answered...why CC??

now the safari dicor earlier it was 3.0.now 2.2 but seems to be better in performance and power..is that also done via supercharging or t/c? or is it done via other factors related power i.e rpm of the engine?

rohit can you comment on that?

With the poor efficiency of the internal combustion engine, the easiest way to increase power would be increase engine capacity(CC)-this approach though cheaper to the manufacturer would be hard on the environment and natural resources.

Turbo charging and supercharging does increase the efficiency of the engine and is hence better overall on.

The 2.2 TATA engine is in so many ways better than the 3.0 unit and that has more to do with turbo charging and other added tech updates.

anand g

chances of crack due to non changing of oil is a rare possiblilty.if no oil the result will not be limited to just a crack.it will definitely lead to complete seizure of moving parts.

in your case you said the d'carbonisation was carried out the previous day.may be the tightening was not as per specification.head bolts/nuts are tightened as per some design torque ,if that is not followed the stresses may lead to crack.

hope there was nothing wrong with your engine cooling system too.