Free-piston engine: GM ran one on whale oil in 1956, and Toyota wants it back
Free-piston engine: Pescara patented it, GM ran the 1956 XP-500 on it, even on whale oil, and Toyota built a 42% efficient one for EVs.
Engine
Rotary valve engines: the F1 V10 that Penske’s engine shop built and the FIA banned
Rotary valve engines: in 2004 the FIA banned a V10 head built with Ilmor, the shop Penske funded. A century of oil-soaked plugs and one Spanish win.
OVAL PISTONS
Honda did it, Ferrari just patented it Quick question for you. Sit down with a coffee. Picture a three-litre, six-cylinder inline, non-circular pistons in oval form, eight valves per cylinder, two spark plugs per cylinder, two connecting rods per piston, redline at 15,000 rpm. Why does that engine not exist in any car anywhere on … Read more
MOTOR OIL
Motor Oil: What Your Mechanic Isn’t Telling You (And What’s at Stake If You Choose Wrong) Your engine has blood. It’s called oil. And most drivers have absolutely no idea what’s flowing through their engine, why it matters, or how much money they’re throwing away by ignoring it. Let’s fix that today. Because no, not … Read more
PCV VALVE
The PCV Valve: The €80 Part That Kills €10,000 Engines Some car components have the decency to warn you before they fail like EGR, DPF or the Dual Mass Flywheel. They make noise, throw a warning light, lose power in ways you can actually feel. Then there’s the PCV valve. A component that costs between … Read more
DPF
The Diesel Particulate Filter: Ecology by Design, Breakdown by Default They sold it to you as an ecological breakthrough. A filter that traps harmful particles from your diesel exhaust and makes the world a cleaner place. Sounds good. Sounds responsible. Sounds like progress. Until it breaks. Until they tell you it costs two thousand euros. … Read more
DOWNSIZING
Downsizing: The Big Lie That Is Killing the Real Automobile When politics decides what engine you can have There was a time when engineers designed engines with performance, durability, and driving experience in mind. That time is dead. Brussels killed it. The obsession with figures on paper that don’t reflect reality killed it. Downsizing killed … Read more
EGR, the F***ing Valve: How “Clean Diesel” Learned to Choke Itself
EGR valve explained: why it clogs, the 6.0 Power Stroke’s EGR coolers, how dieselgate rigged EGR on 11 million cars, and why Spain fails deleted cars at inspection.
Diesel Exhaust Fluid: How DEF Turned Bulletproof Diesels Into Rolling Error Codes
Diesel exhaust fluid: how SCR works, what breaks, why US trucks derate and European cars refuse to restart, and what the EPA’s August 2025 guidance changed.
5-CYLINDER
The 5-Cylinder Engine: The Configuration That Should Never Have Worked… But Sounds Like Glory Some engines are born from pure logic. Four cylinders: compact, cheap, gets the job done. Six cylinders: balanced, smooth, refined. Eight cylinders: because America needed something that made traffic lights tremble. And then there’s the five-cylinder. The engine that makes no … Read more