Removing the oil pan provides a spectacular view of the carnage. There are palm-sized pieces of the piston and connecting rod in there, in addition to lots of finer pieces of metal. We ultimately ...

The piston is basically a round thing on a stick (called a connecting rod) that travels in a close-fitting, round cylinder. When the piston moves all the way up in the cylinder (which mechanics ...

The cavities you see here are designed to fit the pistons and connecting rods. Here, the gas ignites and pushes the two components up and down. This causes the connecting rods to spin the ...