| Preface
Eversince
the World saw the first single-cylinder petrol engine driven Car, a ‘Carburettor’
became synonymous with it. Later on with the advent of multi-cylinder
Engines, so did the ‘Distributor’ or ‘Delco’s.
 During
the last Century, both evolved considerably – till the ‘Euro-II’
like Pollution Norms got the better of them. For, the Carbs worked on
a fundamental principle of ‘reaction’, which could easily
get stifled for so many reasons. Whereas man, as always, wanted to be
literally in the Driver’s Seat – all the way along.
And thus, as the cliché of necessity being the mother of invention
goes, a System of ‘controlled-feeding’ of Fuel + Air + Ignition
Spark to the ICE Cylinders in the early ‘80s evolved. A ‘system’
like that had to be based on its ‘needs of the moment’, such
as the load on it, engine rpm/road speed etc.
Such a ‘system’
had to ensure that the ‘ob-Nox-ious’ Pollutants were kept
to a bare minimum all over it’s operating range – not to mention
squeezing the maximum ‘mileage’ out of the last drop of fuel
that went into it. Thus ‘fuel-injection’ systems were born
– replacing nearly a century old Carburettors.
 It
all started with ‘Single-point’ Fuel Injection Systems –
virtually an electronic replica of the Carbs of yore but soon led to ‘multi-point’
Fuel Injection Systems – some what akin to the’ Multi-Carb’
high performance Cars of the past.
So much so that the Opel Astra when first launched in India in the mid-‘90s
had ‘spi’ – which was well neigh obsolete in Europe
by then – like most MNC technologies off-loaded on the ‘natives’
elsewhere in the third world.
The present
series of a 4-part Article is an attempt to familiarise the average ‘EU-II’
Car Owners as to what actually lies beneath their Bonnets and the do’s
and dont’s that go with the so-called ‘new technology’
– ignoring which can cost one dearly – if not already!
In Part-1,
we’ll deal with the basics of Mpfi Systems. In Part-2, we’ll
talk about the do’s and dont’s relating to Mpfi Cars. In Part-3,
for the more curious ones, we’ll see how the stuff works and in
Part-4 – we’ll explore the commonly encountered problems and
DIY-Trouble Shooting. |
