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.