Reducing friction losses in automobile engines

Improvement of the fuel economy of automobiles is gaining increasing importance today. The problem has been addressed by many automobile manufacturers and considerable progress has been made by reducing, for example, weight of the vehicle, friction losses in the engine, aerodynamic drag on the body and rolling resistance at the tyre/road interface. This paper presents some experimental results on friction losses in engines, and discusses possible ways of improving fuel economy by their reduction. Most data were obtained from engines for Subaru cars by the motoring method; care was taken to maintain the temperature of sliding parts and lubricating oil constant at the predetermined levels.