What does L4 engine mean?
1 Answers
L4 refers to a conventional inline 4-cylinder engine. The vast majority of small-displacement vehicles are equipped with L4 engines, and such cars are the most common, such as Jetta, Santana, Besturn, etc. The inline four-cylinder engine is not a balanced structure. Although the imbalance is minimal in low-displacement and low-power configurations, vibrations increase as the engine size and power grow. Most inline four-cylinder engines with displacements below 2 liters rely on their built-in damping effects to reduce vibrations. Today, most engines with displacements above 2 liters use balance shafts. A four-cylinder engine requires two balance shafts to reduce its vibrations, operating at twice the frequency of the crankshaft. Despite this, there are still several large inline four-cylinder engines that do not use balance shafts. The smallest inline four-cylinder engine was the 1961 Mazda P360 Carol kei car, with a displacement of just 358cc. The Mazda OHV engine was quite ordinary except for its overhead valves. However, most inline four-cylinder engines have displacements above 1 liter. There are also mass-produced cars that reach the upper limit of 2.5 liters. Larger engines (up to 4.3 liters) can be found in racing and light truck engines, especially diesel-powered ones. The Porsche 3.0L (2990cc) inline four-cylinder engine in the Porsche 968 is a well-known example that uses balance shafts. The largest non-diesel inline four-cylinder engine was the 1953.2L (3188cc) engine fitted in the 1961 Pontiac Tempest.
