When car ads say the car is a V-4,etc, are they talking about the # of valves or cylinder placement shape?

Question

if they are talking about valve numbers, are they talking about export port valves as well as import valves? if talking about the way the cylinders are placed (i.e. inline, V, opposite) is the number the number of cylinders?

Answer 1

A V-4 has to do with cylinder placement shape, like with V-6, V8, V-10, V-12, etc. There's also I for Inline, F for Flat (Subarus and Porsches), B for Boxer (Porsches again), R for Rotary (Mazda and NSU), and W for W-Shaped (Two V's; Volkswagen and Audi). The main producer of V-4 engines I can remember is Saab, which used them in the late 1960s and the 1970s, even in the name of their cars (i.e. Saab Sonnett III V-4).

If it were valves, it would be reversed. My Geo Tracker has the optional 16-Valve I-4 engine, so it's labeled as "Geo Tracker 2-Door Softop 16V." Volkswagen does this, too, like with their "Volkswagen Golf GTI 16V," for a 16-Valve engine on the 4-Cylinder Golf GTI. I've never heard of a car with only 4 valves. Considering each cylinder need two valves (intake and exhaust), it would have to be a two cylinder engine, leaving motorcycles, snowmobiles, and quadrunners, not cars.

I hope this has answered your question. If you have any more, please feel free to ask.

Answer 2

V-4 means 4 cylinders, not the number of valves. You will see how many valves there are just by looking at the engine (most of the time). For a 4 cylinder car you will most likely have 16 valves, 4 valves per cylinder. And when you see 4 valves for each cylinder, it's either 2 intake valves and 2 exhaust valves, or 3 intakes and 1 exhaust.

Answer 3

A V-4 is a 4 cylinder engine arranged in a V - 2 either side. Look for pics of Honda VFR engines.