Explanation of modern sensors used on modern vehicles
The days of old are gone where a vehicle has a simple 4 stroke combustion machine in it and no regard for the environmental impact it had on the planet. All modern vehicles rely on a computerised system to make sure your vehicles achieve as efficiently and environmentally kindly as possible.
I will try to cover and by comparison as many of the current sensors and their functions. There may be other specific sensors in output but the ones i will cover here are basically acceptable on all modern cars and light trucks.
First and important in the line up would be the Ecu also known as either an machine operate Unit or Electronic operate Unit. This item does exactly as it is named, it controls all of the vehicles machine electronic sensors and tells other parts of the machine how much to compensate for sure circumstances in order to make the machine as efficient as possible. In some cases the Ecu also controls many if not all of the interior galvanic components as well. As long as the Ecu is working properly it can read millions of values per second sent to it by the sensors on the vehicle, it then adjusts other electronic parts to compensate and make the vehicle run correctly.
Next we will touch on the Lambda sensors, otherwise known as Oxygen sensors or O2 sensors for short. These sensors are settled in the exhaust system itself. The sensor quantum itself is settled directly in the stream of the exhaust gasses and its sole purpose is to rear the exhaust gas compound and narrative it back to the Ecu. If a lambda sensor tells the Ecu then the vehicle is running a bit too lean, the Ecu then compensates by allowing more fuel into the machine to richer the mixture, the reverse stands true if the vehicle is running rich to begin with.
The next pair of sensors we will talk about is the Map or Manifold Absolute Pressure sensor/ Maf Mass Air Flow sensor, the hypothesize we are outside these together is because a vehicle will be equipped with either one or the other, not both. The Map sensor provides facts to the Ecu that calculates air density and flow rate, this helps the Ecu to outline out if it needs to add more fuel or less to furnish optimal combustion. The Maf sensor reads changes in air density as it enters the machine allowing the Ecu to settle if more or less fuel is needed for optimum combustion.
The knock sensor is other important sensor on the engine. It's only function is to listen to the machine and narrative to the Ecu if there is any detonation in the cylinders of the engine. If detonation is gift then the Ecu varies the ignition spark time either forwards or backwards to compensate and furnish optimum combustion.
The coolant temperature sensor is an often overlooked but important sensor in the day to day running of the engine. This sensor reads the temperature of the coolant and makes adjustments to the air and fuel compound to bring the vehicle up to optimum operating temperature quickly, a faulty coolant temperature sensor can cause many problems, if it is not reading properly the Ecu may be telling the machine to add more air and fuel to bring the machine up to temperature when it is already there. Thus making the machine less efficient and wasting fuel. A faulty coolant temperature sensor can also cause the galvanic cooling fans to either come on to early or too late or even in worst cases not come on at all causing the vehicle to overheat.
Rest assured there are probably many other sensors on your vehicle but the ones listed above are tasteless on all modern vehicles. If you hypothesize one is not working as it should then please take your vehicle to a distinguished mechanic and ask them to run a diagnostic on it, a £50 diagnostic fee now is allot good than the cost of an machine if a fault is ignored.
Explanation of contemporary Sensors Used on contemporary Vehicles