How a Diesel Pump Works – The Basics of How a Diesel Engine Runs

A diesel pump is very much like a petrol engine in that they both utilize an internal combustion system to power the vehicle.  Both of these engines have a mixture of air and fuel, when that mixture is ignited, it delivers a force with enough explosive power to get the wheels on a vehicle moving, as well as other things. The difference between the two engines, however, ends there, as how the fuel mixture is ignited is vastly different in a diesel powered engine than how it is done in a gasoline powered engine.  Here is a brief rundown of how a diesel pump works.

How a diesel pump works is vastly different in that it is even more crucial to a diesel engine than a fuel pump is to a petrol engine.  A diesel engine, unlike gas engines, does not need to have spark plugs as they are not needed for fuel ignition.  In a diesel engine, the fuel is ignited using extremely compressed air.  This air compression causes extreme heat as well, which is what actually ignites the mixture of air and fuel. This is why the diesel pump is more critical to a diesel engine than a fuel pump is to a gas engine.  The diesel pump is responsible for providing this compressed air.

How a diesel pump works depends on which type of pump you are talking about, as there are a couple different kinds.  The first is an in line injection pump, which means that each cylinder in the engine has pump and a plunger combination connected to it.  When the diesel fuel is put into the pump, one end allows the fuel to move into the chamber where the combustion will take place and the other end is where the plunger is located. As the plunger moves back and forth, it leaves an opening for the fuel to go into the combustion chamber while moving backwards.  While moving forwards, it creates enough force to compress the air in the chamber, which in turn creates enough heat to ignite the fuel and air mixture almost instantly.

If you are talking about a more modern pump, here is how a diesel pump works with that system.  A distributor injection pump uses a single injection pump which rotates so that it meets each combustion chamber individually when it is needed.  There are added valves that limit how much diesel fuel is put into each chamber, which allows for maximum fuel efficiency, as no fuel is wasted.