JPH102211A - Structure of oil level gauge guide - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the number of part items and also improve use convenience by improving an oil level gage guide in an engine for an automobile. SOLUTION: In an engine 1 provided with a chain guide 24 in a side part of a timing chain 22 associating a crankshaft 2 with cam shafts 18, 19, a back surface of the chain guide 24 is formed in a U shape, this U-shaped part is formed as an oil level gage guide. Necessity for a conventional oil level gage guide formed of pipe material is eliminated. Since an oil level gage 13 is placed in a corner part of the engine 1, the engine, even when it is mounted both vertically and horizontally relating to a car body, is placed in this side of an engine room. Consequently, use convenience is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a structure of an oil level gauge guide applied to an automobile engine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Lubricating oils are used in automobile engines. There are two types of lubrication systems for the four-stroke engine: dry sump type and wet sump type.
There are some types, but an oil pan is provided at the bottom of the cylinder block, and the oil stored in this oil pan is pumped up by an oil pump and distributed to a location requiring lubrication, and a wet sump type is adopted. Many.

In the above-mentioned wet sump type lubrication structure, since a certain amount of oil needs to be stored in the oil pan, the oil level is electrically detected and an alarm lamp is turned on when the stored amount decreases. A device is provided for causing the movement. In addition, a flat bar-shaped oil level gauge that can be inserted and removed separately is provided, and when the engine is stopped, the oil level gauge is pulled out and visually checked to check the amount of oil and the degree of contamination. Since the oil level gauge is long, a guide is provided so that the oil level gauge is inserted from the cylinder head and reaches the oil pan smoothly.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an engine having a conventional oil level gauge guide. To explain this, 1 is an engine, 2 is a crankshaft, 3 is a crank pulley, 4 is an alternator, 5 is an alternator pulley, 6 is a compressor for an air conditioner, and 7 is a compressor pulley. A belt 8 is stretched over the crank pulley 3, the alternator pulley 5, and the compressor pulley 7. A chain cover 9 is provided at the back of the belt 8, and a timing chain for transmitting rotation of the crankshaft 2 to a valve opening / closing mechanism is provided inside the chain cover 9. Reference numeral 10 denotes a cylinder head cover.

[0005] An oil pan 11 is attached to the lower part of the crankcase supporting the crankshaft 2 so that a fixed amount of oil is stored. Reference numeral 12 denotes an oil level gauge guide. The oil level gauge guide 12 is made of a pipe material. The lower end is located at the boundary between the crankcase and the oil pan 11, and the upper end is located near the cylinder head. Oil level gauge guide 12
, A flat bar-shaped oil level gauge 13 whose lower end reaches the vicinity of the bottom of the oil pan 11 is inserted. 1
4 is the handle.

When measuring the amount of oil in the oil pan 11 in the above structure, the engine 1 is stopped, and the oil sent to various parts of the lubrication falls and returns to the inside of the oil pan 11. Put a finger on 14 and pull out oil level gauge 13 upward. Then, the oil adhering to the tip is wiped off, inserted into the oil level gauge guide 12 again, and removed again to know the oil amount from the position of the adhering oil.

[0007]

The engine 1 described above has no problem in its function and oil amount detection, but the oil level gauge guide 14 has a pipe structure independent of the engine body. For,
When this is considered including the structure for supporting the engine body, there are problems that the number of parts increases and the workability of assembling becomes complicated.

Accordingly, a structure has been proposed in which a vertical hole communicating with the cylinder head and the cylinder block is provided, and an oil level gauge is inserted into the vertical hole so that an independent oil level gauge guide is not required. 6
It is described in 1-1118909. A similar concept applied to a V-type engine is described in Jpn.
No. 7712. With these configurations, the oil level gauge passes through the inside of the cylinder head and the cylinder block to reach the oil pan, and the oil level gauge guide made of a pipe material does not need to be provided.

[0009] However, in the structures described in these publications, a dedicated hole for passing an oil level gauge is provided.
Since it is necessary to mold the cylinder block or the timing belt cover, the processing becomes complicated and the number of working steps increases.

The present invention has been made in view of this point, and it is not necessary to provide a dedicated hole for passing an oil level gauge in a cylinder block, a timing belt cover, or the like. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a structure of an oil level gauge guide which does not require the guide of the present invention.

[0011]

According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, a chain guide is provided on a side of a timing chain for interlocking a crankshaft and a camshaft. In the engine provided, the rear surface of the chain guide is formed in a U-shape, and the U-shaped portion is formed in an oil level gauge guide.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, an angle of an insertion hole of an oil level gauge provided in the cylinder head cover is different from an angle of the chain guide. The oil level gauge is inserted in a bent state and is configured to contact the chain guide at a plurality of locations.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a chain chamber and an oil level gauge passage are defined by the chain guide.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 1, which shows only essential parts with a chain cover at the front of an engine removed. In this figure, 15 is a cylinder block, 16 is a cylinder head, and 10 is a cylinder head cover. A crank sprocket 17 is attached to the crankshaft 2 and the camshaft 1
Cam sprockets 20, 21 are attached to 8, 19, respectively. A timing chain 22 for linking the crankshaft 2 and the camshafts 18 and 19 is bridged between the crank sprocket 17 and the cam sprockets 20 and 21. 23 is the timing chain 2
A chain tensioner 24 that provides tension to the chain 2 is a chain guide that suppresses vibration of the timing chain 22 and guides the timing chain 22 so that its progress is performed correctly.

The chain guide 24 defines a chain chamber 25 formed inside the timing chain 22 and a passage 27 for an oil level gauge to be described later. As a result, the operation of inserting and removing the oil level gauge 13 can be performed without being affected by the timing chain 22.

The cylinder head cover 10 is provided with an insertion hole 26 for an oil level gauge downward so that the oil level gauge 13 can be inserted. As shown in FIG. 1, the insertion hole 26 is slightly inclined, but the angle is smaller than the inclination angle of the chain guide 24. Also, the cylinder block 15,
The passage 27 of the oil level gauge formed by the cylinder head 16, the chain guide 24, and the chain cover 9 (see FIG. 2) is formed non-linearly when viewed from the horizontal direction. As a result, when the oil level gauge 13 is inserted from the insertion hole 27, the oil level gauge 13 is bent and comes into contact with the chain guide 24 at a plurality of locations.

As shown in FIG. 2, the back surface of the chain guide 24 is formed in a U-shape. The U-shaped portion 24a is used to insert the oil level gauge 13 inserted from the cylinder head cover 10. It is formed on an oil level gauge guide that guides. In the portion shown in FIG. 2, there is a considerable gap between the chain guide 24 and the oil level gauge 13. This is due to the angle of the insertion hole 26 of the oil level gauge 13 and the angle of the chain guide 24 as described above. This is because the inclination angles are different from each other, and the inner wall shapes of the cylinder head 16 and the cylinder block 15 are not straight. As a result, as shown in FIG. Head 16, cylinder block 15
At several places.

The oil level gauge 13 is bent in this manner, and is in contact with the cylinder head 16 and the cylinder block 15 at two upper and lower positions, and the span between them is long, so that the amplitude of vibration increases near the center. However, since the other portion is in contact with the back surface of the chain guide 24, tension is applied to the other portion, so that vibration is prevented.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing an engine to which the structure of the oil level gauge guide according to the present invention is applied. In this figure, the left side is the front of the engine 1,
The right side is the rear part connected to the clutch and the transmission. The position of the oil level gauge in this figure is at the lower left as can be seen by associating the position of the crank pulley 3 with that position in FIG. This is because the oil level gauge passed through the back of the chain guide provided on the tension side of the timing chain.

When the oil level gauge comes to this position, the front A when the engine is placed vertically with respect to the vehicle body and the front B when the engine is placed horizontally with respect to the vehicle body,
The oil level gauge comes to the front part.
Therefore, the daily oil level check can be performed very easily.

[0021]

Since the present invention has the structure of the oil level gauge guide constructed as described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the pipe shape provided in the conventional engine is provided. No oil level gauge guide is required, reducing weight and the number of parts. Also in this connection,
There is a degree of freedom in the layout of the installation of other accessories. Since the back of the chain guide on the side of the timing chain is used as the oil level gauge guide, when the engine is mounted on the vehicle body, the handle of the oil level gauge can be used in both the engine room vertically and horizontally in the engine room. And the visibility and workability are both excellent.

The oil level gauge is bent so as to be in contact with the cylinder head and the cylinder block at two points above and below, and since the span between them is long, the amplitude of vibration increases near the center of the oil level gauge. Because the chain guide is in contact with the back surface, tension is applied to the chain guide, so that generation of vibration is prevented.

According to the invention described in claim 2,
Since the oil level gauge is bent and comes in contact with the cylinder block, the cylinder head, and the back surface of the chain guide at a plurality of locations, the vibration isolation effect is enhanced.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the chain guide defines the chain chamber formed inside the timing chain and the passage of the oil level gauge, they do not affect each other. The operation of inserting and removing the oil level gauge can be performed without being affected by the timing chain.

Since there is no need to form a dedicated hole for passing the oil level gauge through the cylinder block or the timing belt cover as in the above-mentioned prior art, the processing becomes complicated and the number of working steps increases. There is no such thing and there is no increase in weight.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention with a chain cover at a front portion of an engine removed.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view schematically showing an engine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a front view of an engine having a conventional oil level gauge guide structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Engine 2 Crankshaft 10 Cylinder head cover 13 Oil level gauge 18 Camshaft 19 Camshaft 22 Timing chain 24 Chain guide 24a U-shaped part 26 Oil level gauge insertion hole 27 Oil level gauge passage

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An engine in which a chain guide is provided on a side of a timing chain for interlocking a crankshaft and a camshaft, wherein a back surface of the chain guide is formed in a U-shape, and the U-shape portion is The structure of the oil level gauge guide formed on the oil level gauge guide. 2. An angle of an insertion hole of an oil level gauge provided in the cylinder head cover and an angle of the chain guide are made different from each other so that the oil level gauge is inserted in a bent state and comes into contact with the chain guide at a plurality of positions. The structure of the oil level gauge guide according to claim 1, wherein the structure is constituted as follows. 3. The structure of claim 1, wherein a chain chamber and an oil level gauge passage are defined by the chain guide.