What is the difference in a car between a SOHC and a DOHC engine?

Answer 1

SOHC stands for Single Overhead Camshaft and DOHC is Double Overhead Camshaft looking at the top of the motor it will have the corresponding abbreviation of what type you have. The camshaft is what opens and closes the air intake and exhaust valves at the right times to coincide with the pistons moving up and down. Besides the obvious distinction between the two engines where the SOHC only has one cam and the DOHC has two cams, the DOHC produces more power. Much of what gives an engine more power is efficiency and airflow. Being that the DOHC has two cams it also has two valves for air intake and two valves for exhaust (where the SOHC only has one valve for each) which makes the intake system and the exhaust systems more efficient and more effective thus producing more power. As a side note, because the DOHC produces more power they usually get a few more miles per gallon of gas.