In order to understand better the auto-ignition process in an HCCI engine, the influence of some important parameters on the auto-ignition is investigated. The inlet temperature, the equivalence ratio and the compression ratio were varied and their influence on the pressure, the heat release and the ignition delays were measured, The inlet temperature was changed from 25 to 70 degrees C and the equivalence ratio from 0.18 to 0.41, while the compression ratio varied from 6 to 13.5. The fuels that were investigated were PRF40 and n-heptane. These three parameters appeared to decrease the ignition delays, with the inlet temperature having the least influence and the compression ratio the most. A previously experimentally validated reduced surrogate mechanism, for mixtures of n-heptane, iso-octane and toluene, has been used to explain observations of the auto-ignition process. The same kinetic mechanism is used to better understand the underlying chemical and physical phenomena that make the influence of a certain parameter change according to the operating conditions. This can be useful for the control of the auto-ignition process in an HCCI engine. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.