Ether? Scary? Bad?

most ether you buy,,is about 30%...the john deere ether,,is 80%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! be REAL careful with that stuff........I use it exclusively,,but im very judicious in its use...cause it lights off right now!!!!! and youll break rings or pistons with that!!

I would be willing to bet that John deere stuff is way better than what most auto parts stores sell.
Have you not heard of a ether addicted cummins?

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79jasper said:

Have you not heard of a ether addicted cummins?

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I do not believe in any engine being "addicted" to ether.

If there are cummins engines around that need ether when others don't, there has to be a logical reason for it. Not because it's "addicted". Just fix it.

If you have a truck that won't start unless you pull it with another truck to start, you might need to be careful. If might get "addicted" to pull starting and you will always have to pull it to start it.

sassyrel said:

most ether you buy,,is about 30%...the john deere ether,,is 80%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! be REAL careful with that stuff........I use it exclusively,,but im very judicious in its use...cause it lights off right now!!!!! and youll break rings or pistons with that!!

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Its all we use around the shop. I know its strong stuff, now that I have working glowplugs I dont use ether, but if I do its just a quick .5-1sec shot.

79jasper said:

I would be willing to bet that John deere stuff is way better than what most auto parts stores sell.

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The only thing "better" about it is the higher percentage of actual ether. Most parts store stuff has some ether in it mixed with hexane and other crap. Ive never seen a can of ether that doesnt say upper cylinder lube on it somewhere.

79jasper said:

Have you not heard of a ether addicted cummins?

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Ive heard people claim engines were ether addicted. IMO theres no such thing.

I'm sure there's some other core problem. Just seems to be a common thought with the cummins guys.
Not sure I completely believe it either.

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I've heard of guys using WD40 instead of either? Not sure how well that works?

It doesnt. Wd40 is propelled by CO2 now.

Yes, it use to work when the propellant was flamable (was it propane?), but now its CO2 (which is inert).

79jasper said:

But also a lot of those bigger engines will start cold with no help. In good condition anyways.
So how does a engine become ether addicted? Well older formulas were said to have a lubricant in it vs newer formulas burning off all the oil, therefore over time scratching cylinder walls and lowering compression. But also, in those cases, probably spraying way too much.

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I could never figure out why my 80s vintage Cummins (in a boat) starts so easily, no glow plugs. Below zero, no problem, it starts IMMEDIATELY no cranking. Must be that the compression is very high. My IDIs both car and truck start good with a second or two of cranking but they both want a long glow plug cycle when it is below freezing.

I had an ether addicted DT530 and 3126 CAT.never figured out the 530,it blew up first,had it rebuilt,still would not start without giving it some crack.

i did figure out the cat,bad injectors or injector orings.figured it out by accident.swapped the injectors cuz of a couple slight skipping cylinders.now it fires everyday with no problem.

Back to the original question.gotta be careful as these guys say.ill use ether on anything.i prefer to have someone cranking it before i give it a quick sniff.ive heard of people sticking a gasoline soaked rag over the air cleaner snorkel,never tried it.

Wd40 will still start a diesel.it has to be spinning over and shoot the wd directly into the intake so it doesnt puddle up in the intake.i remember when they were makin wd nonflamable.tried fireing a 425hp cat on it.would not fire off it.it finaly lit off and ran away on the wd.my buddy who owned the truck was outside screaming,frantically waving his arms telling me to shut it down.im inside it shittin bricks,turned the ignition off,nothing.hes still screaming at me so i took the keys out and threw them at him with the what now look on my face.he then gave the stuff it in a high gear and dump the clutch motions.scariest 30 seconds of my life waiting for pieces to start flying.

I'll touch on this exact subject today as yesterday I had a very successful use of Sniff/Crack in a Can...Either...yer name I don't care it was very successful.

As the vehicle was plugged in and the folks could not get it to go...93 E350 they came to me and asked if I could help.

OK..

I looked over the truck, clicked fuel shutoff with jumper..OK

Now they've tried for a few days to get it to go fully charged battery, my Red top plugged in..no go.

The intake has a air shutoff that is utilized in oilpatch for safety. it checked out as passing air not closed off.

So I said start cranking it...I sprayed about 1/3 second puff (about a parrot farts worth) on air filter while cranking...wait two seconds of cranking...2nd puff same....wait two seconds of cranking 3rd puff ***** she lights off and runs like a hot damn...I spray ONLY onto the air filter NOT DOWN INTO the intake..I did not dissable GP (THIS TIME) no explosion no nothing...just fired and ran fine.

After a few minutes of running. Turned off truck, restarted instantly...thus GP's are the issue.

These two spent days working on this with gelled fuel and so forth....

Done right...sniff is safe...

riotwarrior said:

So I said start cranking it...I sprayed about 1/3 second puff (about a parrot farts worth) on air filter while cranking...wait two seconds of cranking...2nd puff same....wait two seconds of cranking 3rd puff ***** she lights off and runs like a hot damn...I spray ONLY onto the air filter NOT DOWN INTO the intake..I did not dissable GP (THIS TIME) no explosion no nothing...just fired and ran fine

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A diesel mechanic who gets called on road emergencies all the time told me it's always safest to crank the engine while adding the ether(just like you did above), if you do not know the situation with the glowplugs or any other starting aids. Apparently the airflow from cranking helps avoid bad situations while spraying.

franklin2 said:

A diesel mechanic who gets called on road emergencies all the time told me it's always safest to crank the engine while adding the ether(just like you did above), if you do not know the situation with the glowplugs or any other starting aids. Apparently the airflow from cranking helps avoid bad situations while spraying.

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Dont know about that.i like to have them spinning before i spray as its a little less likely to bind up on the crack.binding equals bent rods

franklin2 said:

A diesel mechanic who gets called on road emergencies all the time told me it's always safest to crank the engine while adding the ether(just like you did above), if you do not know the situation with the glowplugs or any other starting aids. Apparently the airflow from cranking helps avoid bad situations while spraying.

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If you have a helper, this would be the way to go. Use your ears while giving giving your engine a little shot. Very little.