Why NOT to use Ether on a diesel!

[IDIDieselJohn]

Came across this fantastic video on youtube a couple days ago.

Thaught it's important to share it with y'all.

It's ok to use a tiny shot of Ether for emergencys, but there is a proper way of using it and a very small limited amount!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_LWm4g35Jw

 

[Pele]

Crap... Maybe I oughta get around to replacing my glow plugs and return line o-rings... I've gone through three cans of starting fluid since owning this truck.

 

[Redneck]

Crap... Maybe I oughta get around to replacing my glow plugs and return line o-rings... I've gone through three cans of starting fluid since owning this truck.

Man, just do it!
It's totally worth the couple hours it takes, to jump in your truck, turn the key and have it just rumble to life that quick, with no dicking around under the hood gettin greasy fingertips...
Check the condition of the glowplug harness too. I've spent 3 or 4 months drivin an s15 because my truck wouldn't start without a ton of effort. A new harness built and installed yesterday, coupled with a glowplug controller bypass/substitution and it's beautiful.

 

[junior20762003]

i know this old man that used brake cleaner to start his john deer would this happen with brake cleaner

 

[david85]

Something doesn't add up here. If all 3 of those prechambers were loose inside the engine, then all 3 related pistons and cylinders would have been completely trashed.

Could anyone really be so stupid as to keep stuffing either down the throat of an engine with only 5 cylinders left?

Hmm, stupid question.

 

[Diesel JD]

I would think don't squirt ANYTHING in the intake if the glow plugs are operative. A small snort of ether with no glow plugs or grid heater is pretty safe if your engine is healthy and you don't go ape with it.

 

[david85]

Healthy is the operative word here. If the engine is healthy, why would you need starting fluid? A healthy engine will still crank, fart and start running on only half the cylinders even if 4 out of 8 glow plugs are dead. The rest wake up on their own.

Usually by the time some one is using starter fluid on a regular basis, they don't really care about the truck anymore and are content to drive it into the ground. Can't say I've ever seen anything like this before though. Bet his rings were cracked too.

 

[Pele]

Man, just do it!
It's totally worth the couple hours it takes, to jump in your truck, turn the key and have it just rumble to life that quick, with no dicking around under the hood gettin greasy fingertips...
Check the condition of the glowplug harness too. I've spent 3 or 4 months drivin an s15 because my truck wouldn't start without a ton of effort. A new harness built and installed yesterday, coupled with a glowplug controller bypass/substitution and it's beautiful.

The entire underhood harness is trashed. There's extra wires all over the place, factory wires burned to a crisp, and various bits of wire taped together or held together with household wirenuts.

I have not been able to get an electrical manual off the internet for this truck.

Tach is intermittent.
I carry an infrared thermometer for coolant temp readings.
I haven't seized it up yet, so I suppose oil pressure is good.

I'd rebuild the harness if I knew where things went.

 

[plywood]

Something doesn't add up here. If all 3 of those prechambers were loose inside the engine, then all 3 related pistons and cylinders would have been completely trashed.

Could anyone really be so stupid as to keep stuffing either down the throat of an engine with only 5 cylinders left?

Hmm, stupid question.

Yeah, I don't buy it.

Looks like it had a burnt exhaust valve and seat, plain water in there rusting the water jackets and water leaking in through the valley pan, but not really my point.

More importantly I just don't believe a few single explosions of ether could make the pre-cups dent the block like that.

I think there was a situation of real high exhaust temps along with maybe leaky injectors and lots of miles of those really hot pre-cups pounding down on that block with each combustion. Also I would suspect a bad head gasket or stretched head bolts allowing the initial play in the pre-cups to start the mayhem.

No offense to the OP, wasn't his assessment anyway, but how does the video maker know what really caused the results.

Just one man's opinion.

 

[Diesel_brad]

Something doesn't add up here. If all 3 of those prechambers were loose inside the engine, then all 3 related pistons and cylinders would have been completely trashed.

Could anyone really be so stupid as to keep stuffing either down the throat of an engine with only 5 cylinders left?

Hmm, stupid question.

You must have the best idi in the world. Mine starts like crap unless ALL THE GPs work. Even in warm weather

 

[oldmisterbill]

I can't imagine 1 start doing that damage either.I have lots of questions.How did the precups get so loose that they peened the block for such a long time.Wouldn't the explosion from ether be pretty much equal throughout the combustion chamber? There is more surface erea on the piston side of the precups so how would the explosion push them out also the fireing would have started fronm near the intake area first. COrrect me if I am wrong. I can still learn at my age.

 

[Redneck]

The entire underhood harness is trashed. There's extra wires all over the place, factory wires burned to a crisp, and various bits of wire taped together or held together with household wirenuts.

I have not been able to get an electrical manual off the internet for this truck.

Tach is intermittent.
I carry an infrared thermometer for coolant temp readings.
I haven't seized it up yet, so I suppose oil pressure is good.

I'd rebuild the harness if I knew where things went.

i know the feeling, my 82 toy was a shop truck for many years and I think it was only first year apprentices that ever worked on it.

 

[jwalterus]

The entire underhood harness is trashed. There's extra wires all over the place, factory wires burned to a crisp, and various bits of wire taped together or held together with household wirenuts.

I have not been able to get an electrical manual off the internet for this truck.

Tach is intermittent.
I carry an infrared thermometer for coolant temp readings.
I haven't seized it up yet, so I suppose oil pressure is good.

I'd rebuild the harness if I knew where things went.

if you have another vehicle, I'd rip it out and start over with one of the "universal" harnesses they sell

that's what I'll be doing after I get my body parts truck running decent enough to drive for work for a month

 

[towcat]

Came across this fantastic video on youtube a couple days ago.

Thaught it's important to share it with y'all.

It's ok to use a tiny shot of Ether for emergencys, but there is a proper way of using it and a very small limited amount!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_LWm4g35Jw

if he's that intelligent on the diagnosis, why would he be doing this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRGrt99AF4&feature=channel
ether was not the cause of the destruction, running a motor for an extended period of time IS.

 

[gonecrazyi]

Hey Pele, shoot me a pm Ive got a couple trucks im about to take to scrap that have complete underhood harnesses.