Starter turns, stops, then turns and cranks. Video a

[Macrobb]

If it does this every time you could have a coolant leak into a cylinder. @IDIoit had this happen on is truck.

This seems likely. Probably a head gasket.

 

[Hydro-idi]

You need to perform a coolant pressure test on your engine plain and simple.
If the pressure stays the same after a couple hours, good news.
If the psi goes down, first check for any hose leaks around the engine compartment. If everything checks out there, it’s likely a HG leaking coolant into a cylinder which would make sense if it’s hydro locking upon startup. And time to tear down that engine. This would also be a good time to get cylinder heads checked at a reputable machine shop.

 

[Suleiman Saadeh]

You need to perform a coolant pressure test on your engine plain and simple.
If the pressure stays the same after a couple hours, good news.
If the psi goes down, first check for any hose leaks around the engine compartment. If everything checks out there, it’s likely a HG leaking coolant into a cylinder which would make sense if it’s hydro locking upon startup. And time to tear down that engine. This would also be a good time to get cylinder heads checked at a reputable machine shop.

I already pressure tested it. I didnt know how to seal off the coolant reservoir so I folded the hose and zip tied it tight but the the pressure went down very slowly at 16 psi which is what the radiator is rated for.

I asked on another thread, when I was told to remove glow plugs and apply 30psi to coolant system and crank motor to see if coolant shows, if coolant would come out one side if only one gasket is bad.

If someone knows I'd appreciate the input. I'd like to avoid taking one side off and it be the other and have to do it all over again because there's a lot to remove to get access without taking the engine out.

 

[Suleiman Saadeh]

I'm sure its probably a head gasket because this all started as after I foolishly used starting fluid at the advice of a neighbor before I found out you shouldn't with the glow plugs

 

[Hydro-idi]

If you used the correct pressure test kit that can be found at Autozone (free rental), you wouldn’t have to block off coolant reservoir tube and would probably get a much more accurate reading on what’s going on.

 

[Suleiman Saadeh]

If you used the correct pressure test kit that can be found at Autozone (free rental), you wouldn’t have to block off coolant reservoir tube and would probably get a much more accurate reading on what’s going on.

That's where I rented it from. It had all sorts of coloured caps but I saw now way to seal the radiator reservoir. I may rent it again Monday and try to seal off the reservoir. Maybe I missed something. But it definitely does this everytime and it was the next time I cranked it after the starting fluid incident that definitely was done incorrectly.