Warm Diesel/ kerosene as starting fluid!!

[m67tang]

Anyone here heard of using a warmed spray bottle of diesel/ kerosene as a starting fluid?
I have not tried this yet. I met a farmer who told me he always kept a chemical resistant type hand pump spray bottle of diesel/ kerosene sitting by his heat register beside his boots. He swore warm fuel will always fire it up-- tractor, truck, generator etc... just wonder if it's been done here, seems like everything I can think of has been tried here long before my time.

 

[SebastIDIan]

The coldest Ive started my 87 is about 9* with windchill going in the negatives. Cycle the glowplugs twice and it takes maybe 1 rev or less to start.

My 91 on the other hand seems to really hate anything below 50 and it takes quite a bit of cranking to get her to wake up.
I'll try give this a try along with new GPs when I go to NY in the spring

 

[icanfixall]

I may work but you need to realize adding any type of fuel directly to the intake can cause the engine to run away because the injection pump has nothing to do with the fuel metering. Our intake is wide open all the time. the ONLY REASON our engine will idle is the injection pump allows only that small amount of fuel to be injected. An engine going into run away mode is horrifying. the injection pump nor the rev limiter can slow down the rpms. Some run till they window a block and some shut down eventually...

 

[m67tang]

it's a dangerous thing to use a squirt bottle of warmed fuel to get a diesel started.? I never considered this.
I'd have thought it safer than other ideas. I've used silicone spray on diesel and gas engines.

 

[Hydro-idi]

Some have used soaked gas rags, tiki torches to heat up intake, herbicide sprayers with diesel fuel, starting fluid, hell even small campfires underneath oil pan. Some of the big Diesel engines (especially the older ones) might require these methods to aid them in starting up in the cold weather. Guess it really depends on how cold it is as well.
You shouldn't have a problem starting these 6.9/7.3 idi engines in 0 degrees F & up if your glowplug & battery system are up to par & shouldn't need any type of "starting aid". Anything below that temperature might require the block heater to be plugged a few hours before starting.

 

[79jasper]

Plumbers torch works well also.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

 

[catbird7]

A friend purchased a new rebuilt 7.3 IDI engine several years ago and his truck will start in any weather with one cycle of the glow plugs. He still has the original "slow spin" starter and never uses ether. As a comparison, my old engine has a bunch of miles however I've had the heads reconditioned, new injection pump, new injectors, beru glow plugs, fast spin starter, new batteries, etc and when it gets really cold the only way mine will start requires multiple cranks and glow plug cycles (ultimately damaging the starter) or a quick shot of either which is what I use after four or five new starter purchases. Comparing our engines, mine is just as "new" as his with the exception of the bottom end therefore the ease of cold weather starts seems to be a clear indication of engine condition and most likely related to compression. It would be interesting to pull both of our trucks into the garage and do compression test on each. I'm betting his is way better than mine.

Heating the engine will definitely make a huge difference. If my block heater is plugged in, it will start regardless of outside temp with only glow plugs.

Oil will also make a noticeable difference when cranking a cold engine. Synthetic is the way to go.

 

[rempfer]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought using starting fluid with a glow-plug engine was a huge no-no!

 

[catbird7]

Yes, ether and glow plugs can spell disaster. When using ether (starting fluid), either disconnect the glow plug system or start as if it were a gas engine. Do not allow the glow plugs to warm, simply spray the ether and turn the key without waiting.