Hi, Jim -
On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 04:11:57PM -0800, Jim Richardson wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 3:48 PM, Ben Okopnik <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> PMFJI
It was at my request, so you're more than welcome. :)
> but ether as starting fluid for diesels? bad idea imho. Better
> off with a can of WD40. Ether's pretty abusive, far faster flame
> front, and will detonate before the piston gets to TDC leading to
> excessive piston ring loading.
[laugh] WD-40, of course, was pressurized by propane. Speaking of faster
flame fronts...
I'm quite aware of the reputation that ether has with regard to diesels;
however, there are a couple of other factors to consider:
1) When I was in the Army, one of the things I did as part of my job was
driving diesel-powered trucks in a cold(ish) climate. Both the
deuce-and-a-halves and the five-ton trucks had ether systems built in;
these were nothing more than a retainer for a spray can of ether next to
the air intake, a solenoid for triggering it, and a pushbutton with a
buzzer on it on the dash. I doubt that they would have made this a
regular, built-in part of the truck if it was that horrible.
2) The cans that I have explicitly say "safe for diesels". They're
probably not any different from the other brands (although they contain
top-end lube as well as ether), but I assume they've chosen to denote it
specifically because of that reputation.
3) I've been using ether literally every single time that I've started
this engine for the past year, and don't see any damage or negative
changes; it's not even any harder to start than it was once the battery
problems began.
4) I'm _very_ sparing with the ether. Did a lot of experimenting with
it, too, and have figured out just the amount that's necessary (too
much, of course, causes pre-detonation - easy to hear.) About twice the
absolutely minimum that can be sprayed is what works for me; the engine
doesn't even rev up when it starts, which is how I know I've got it just
right.
> (I have heard that new reformulations
> of WD40 no longer work for this, dunno, I had a case of the stuff I
> bought about 10 years ago, and it's still going strong. But I rarely
> need to use it for that. )
Y'know, I'm rather curious about that. I think I'll try it next time I
need to (although, in theory, the problem is about to disappear -
hopefully, forever.)
> Safest small diesel assist is a heat gun or hair dryer at the air
> intake, works on systems with dead glow plugs too.
[grin] Hopefully, you're not running either of those off the very
batteries that you need to crank that engine...
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