On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Ben Okopnik <[email protected]> wrote: > 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...
yeah,that doesn't sound like a great trade :) > > 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. > Were those the "multifuel" engines in the M35 and related? If so, those are not compression ignition engine right? Not trying to pick nits, just curious. > 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. > probably a good assumption. > 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. > sounds like a solid methodology, I might just steal it. >> (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.) yeah, fixing the cause is a lot better than bandaids around it :) > >> 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... > well, I usually think in terms of stationary diesels to be honest :P Most of the time I have had to work on an engine, has been in the shop. With the exception of my MGs, and the BSA (all of which are no longer in my care.) My Perkins has been a good soldier, and never complained in the last 9 + years since we bought this boat. <cue catastrophic engine failure in 3...2...1...> > -- http://neon-buddha.net _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
