The IDI engine is 22 to 1 compression.
The heat produced when the air is compressed is what ignites the diesel when it is injected.
Ether being more flamable will ignite at a lower temperature and get the engine turning over fast enough to produce the required heat to ignite the diesel.
Most diesel damage I have ever seen using ether was a result of using to much.

I just was at a garage in town just an hour ago and they were talking about a tractor that the idiots running it could not get started. So they got a can of ether and sprayed the whole can in the air cleaner and cranked it up. Now they wonder why oil was coming out the exhaust stack on it and it was running so rough. They said it really took off when it did start though. I had to leave the building.

At your own risk:
Remove the purple wire from the glow plug relay and leave it off. This disables the glow plugs. Open the hood and take the 4" hose off the air cleaner and shoot less than 1 second of ether in the air cleaner. Put the hose back on and start the engine.
If the engine revs up a bunch when it starts you used to much, try for less the next time.

 

Thanks again for the replies. I now have my GP's wired up with a push-button switch. Now, they don't come on unless the button is pushed! Works great!

I haven't had to spray any ether yet. I drove the truck to my workplace this morning and got there around 7:25. I shut the truck off and walked back out at 3:00. I pushed in the button and held it for a "10-Mississippi" count and let off of it. It took a few seconds on the starter, but it did finally hit and take off. The temp was 40*F. I do have that ether can behind the seat just in case she decides not to start...

Thanks again!

Nightrain

 

saw this on a roll back ...... guy ran a copper tube from the top of the breather to inside the cab so he wouldn't have to get out to spray the ether... sound dangerous to me!!!!

 

i took my g.p. controller off when i did my turbo project, and i never put it back on, would always start when the controller was hooked up.but now that the controller is disconnected, i just pop the hood, sray a 1 second or less shot in it and you can hear the motor come up on compression about 3 times, on the 4th, it fires right up. i have a few injectors that cause white smoke, so i have to hold it at about 1500 till it warms up and the smoke clears, but with new injectors, it should idle as soon as it starts. just go ahead and try it once to see. just pop the hood after it's been sittin all night, sray 1 second worth of ether and crank on it. no g.p's and it should fire like it's 90* outside with a warm motor. if you think you got too much in it, then take the air cleaner off and use the plugs to fire it and ut the filter back on when its running, as the ether will stay deadly volatile for a good 10-15 minutes. your voltage guage should drop down to about 8 or 9 volts when you hit the button. if it just barely drops, then you probably have a couple bad ones. if you take the g.'s out, make sure to work them back and forth back and forth, till it moves freely and use alot of wd40 or penetrating oil on them. if you get one that will just turn and turn w/o hope of coming out, just fire the truck up, it may pop out, i had one that was completely twisted off in there for 3 months before it popped out. better to leave it just loose in the hole intact than to twist it off completely. spray oil and work it from the very time it breaks loose and it should be fine.i got another idea too maybe, they say that water injection will give you a little power plus steam clean the inside of the motor. rig up a water-meth injection system, have a little fun with it, clean your motor at the same time, THEN try to pull the plugs out. just straight windshield washer fluid w/o the bug formula works pretty good, and even better, just use the pump for your w.s. washer as well, it's easy to rig up.

 

Those are some great tips...and the reason I am still reading so much of the posts on FTE. On a lighter note: Can I seriously spray windshield washer in my motor? Am I going to do wheelies? I've always wanted to see the front wheels come off the ground.

 

go get you a rear end with a 5:13 gear ratio and load your truck down lippin full of sand or corn sacks or something and then sla it in first and hit the throttle, then let off and hit it again, if you time it just right, you should be able to get the tires off the ground. at least that's what i have heard form a couple people on this site. and yes you can sray water-meth or straight windshield washer fluid in the intake. its not guaranteed to make you do wheelies, but you should feel a little kick

 

I bought an upgraded electronic glow plug controller about 10 years ago and it has been great ever since! The stock setup was garbage...almost as bad as that friggin' water separator (a.k.a. air leaker) on the firewall

 

Well, my 1985 F-250 got her first dose of ether...

When I got off this morning, it was 24*F. I hopped in the truck, pushed my GP button in for 10 seconds, let off, and hit the starter. I stayed on the starter for 6 seconds. The engine did smoke and try to take off, but it just didn't seem to have the "oomph" to do it. I then popped the hood, sprayed most likely less than a 1-second burst of ether into the air cleaner inlet, and hit the starter. Started just like had been plugged in all night.

Thanks ya'll!

Nightrain

 

wud i tell ya, she really likes the ether "but only if you don't use too much" if you do use too much, she will let ya know, it will sound something like KINK-verrumh-KINK-verrumph-KINK-verrumh-KINK-verrumph and sometimes it will go kink, and it will roll the engine and starter backwards, and then go kink again on the same cylinder, i have been lucky enough not to hurt an engine like that, but i used about 2 seconds worth of ether AND g-p's, big mistake. only done that once. but it didn't make me afraid of it, just more aware of the power it has

 

Hi,
My 2 cents worth,don't hold that manual switch on too long,I burnt all 8 Delco plugs holding it for 10 seconds.I now have the "new" bosch gp's and the truck fires up after holding in the switch not more than 4 seconds!!! I also believe that a truck that has 8 good plugs ,a well timed IP and no air leaks should fire up everytime without ether,stuff is dangerous!!
Magic

 

I hold the switch in anywhere from 6-8 seconds when I get ready to start it for the first time each day. The temps have been around 65-70*F here today, but I still heated them up to burn the carbon off of them. Read an article on that somewhere...

I'm still going to invest in getting new plugs installed. I'm going to let a local diesel engine shop do it... Just in case the tips break off. Then, it's on their clock and pocket book.. Not mine.

Nightrain

 

If you need ether to start an IH IDI, you've got other problems. I've fired mine @ -20F with a properly operating stock GP setup. 1 cycle of the GP's and about 10-15 secs of cranking.

You state the truck sat for 3 years? I would have drained that fuel and started with fresh. I'd think your best bet would be to pull all the injectors and have them tested. I'd imagine that your in need of a return line kit and possibly an IP.

 

On a side note. If your planning on taking your truck in to have the GP's changed. Any competent shop that knows the IH IDI, will tell you outright that if any tips break off, it's your responsibility to pay for the retreival. Would you expect them to do a $1500 Heads R&R for free?

There are nightmare stories out there, of incompetent mechanics doing GP replacement and breaking peeps engines. Most ga$$er mech's don't understand the problem a broken GP tip can cause. Some dont even know they broke off , they find a stuck one and just keep yanking/twisting till they come out. Then when they fire the truck, they don't understand why it's knocking so loud. Broken valve's/pistons, lawsuits, ect. usually follow.

 

And (in the grand scheme of things, unfortunately) glow plug tips will often pass through the engine without causing any lasting damage. My boss had a professional mechanic tell him to do that and he lucked out. But if all engines grenaded when ran with glow plug tips in them, then people wouldn't try that foolish course of action so often.

Birken

 

I dunno... I think if I broke off a GP tip, I would try and pull the heads just to be on the safe side. I don't feel like tearing into something that's busted all to pieces internally and run into $2500+ in rebuild costs. The heads could be "efficiently" removed and reinstalled for less than $100.

I might just try installing new GP's myself. I just don't know... I've heard horror stories on this ever since I started talking about a Ford diesel. The fellow from which I bought it from has told me that new GP's were installed not too long before it was parked for it's 3+ year sitting spree... If they have already burnt out, that's not a good sign. He doesn't recall the brand name in which he had the mechanic install.

Then, I have this wild hair to leave the GP's alone and just start it on ether. That would get old after awhile though. I know that the controller is okay. I used to hear it click everytime I had the original GP setup hooked up. But, now that I have my push button, I can still hear it click on. So, it has to be working.

If someone could fill me in on how to properly test the GP's, I would be highly appreciative. I know that it involves a test light. I just do not remember all of the minor details in testing the GP's.

Thanks again ya'll!

Nightrain