I know this isnt gonna be a suprise to most of yall, but I'll share this in case anyone has any doubt. My father in law was having problems with his truck ('95 F-350 PSD), the water in fuel light came on. He drove it like that for a few days "forgetting" to drain the bowl. Then one morning he started it up, it ran for a min or two, started missing then quit. The truck would not restart, so he tried starting fluid (ether), no luck. He tried a fews thing on his own with no luck then called me. I suggested the normal things you all do and told him starting fluid was a no no. We checked the CPS,HPOP level, GRP and plugs, cleaned the screen in the bowl, cleaned the bowl (bio diesel residue in the bottom), checked the pressure at the shrader valve (very low). He had put a fuel pump on back during the summer so we were kinnda throwing that idea to the back burner. We were thinking the bio had something stopped up. He tried a more few other things on his own, including starting fliud again which resulted in a toasted air filter (still has stock box) I again told him no starting fluid. He is old school and has used starting fluid on tractors and equipment for many years. He and a mechanic friend of his, that used to work on chevy diesels pulled the fuel pump, looking for a clogged hose. When they found no clogg they put a new pump on. After the new pump was on and they were trying to start the truck they again tried starting fluid, which resulted in blowing the lid off of the air cleaner housing and his friend now has a shorter beard and a new haircut. The truck finally started , but now it knocks, after a few checks to narrow down where the knocking is comming from and a phone call to a local diesel shop, we are figuring he has some internal damage now, one or more cracked pistons and/or bent rods. Please learn from this NO STARTING FLUID.

 

Great story Reps sent. Thanx for reminding us. maybe this will keep someone else from doing the same.

 

OUCH!!! GP's and ether don't mix! is there any white smoke with the knocking? Water could have made it to the injector tip and turn to steam which then explodes the nozzle. Or could be the ether bent a rod or broke a piston!

 

Wow. that stinks.
I disagree- gp's and ether mix, just not very well... lol
reminds me of mythbusters: "am i missing an eyebrow???"

 

ROTFLMAO, That's funny even if it's tragic. Reps sent for the chuckle, thanks.
Some old guys seem to think they know everything LOL, no me of course

 

Some people just won't listen. Will ether hurt old(70's) tractors?

 

Either will do damage to any internal combustion engine if not used correctly older diesels actually had a can mounted under the hood with a button on the dash one of the trucks at work still has the button on the dash and the bracket for the can so I can see how the old fella would do something like that to bad he didn,t disconnect the glow plugs.

 

61 uni- I'm not 100% sure but i think that the reason that it is a big no no in these engines is because of the glow plugs, someone correct me if im wrong. So as long as the tractor doesnt have them it should be ok to use in moderation, but you should still be very careful none the less.

 

its pretty hard to mess up a tractor. my dad would go make me start our 4020 or 2940 in the winter and i didnt know how much to spray in there......... so i would spray a bit to much and it would rev up to about 10000000 RPMS and run fine. i did that about 20 times in my little kid life. now i can really kick my self in the ***, lol.
to this day both tractors run GREAT. "im now 19"10k hrs on the 2940 and 12-15kHRS on the 4020. they both blow a little blue/white smoke a bit but still have lots of power.
Mitch

the most starting fluid i have used on a tractor would have been on my buddys case IH that wouldnt start in 100 degree weather.... about a full can in 5 mins.
he told me"just keep spraying" OK EARL!

 

IMO Either is a great resource if used wisely! A well maintained set of glow plugs and good cranking speed should keep most people away from it. I have even seen blown head gaskets from using too much either! In my experience almost any engine that does not have glow plugs is probably safe to use either on (in moderation) unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer.