Why no Ether?
 

Everything I read warns about not using starting fluid in our 6.0, and it seems all the brands say the same thing. I'm the guy that always wants to know why. So, WHY? What exactly is it that Ether will cause to break?

I thought it was something to do with combustion and pressures in the cylinders.

I always thought that it was something the motor became addicted too!:-drink

Like a drug. Back in the day,late 70's early 80's, it seemed like when ever we started using ether on a motor, we always needed to from then on.

Digging in to the memory bank, seems like the ether had a negative effect on the walls of the cylinders and rings. Don't quote me on that, just a random memory I think.

"I do know it all, I just can't remember it all at once"

(saying on the shirt I currently am wearing)

The ether will ignite from the glowplugs. Bad things will happen.

i think maybe it is because modern diesels have glowplugs and they will light the ether off - possibly while an intake valve is open and cause a big bang.

It doesn't matter if the pistons at tdc or on the bottom of the intake stroke, as soon as ether hits the glow plugs it ignites and causes all kinds of bad things to happen,from bent rods to cracked heads.back in the day the detroits I worked on would become " addicted" to it.they'd shimmy and shake when you waved the can in front of the air cleaner intake.just like a drug addict,they'd wait for there fix.and it didn't matter if it was -30 or 90deg outside,they needed there " fix" to get going.......the good ' ol days I tell ya........

From a quick search:

Diesel Facts

What are the don’ts and the do’s of getting a diesel going that is cold and hard to start?

Don’t use ether to start a diesel. Ether has a low a flash point and when present in the intake can blow up the air filter housing and even the valve cover.

Will Ether (starting fluid) damage a Diesel engine? - Yahoo! Answers

Answers.com - What damage does ether do to a diesel engine

http://www.dieselbombers.com/5-9-lit...out-ether.html

There you go, those Detroits did love the ether. They also loved oil. We would "fill" the oil and "check" the fuel.

I've heard all of the reasons not to use ether, and I wouldn't use it unless it was absolutely necessary. It's always best to fix whatever is causing the engine not to start.

That said, Dad's 7.3 won't start without it when it's cold. He's checked all the glow plugs and they are working, he's just never had time nor money to go on and figure out why it won't start. I think it's probably a bad temp sensor or something like that.

1/4 second shot of ether to the air cleaner and it fires right up.

I did it on my 7.3 but disconnected the glow plugs system. Too scare the intake would blow up when ether hitting the glow plugs area. I even tried to light up a saturated fuel rag in the intake to warm up the engine. Some where lighting up a roll of toilet paper soak with fuel in a tobaco can under the oil pan, engine covered from wind. Other would try a tube from the exhaust of another truck into the intake of the cold diesel to warm up the inside of the engine.

All sort of things happened in the old days.

Ether has been known to cause many compression rings to crack, and even the lands of the compression ring in the piston to crack also. If you have a extension cord to a vehicle thats not starting, a heat gun blowing hot air into the filter intake works wonders. Sort of like a Cummins grid heater.

I tried this heat gun with my Yamaha snowmobile, the thing caught up on fire. I was quick enough with water and snow but got about 300 dollars wire and all sort of things replaced. We have to be carefull and keep an eye on our trials.

We also start Aircraft Engine an helicopter engine with warm air from Herman Nelson heater.

Heat guns and diesel yes, heatguns and gasoline no.

Ether is fine in limited quantities and is standard equipment for industrial diesels (my world). If you're using it all the time, you're going to have a lot more upper cylinder wear and a nasty red oxide coating on the GPs which will not damage the GP but will make them less effective. It does have a super low flash point (IIRC ~140F) and GPs get over 1000F in a few seconds (or should) so pre-ignition is a problem but only until the diesel effect kicks in. For the record, I've never seen one back-fire with ether but I've heard of it happening. If you have to use ether it's because something is wrong, i.e. too cold (no block heater/live in Antarctica), you're losing compression, bad GPs, low batts, etc... You should never have to use it on our 6.0s as they really aren't engineered to resist pre-ignition forces and I would bet money something would eventually break... but in an emergency situation I would use it in a heartbeat.

Big time! It strips the oil from the upper cylinder walls.