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ether

9K views 70 replies 23 participants last post by  IamDave0887 
#1 · (Edited)
ok i know ether is a bad thing, but will it damage my motor to give it a small sniff?

its -8 F here now and it won't fire, i brought inside the batteries last night while i used a different set(bigger ones but old so it cranked slower) i put the newer ones back in this morning after putting the charger on them last night and it cranked over faster but still no fire, a couple of sputters but that was about it.

the driverside glows light up the test light when i check them, the pass side i don't know since i can hardly see them and my test light cord is too short, i would assume they were replaced when the heads were replaced a year and a half ago so they should be ok.
 
#2 ·
NO ETHER!!!!!!!!!!......use WD-40 if anything...does you block heater work?
 
#3 ·
i just used the ohm meter and id have to say no, there is no reading so the element must be dead.

why wd-40? ive never heard of using that, is it for its oil properties?
 
#4 ·
WD-40 does work just not as good as it used to, also you can get a rag and soak some gasoline into it and place it close to the air box and crank it.The gasoline is better than ether, also if you have a small propane torch cannister you can open the bottle and let some propane into air intake hose and it will aid the engine in firing up too. Moderation is best in all things but beer on Friday night :D
 
#5 ·
do not use ether on a diesel engine with glow plugs. You can cause some serious damage.
 
#6 ·
will it damage my motor to give it a small sniff?
Might not, but probably will... Not worth taking the chance.
As suggested: WD-40... These engines want to burn oil{period}
 
#7 ·
I had a friend working on an older 7.3PSD dump body truck that the guy used ether to start it every morning, with a bad GP system. the motor sounded like a bunch of bolts were in the oil pan in place of engine oil. It sounded awful to say the least and smoked like crazy too.

My friend fixed the GP system and it still wouldn't start on its own not even a cough just white smoke from the tailpipe. He gave it a shot of ether and the air box blew right off the truck as the hot glowplugs ignited the ether.
 
#8 ·
wd40 did not do the trick, it must just be too cold/not turning over fast enough.

hopefully once i get the inline heater in it things will get better.
 
#9 · (Edited)
You may have discovered a problem that was hidden by the warmer weather. With a working glow plug system and the motor turning fast enough(~200rpm), assuming the fuel system is working correctly, it should start right up.


How old is your starter and how good are you connections at the batteries? these trucks require really good connections to the batteries. If its sputtering then its getting fuel. Make sure all the grounds are clean and tight. Can you hear the GP relay click? Any idea what kind of GPs are in the truck? if they are the 60Gs or Bosch Duraterms you can jump the relay and give yourself a bit more glow time to help get it started. If they aren't one of the two above mentioned GPs don't just the controller as you'll burn them out by overriding the GP system.
 
#11 ·
its -6 F right now, the starter is about a year old, the battery connections are clean, the wts light comes on but i did not listen for the click, the gp would have been replaced by hucksdorf diesel when they put on the new heads, i have no idea what they used.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I'm not telling you to do so b/c it's reeeaaally not recommended, but I used to ether my 96 6.5 quite a bit. It was a cold blooded bastard. It wouldn't start below 30* on it's own. Problem was, if I shut it off on a jobsite for part of the day when it was really cold, there wasn't a chance of it starting back up. I'd always gas it just a hair starting it up with a little shot and it would pop right off. Sounded like holy hell, but it worked, and worked many times.

On edit, I agree with Dave. Mine obviously had a problem is why it wouldn't start, I'm sure I didn't help it by using ether. My current 95 starts up great in the cold, nothing like a Dmax, but it won't leave you stranded in the cold (at least b/c of that!) I just started my Dmax at 0* on the nose..............start light was on for all of about 5secs and started and sounded normally :)
 
#12 ·
glow controller is clicking in correspondence with the wts light, so that must be working
 
#13 ·
open air intake from filter box, get a rag and pour a SMALL amount of gasoline on it. Put the rag close to the opening at the air box and try to start it. The gas is not as dry as the ether and does not act like diesel crack cocaine either. I had to do this when we rebuilt the engine in my 977 cat.
 
#14 ·
tried it, and no dice still won't start
 
#15 · (Edited)
Try to find a buddy or friend with a garage to warm the truck in overnight. It will also make it easier to work on. If you don't have a garage accessible, rig up a tarp over the front half of the truck and get some kind of large BTU type heater and warm it up. While it is heating up, try to figure out what is wrong with your glow system. Their is quite a few members on here that live up in Canada that is a lot colder than the temps you are having and their trucks start.

Read up in FAQ and searches on how to fix and diagnose your glow system.

Don't use ether! It is like crack to a druggie on comparison to our 6.5TD. Once you use it is is very hard to get off it.
 
#16 ·
the reason ETHER is so bad is it preignites, (I.E. before diesel would ignite) which causes a flame front to hit the piston before the piston can hit TDC which is when you would ideally be injecting the diesel, and thus causing a flame front to force the piston down in the correct direction, the crack effect of ether is the bent connecting rods lowering compression, this is the single most important thing in a diesel, is compression, without it, you have no ignition, so you use ether again, doing more damage, and bending the rods more, and so on and so on...that is if you don't just blow your damn self up

long story short....do not, in any circumstance, use ether to start a glow plug equipped diesel, ever...if you do...be sure to warn the next purchaser of the vehicle what you have done, cause they will probably want to rebuild the engine
 
#17 ·
if you dont have a way to heat like dieselcash sugested take a heat gun or a small torch (be very very very careful around wires with a torch) and heat the fuel lines from the ip to the injectors then remove your air filter and put the heat gun in the air box. it should then fire because everything going into the cylinders will be warm. i have had to do this many times to start our old oliver diesels do to the fact that they dont have gp's. they dont even need a snif after warming the lines up. i started my 6.5 up the other day -12 with out pluging it in and a single cycle of the plugs and fired right up hope this helps you
 
#18 · (Edited)
i do have a heat gun from my days of r/c car racing, so i can give that a try, im going over to tractor supply in a couple minutes to get a circulating heater to replace the block heater that does not work, so hopefully something will work.

now if someone knows how that pump should be hooked up to heat the block coolant up instead of the heater core/radiator first, i don't see how that would be feasible though, so i guess it would need to be in the return hose on the pass side of the radiator.

 
#19 ·
you just put it in the heater line, or maybe use it as a way of creating a by pass cooling system to the rear of the heads, in any case it must be in a line of close to the same diameter(if not the same) as the inlet and outlet on the heater/circulator. otherwise you will create a restriction in the coolant flow
 
#20 ·
Maybe too late to mention ,but wondering if you removed the cord from block heater when checking the element. Often times it is the cord that is at fault.(break in wire ).
 
#21 ·
x2. Heating element lasts long, long time. The cord does not - it's constantly getting moved/bent/coiled up.
 
#22 ·
For crying out loud...

SEARCH.

Pull the air intake hose (that leads to the turbo) from the airbox, loosen the turbo snd of it and turn it up a bit. Stick your wife's hair dryer in the end, on hot.

Run it for a minute, crank over once (no glows) to put warm air in the intake, run it again, crank it over once again, run it for another minute, then let the glows cycle and start the truck.

Remove the hair dryer, put the intake hoses back where they belong, and go buy your wife a new hair dryer.
 
#23 ·
or a weed burner torch and LP tank and heat the oil pan....i do that with my AC WD-45....when it's that cold out..
 
#25 ·
A bit of heat is a great thing . Have an old 1950 s B 275 Int. farm tractor . Plugged in for a couple hrs & glos cycled it has never failed to start .Not plugged in, guaranteed not to start.
 
#28 ·
you know, Jifaire, I fully agree with you, how many times have we talked about using pure water in the rads, or no thermostat in the summer, or can i leave the cardboard in...can i use ether, can i can i can i...search search search...yes you can, it's at the top right underneath where the sign in bar/your user name sits...wow, what a hard place to find....for christsakes i know its christmas but i'm tired of giving free advice to people who can't search. and then they ask the same damn question again and again while we're tellling them what to do....merry christmas and a happy new year....but gimme a break
 
#29 · (Edited)
Calm down guys! Heck, there's only 2 threads currently going about ether.
I say if you're going to use it -- Spray the entire can in there and let it soak in for a few minutes -- Get it over with.
Why just kill the engine when you can take the entire truck out in dramatic fashion???

Oh Yeah - If you try this be sure to wear safety glasses. And be sure your movie camera is rolling.
 
#30 · (Edited)
You can heat the engine with a halogen shop light too, turn it on and point it at the oilpan. Done this many times when the glow system did not work on my 6.9 ford. It will heat the engine enough so it will start.

Hey Jiff, calm down sometimes we all get in a rush and do not do things in order. It is Christmas time for heaven sakes, take a deeeeeeeep breath and exhale slowly. There now you should be doing a little better.
 
#31 ·
I truley understand why you guys are strictly enforcing the no ether philosophy, I do. I agree 100% with you and do not advise anyone to do it, namely because I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone doing any damage to their vehicle. But, as I said, I did it many times, was fortunate, but it's not as if one little sniff will instantly blow up the truck. Hell, mine had 220k on everything original and I couldn't tell you how many times I did it. That truck ran like a top, just didn't like the cold weather.
 
#32 ·
well i sprayed in a whole can and let it sit, it cranked over a couple times and then was an abrupt halt and the starter wont turn it so i guess the battery is not strong enough, i did get the block heater working and with the added circulating heater it should help, i hope to have it fired up soon :D
 
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