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Starting a Ford Diesel tractor with the aid of propane torch

E

Ed ke6bnl

New User
Is there a way to aid the starting of a diesel with propane in the intake or propane flame in the intake. I seem to recall someone using it in cold weather to aid starting. I have a ford 3500 1969
 
We do not get really cold as in below 0 but when I have needed to start my 3000 diesel in the winter I stick a small electric space heater under the hood and let it run for about 1/2 hour.
 

Heat is heat for diesel, whatever is more convenient. A little more thought needed for gasoline.
 

Heat is heat for diesel, whatever is more convenient. A little more thought needed for gasoline.
 
Unknown to me at the time, I purchased my 3000 needing of an overhaul.......was overwhelmed by the fact that I found one for sale and didn't
pick up on the fact that the seller had to use Ether to get it going in April, in Texas......duhhhhhhhh!

Before I came to the reality, I tried several things to get it running. One of the things I did was to drill and tap a hole in the front side of the
intake manifold and installed a pipe plug for the purpose of injecting Ether. Worked just fine till I finally did the overhaul and it's no longer
needed.
 
(quoted from post at 07:11:57 11/16/16) Unknown to me at the time, I purchased my 3000 needing of an overhaul.......was overwhelmed by the fact that I found one for sale and didn't
pick up on the fact that the seller had to use Ether to get it going in April, in Texas......duhhhhhhhh!

Before I came to the reality, I tried several things to get it running. One of the things I did was to drill and tap a hole in the front side of the
intake manifold and installed a pipe plug for the purpose of injecting Ether. Worked just fine till I finally did the overhaul and it's no longer
needed.
Click to expand...

I have a hole for a heater element in the intake do you think you can remove it and use propane to put heat in there or just run some raw propane gas to aid the starting. I replace the heater element that was bad but does seem to do more then draw the battery down.
 
Only problem with thermostart is trying to figure out the wiring on a 50 year old tractor and then getting it to work!
 
You would need a different key switch, however most of the wiring is already in the harness. If not, or it's damaged, it's a simple matter to run some 10 or 12 gauge wire over to the heater from the key switch.
 
The factory optional "thermostart" heating element also needs a fuel line attached to be of any use. If no fuel, then you're right, all it will do is draw the battery down.
 
I don't know the flash point of Propane vs Diesel. With injection you know when the bang will occur. With Ether and Propane or any other
volatile fuel you don't know when it's going to light off. Pre combustion could be a problem, course it couldn't be any worse than Ether. But,
nothing ventured nothing gained and I'd think it wouldn't be as bad as with Ether.
 
Whack...whack....duhhhhhhhh!!! It just hit me. You may have been eluding to a flame from a Propane torch. Surely that would help to heat the air. Yes I don't know why that wouldn't work. You are helping the internal air get up to diesel combustion temp, not trying to fire Propane as I was originally thinking. I used an electric "heat gun" (about 2x the heat of a hair dryer) and that worked on my worn out 3000 before overhauling.
 
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