starting diesel engine that had water in it

My sister had a John Deere 410 backhoe sitting in a field for 4 years. It had water in the engine even though there was a rain cap on the pipe, so I had it hauled home without starting it. I drained about a gallon of crystal clear water out of the crankcase along with the oil. I left the drain open for 2 days and then I put new oil in it. Then I pulled the injectors and used compressed air to blow out all the moisture I could get out. Then I put some oil in each cylinder and put it all back together.

Using plenty of ether and a fully charged battery, I can"t get it to fire. I was thinking that if there is even a little bit of moisture in the cylinders it would absorb compression heat and not allow the cylinder to get hot enough to burn the ether. It also occurs to me that the cylinders or rings may be damaged, leading to poor compression, although that doesn"t seem like it would be a huge problem because I"ve seen some really worn out engines start with ether.

I was thinking of pouring a few ounces of oil down the intake to increase compression. Is there a product I can use to get rid of residual moisture without pulling the head off? I don"t want to pull the head, but I will if I have to. If this were your project, what would you do next?

Maybe you should check the valves---they may be stuck open

That's a pretty good idea. I put my hand over the air intake and felt one really good suction, but the other three were somewhat less. I thought it felt halfway decent overall. It would be smart to check the valves, though.

I just checked again, and there was very good suction on the intake manifold, with just one cylinder being weaker than the other three. I poured a bit of oil in it and a sprayed a lot of ether, and still no fire.

Plenty of ether will ensure an engine rebuild.
What is cranking compression psi?
Will the injectors spray fuel? Try starting the engine on diesel.

Are you certain there's no air in the fuel system? It doesn't take much to make a diesel engine not start. Are you getting any smoke that would indicate it's getting fuel?

I checked the lines where they attach to the injectors, and there was fuel there. I noticed a bit of smoke, although not a lot. Maybe it will get more smoke as I continue cranking the engine.

If it's got less then 250 PSI compression - ether isn't going to help.