Re: starting fluid and diesel motors

Posted by jdemaris on January 06, 2005 at 06:08:32 from (209.23.28.146):

In Reply to: starting fluid and diesel motors posted by ryan goss on January 05, 2005 at 22:22:46:

Too much of anything can be bad. But using the argument for ALL diesels is a little silly. Generally speaking, indirect injection diesels are not suited for ether use, whereas direct injected diesels are.
Indirect injected diesels usually use precombustion chambers, glow plugs and sometimes some sort of supplemental starting aid, e.g. a primer, or manifold heater. Most of the damage I've encountered when these engines are used with ether is cracked precombustion chambers. Most engines I've worked on that are IDI carry a warning label prohibiting the use of ether. It appears that internal pressures exceed the mechanical limits of these chambers when ether is used - even when the glow-plugs are disconnected or inoperative for other reasons.
Direct injection diesels, on the other hand, are usually designed with ether use in mind. One reason being, that since there are no glow-plugs or precombustion chambers, there is no easy way to cold start the engine. The only combustion chamber that exists is in the head of the piston itself and it is usually designed to withstand moderate ether use. Some companies offered automatic injection which limits the amount of ether that goes in. Most of the damage I've encountered (or witnessed as a mechanic) from ether use in these engines is shattered top piston rings, which eventually ruins the pistons and liners. This usually occurs when the ether is relied on too much, instead of fixing an underlying cold starting problem, or, in extreme cold, using other methods. As far as the complaints I've heard about diesels that are parked in areas where electricity is unavailable. I've seen that worked around in many ways. At our Deere dealership, we had dozers and skidders, out in the woods, that had to be started daily, sometimes at -30F. Some people chose to use siamese heater-hose hookups in their cars and/or pickup trucks. Pull up in the morning, plug in the running vehicle to the the cold diesel powered vehicle, wait awhile, and the running vehicle would warm up the other. Not unlike what happens with an old Cat or two-cylinder Deere diesel that has a pony motor - shared coolant - shared heat. Another option is a block heater - either a propane fired unit - or a convention electric unit plugged in to a small portable generator. A 20 lb., 1000 watt unit does the job quite nicely. I use it here for some of my stuff that sits up in the field. Of coure, if you have a monster block heater that uses 1500 watts, a larger generator will be needed.

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