I have always read in the manuals of the Diesels that I have owned that have glow plugs NOT to use ether (Volvo and Ford 6.9 NA). But, I understand, for example, that the Diesels in the Mercedes Unimogs, that don't have glow plugs, allow the use of ether. In fact, there is a factory option to have an automatic dispenser for cold weather starts. I think that the glow plugs may be either damaged by the ether, or the glow plugs may cause early detonation with resulting damage to the engine. Clearly the manuals state that use of ether can lead to catastrophic engine failure and strongly advise against it and further will not cover the damage under warrantee.
In the case of your starter it wasn't a faster rev that broke it; rather I bet you had a pre-ignition which tried to run your engine backwards. Since the starter was engaged, the teeth broke. The GM Diesels also have glow plugs and I understand that their manuals also state that ether is not to be used. Derek -----Original Message----- From: martin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2002 21:11 To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [biofuel] cold weather starting - No starting fluid! You used too much. I worked on a farm and we had to use ether all the time to get things running and I never broke anything. One time I sprayed too much in an engine and it revved really [way too] fast, but it didn't break anything. But these were large 500 ci IH in milk trucks, and smaller straight 6 tractors. So I guess if you don't need it, don't use it of course. harley3 wrote: >Never use "starting fluid" in a diesel engine. I tried starting fluid once >in my 6.5 diesel G.M. Suburban. The engine spit the starter out onto the >ground. My foolish mistake broke the starter, and torn out 5 teeth off my >torque converter. A very expensive mistake, never again. > >Harley > > -- --- Martin Klingensmith http://nnytech.net/ http://infoarchive.net/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
