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Its that time of year. Lets discuss ether.

td25c

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Machine / truck setting out in the cold with no electricity near buy gets one chance to fire while cranking it over with whatever life the batteries have left in them .........

Ether / starting fluid gives a slow cranking diesel an edge to light up in cold weather .

Do ya want this rig to start or not ? :)
 

RZucker

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Machine / truck setting out in the cold with no electricity near buy gets one chance to fire while cranking it over with whatever life the batteries have left in them .........

Ether / starting fluid gives a slow cranking diesel an edge to light up in cold weather .



Do ya want this rig to start or not ? :)

Basically... Unless you are totally stupid you wont be rebuilding an engine? or even a starter?
 

RZucker

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Starting fluid has a learning curve ......

Kind of like a monkey pissing off of a cliff ......

A little bit go's a long way :D

Years ago I worked for a company that had one guy that was "allowed" to spray ether. What a retard. Had no idea what he was doing. But he made sure he kept his nose warm with the boss's... And the boss was just as bad, so I was out ASAP with that bunch. Some of this ether dogma boggles my mind. It's a tool in the right application used with care. Engines do not get "addicted to it" unless an idiot breaks piston rings using too much. Seen that on many old Detroits.
 

Birken Vogt

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Some of this ether dogma boggles my mind. It's a tool in the right application used with care. Engines do not get "addicted to it" unless an idiot breaks piston rings using too much. Seen that on many old Detroits.

I agree. The people who think it gets addicted probably think of an engine as a living breathing being and probably have never taken one apart and put it back together (very successfully anyway).

I don't know if it has been mentioned in these 5 pages but I remember plenty of trucks and equipment that had an ether can loaded with a button you could push in the cab. If the manufacturers put it there, it can't be all bad.
 

RZucker

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I agree. The people who think it gets addicted probably think of an engine as a living breathing being and probably have never taken one apart and put it back together (very successfully anyway).

I don't know if it has been mentioned in these 5 pages but I remember plenty of trucks and equipment that had an ether can loaded with a button you could push in the cab. If the manufacturers put it there, it can't be all bad.

In measured shots it's good stuff.
 

Emerson

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My Case came with a factory Ether injection for cold weather that was what they did.. I've dumped 1/2 a can in before trying to get it going.
Maybe I'm getting old but.. plug it in, 2 new batteries and cleaned the cables and terminals and it actually starts without it. 1 thing I did this time which I haven't done in the last 10 years when replacing this stuff was put a disconnect switch on the batteries.. No more parasitic draw no weak batteries, knock on wood...
 

Knepptune

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Ye I didn't mean to imply that excessive cranking is bad for the engine itself. It is however bad for me. The longer she spins the more I age.
 

check

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I don't know if it has been mentioned in these 5 pages but I remember plenty of trucks and equipment that had an ether can loaded with a button you could push in the cab. If the manufacturers put it there, it can't be all bad.
Back in the late 70's early 80's, people (including myself) used ether like it was going out of style, oblivious to the damage it caused. I think this was because the effects of ether were not well known and the manufacturers didn't know either. The fact that they all stopped providing ether injection systems should tell us something.
 

Birken Vogt

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My thought is it was a separate system with a separate fuel type to maintain and once batteries and electrics got better to the point that they could work, it was seen as a much better option.
 

John C.

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There have been ether injection systems on diesels engines since at least the 60s and probably earlier that I have had experience with. They are in fact installed on a lot of new Cat equipment now.
 

DARO

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I use the saying. "No smoke no ether" not that iv never abused it. But if it aint got smoke prolly aint gonna stay running.
 

DMiller

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Had a small, REALLY small issue on my farm tractor cold start injector, corrupted a shade Fully closed and had to clean the port. Can ALMOST see that well if I don't have to hold it out about two arms lengths!!
IMG_3155a.jpg
 

td25c

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Is that on the Allis Chalmers DMiller ?

Our 175 diesel has that feature .

Chained up the 170 Allis this afternoon expecting ice & snow ..... No worries about starting fluid as he has the 226 cube gas engine . Pull the choke & fire him up :)

Old gas burner tractors still have there place as they will fire off fast in cold weather . :cool:
 

RZucker

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Is that on the Allis Chalmers DMiller ?

Our 175 diesel has that feature .

Chained up the 170 Allis this afternoon expecting ice & snow ..... No worries about starting fluid as he has the 226 cube gas engine . Pull the choke & fire him up :)

Old gas burner tractors still have there place as they will fire off fast in cold weather . :cool:

One of my favorite snow tractors was a Farmall 766 with a gas engine, it was cheap because nobody wanted a gas burner that big, Wish I still had it. The other toy was a Farmall 400 with the gas start diesel. Nice hot magneto for spark, it didn't take much to fire up.
 

td25c

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No doubt RZ , those were well built reliable tractors .

When my Grandad farmed half the tractors were gas & the rest diesel . The gas tractors worked great for winter time chores as they started easy . Still do today ....
 

crane operator

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That's funny with the gas engine talk, I had that last week in the cold. We've got three trucks, a 2001 dodge cummins, 2000 ford with 7.3, and a 1992 ford 460. (one ton dodge- fords are 450's)

The cold snap got the 7.3 with a little ice in the fuel line, the power steering pump/ brake booster on the 5.9 doesn't like below 30 very much, but the 460 fires right up and has the best heater. It was the go to rig here last week, it came and pulled the 7.3 to the shop when it gave up the ghost.

If it wasn't for the horrible fuel mileage, I would take it over the other two trucks.
 

Jim D

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Birken Vogt said: "I disagree a little bit with that posting, also.

Spinning the starter doesn't damage anything but the starter. If the engine pops and stutters it is helping the starter along at that point and starter time limits can be disregarded..."

Maybe... The *only* insulation between the wires of the wire-wound-coils, in the starter, is the varnish on the bright copper wire. Not much insulation, only a mil or two of 'plastic' insulation... and not high temp resistant.

I've never seen an engine that was damaged from ether. I've replaced many overheated/'burnt-out' starters... and they were almost always the starters that are really hard to replace... and solenoid contact points and conductor disks that were eroded or fused together...

P^)
 
Last edited:

DoyleX

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Ether damage right here
upload_2018-1-12_11-55-56.png
D315 direct electric start. Fogged the engine without it cranking.

Very rarely do starters give up because they are old. Most times its because of heat from bad connections that create a voltage drop and kill things. Weak batteries will do the same.
 
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