I'm sure someone can explain this.
Thanks Mobiltech: the engine starts IMMEDIATELY with starting fluid, and this is a huge relief. The tiniest shot does it. And it KEEPS RUNNING (...and it's running /smoothly/ now, too!) So I thought "jeez...somehow that ether must have taken me over the hump, and now...er...everything is magically OK?..."
But not quite: it won't restart without a shot of starting-fluid.
So you're thinking, "it's your glow-plugs, ya moron...", right? This is getting to be a long thread, so you might be forgiven for not recalling that earlier, I cleaned, tested, and checked power to them. They glowed bright orange - all four at once - within a second or two of getting test-power. One was slightly swollen, but other than that, no obvious physical damage. So I reinstalled them. And I rechecked that they are really /getting/ power, just now, yet again.
From testing this circuit, I found the glow-plugs get power ONLY when I'm holding the key all the way over in the 'cranking' position - not before, and not once it starts, of course. Is this not odd?
My only other glow-plug diesel is my old Benz, and in that case, the driver is supposed to turn the key to the 'run' position, let it sit for a few moments while the glow-plugs get hot, and THEN crank. That makes sense to me. But then again, this machine has never been a problem to start until now, and I've never done any "holding" before starting, ever before on the CAT.
So why won't it start without ether now? I've still got the air-filter housing out for clearance purposes, but I can't see that making much difference. I've also still got the 'for testing purposes' electric lift-pump installed, and it moves a lot more fuel than the mechanical, I think, but...that shouldn't matter, right? (I think I will go with a smaller electric in place of the mechanical one, once I get the other problems sorted out anyway.)
I'm trying to think up a way to run temp power to the plugs manually (without starting a fire) a few seconds before cranking just to see if it starts that way, but like I said, I never had to do that before, so I don't get why that would make a difference now.
What's the DEAL?
Thanks - Dave