In article , Cerumen
wrote:

"Ted Bell" wrote in message
...
When it's very cold I have a hard time cranking my diesel. I was wondering
if I put Tilley wicks saturated in meths around the injectors and lit them
if it would warm up the injectors enough to vaporize the fuel better.
Anybody ever try it?

No but I have warmed a reluctant deisel with a blow lamp before now, heat
inlet manifold and then crank. Another tip is to cover, if you can, the
inlet port which can make the engine spin a lot faster, remove the blockage
and inertia helps to start it.

Usually easier and less likely to cause problems - pull the 'Engine Stop'
decompressor for a second while the engine builds speed/inertia then
release. This sometimes gets you going if the batteries are a bit low. A
cautious squirt of ether can help too but mustn't be overdone.

Cheerio,

--
Fishing: http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/
Writing: http://www.author.casterbridge.net/derek-moody/
uk.rec.fishing.game Badge Page:
http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/urfg/

Derek Moody wrote in news:ant051635965BxcK@half-
baked-idea.co.uk:

A
cautious squirt of ether can help too but mustn't be overdone.


Not enough can be said for NOT squirting explosives into the intake of a
small, LIGHTLY MADE diesel engine. DON'T DO THIS! Notice it says not to
do this right in the manual!

Big, giant diesels that weigh tons can withstand the occasional blast of
ether exploding BEFORE the piston reaches TDC, which tries to push the
piston down in the direction it was coming from. Little light diesels,
like the one in your sailboat CANNOT. Premature explosions from ether or
"starting fluid" from auto stores in a spray can WILL, not may, detonate
on the compression stroke. You'll hear a loud knock, if you get away
with it. You'll hear a loud bang if it blows the head gasket or blows
the head off or breaks the little aluminum piston.

Diesels run on the heat of compression. There are two ways of
artificially creating this SAFELY when they are cold.....preheat the
cylinders, preferably with glow plugs...or preheat the air, preferably
with an air pre-heater in the intake. HEATING THE FUEL DOES NOT MAKE
THEM START! Diesel fuel explodes because it is finely sprayed into
superheated compressed AIR caused by the heat of compression....22:1 or
more compression. (Remember how hot the bicycle pump cylinder got
pumping up the tire?)

The heat gun is a great idea if you have a power source to run it from.
Let's avoid lighting fires in the engine compartment fumes of fuel and
battery hydrogen to crank them, ok? Thanks!

The usual reason why they won't start is THE COMPRESSION IS TOO LOW or
THE ENGINE DOESN'T SPIN FAST ENOUGH....both of which, of course, require
corrections that cost $$$$. Gas engines will run with worn rings, poorly
closing valves, leaky head gaskets.....diesels will NOT....

Larry
--

We tried to tell you to change the oil every 100 hours or THREE
MONTHS....(sigh)

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Derek Moody wrote in news:ant051635965BxcK@half-
baked-idea.co.uk:

A
cautious squirt of ether can help too but mustn't be overdone.


Not enough can be said for NOT squirting explosives into the intake of a
small, LIGHTLY MADE diesel engine. DON'T DO THIS! Notice it says not to
do this right in the manual!

Big, giant diesels that weigh tons can withstand the occasional blast of
ether exploding BEFORE the piston reaches TDC, which tries to push the
piston down in the direction it was coming from. Little light diesels,
like the one in your sailboat CANNOT. Premature explosions from ether or
"starting fluid" from auto stores in a spray can WILL, not may, detonate
on the compression stroke. You'll hear a loud knock, if you get away
with it. You'll hear a loud bang if it blows the head gasket or blows
the head off or breaks the little aluminum piston.

Diesels run on the heat of compression. There are two ways of
artificially creating this SAFELY when they are cold.....preheat the
cylinders, preferably with glow plugs...or preheat the air, preferably
with an air pre-heater in the intake. HEATING THE FUEL DOES NOT MAKE
THEM START! Diesel fuel explodes because it is finely sprayed into
superheated compressed AIR caused by the heat of compression....22:1 or
more compression. (Remember how hot the bicycle pump cylinder got
pumping up the tire?)

The heat gun is a great idea if you have a power source to run it from.
Let's avoid lighting fires in the engine compartment fumes of fuel and
battery hydrogen to crank them, ok? Thanks!

The usual reason why they won't start is THE COMPRESSION IS TOO LOW or
THE ENGINE DOESN'T SPIN FAST ENOUGH....both of which, of course, require
corrections that cost $$$$. Gas engines will run with worn rings, poorly
closing valves, leaky head gaskets.....diesels will NOT....

Larry
--

We tried to tell you to change the oil every 100 hours or THREE
MONTHS....(sigh)

Another possibility is that the oil is too heavy for cold weather. Don't
know how well multi-viscosity oils work in diesels, but maybe changing to a
lighter weight would help. And removing 20 years of built-up sludge... ;-)

While possibly not recommended, a friend with a diesel Mercedes of ancient
vintage once had me spray WD-40 into his engine intake while he cranked the
motor. Being essentially kerosene, this would be much safer than ether, I
think.

"KLC Lewis" wrote in
:

While possibly not recommended, a friend with a diesel Mercedes of
ancient vintage once had me spray WD-40 into his engine intake while
he cranked the motor. Being essentially kerosene, this would be much
safer than ether, I think.



WD40 USED to be flammable...I don't think that's true, now.

I use 15W-40 Rotella T in my cars/truck and the boats. Of course, it
doesn't get that cold here. Ask Bruce in Alaska what they use up there,
where the REAL test weather conditions occur...(shudder)

Mercedes specifically forbids spraying ANY kind of starting fluid into the
gullet of their diesel engines, which is just suicide waiting to happen.
Your friend needed to get his GLOW PLUGS FIXED....

Larry
--
Have a little fun in the checkout line....
Ask the nearest American, "Did you see the ICE
agents chasing those Mexicans out the back door?"
....Shortens that checkout line right up...(c;

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"KLC Lewis" wrote in
:

While possibly not recommended, a friend with a diesel Mercedes of
ancient vintage once had me spray WD-40 into his engine intake while
he cranked the motor. Being essentially kerosene, this would be much
safer than ether, I think.



WD40 USED to be flammable...I don't think that's true, now.

I use 15W-40 Rotella T in my cars/truck and the boats. Of course, it
doesn't get that cold here. Ask Bruce in Alaska what they use up there,
where the REAL test weather conditions occur...(shudder)

Mercedes specifically forbids spraying ANY kind of starting fluid into the
gullet of their diesel engines, which is just suicide waiting to happen.
Your friend needed to get his GLOW PLUGS FIXED....

Larry
--

Well, ya -- getting the glow plugs fixed would have helped, but would have
put a crimp in his beer budget.

In article ,
Larry wrote:

Ask Bruce in Alaska what they use up there,
where the REAL test weather conditions occur...(shudder)

I use Chevron Delo400 15W40 in the Gensets. It works well, even
down below 0F. The manual suggests 5W40 when below -20F, but I live
next to Salt Water, and it rarely gets down that cold, here. Much
easier to keep one type of BaseOil in Stock, when you can't just
go down to the store and buy what you need. For the Rolling Stock,
(vehicals) I am using Delo 100 15W40. Snowmobiles are all 2Cycle,
so they use their own YamaLube II.

Bruce in alaska who got the WebCam up and running yesterday......
--
add a 2 before @

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:56:32 GMT, Bruce in Alaska
wrote:

Bruce in alaska who got the WebCam up and running yesterday......



And the webcam URL is ??

In article ,
Wayne.B wrote:

On Tue, 06 Mar 2007 19:56:32 GMT, Bruce in Alaska
wrote:

Bruce in alaska who got the WebCam up and running yesterday......



And the webcam URL is ??


It is on the Website www.99850.net......

Bruce in alaska
--
add a 2 before @

In article , KLC Lewis
wrote:

While possibly not recommended, a friend with a diesel Mercedes of ancient
vintage once had me spray WD-40 into his engine intake while he cranked the
motor. Being essentially kerosene, this would be much safer than ether, I
think.

It was probably the propellant that did the trick.

Cheerio,

--
Fishing: http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/
Writing: http://www.author.casterbridge.net/derek-moody/
uk.rec.fishing.game Badge Page:
http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/urfg/

Not enough can be said for NOT squirting explosives into the intake of a
small, LIGHTLY MADE diesel engine. DON'T DO THIS! Notice it says not to
do this right in the manual!

I worked in a Detroit shop when I was a kid. Mostly fisking boats and
logging equipment/trucks. Got to do basic rebuilds on 53, 71, 92
series. The head mechanic took me asides and showed me two 6-71
engines in for a rebuild. One operator used ether regularly caus it
was cheeper than a new charging system and new batteries. The other
operator never used the stuff. It was stunning to comapre the two
during de assymble!


The heat gun is a great idea if you have a power source to run it from.

Let's avoid lighting fires in the engine compartment fumes of fuel and
battery hydrogen to crank them, ok? Thanks!

Concure............................ " ...flames on boat.......bad."
Suggest using the spay can to help start the grill you moved to the
dock.
Babbit Bob