In article , Larry
wrote:
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!

We appear to be talking about engines big enough to require starter motors,
I agree that tiny one or two cylinder jobs wouldn't like it (I said a
cautious squirt and into a fast spinning engine but you snipped that bit.)
With a really small engine hand cranking to help the starter is a much
better idea.

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

And if you have either fitted you don't need other heating...

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

As always there is a pay off between heated air (lower mass of air per
inspired volume) and heat of compression. The engine block in winter is a
massive lump of over-chilled heatsink, anything to get a little heat in
there will help.

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

If you have a small heater than it might be better used to warm your
batteries to make sure you're getting maximum starter speed.

Elsewhere in this thread are comments about winterising/waxing up of fuel.
While this is all true for diesels in general I doubt it makes any
noticeable difference to vessels afloat in British waters. The tank, engine
compartment, and fuel lines are almost always at least partially below the
water line and so rarely get much below harbour-water temperature which in
turn will usually be above zero even in sal****er.

I have never tried this but it occurs to me that a couple of kettles' full
of hot water poured slowly over the block (might as well add detergent and
break out a scrubbing brush) would transfer heat as well as anything.

Cheerio,

--
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Writing: http://www.author.casterbridge.net/derek-moody/
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http://www.fishing.casterbridge.net/urfg/

Derek Moody wrote in
:

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!

We appear to be talking about engines big enough to require starter
motors, I agree that tiny one or two cylinder jobs wouldn't like it (I
said a cautious squirt and into a fast spinning engine but you snipped
that bit.) With a really small engine hand cranking to help the
starter is a much better idea.


Read someone else's reply to my paragraph about GM 6-71 and 8V-92 large
diesels being overhauled. Ether starting is very hard on ANY diesel.



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:

Derek Moody wrote in
:

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!

We appear to be talking about engines big enough to require starter
motors, I agree that tiny one or two cylinder jobs wouldn't like it (I
said a cautious squirt and into a fast spinning engine but you snipped
that bit.) With a really small engine hand cranking to help the
starter is a much better idea.


Read someone else's reply to my paragraph about GM 6-71 and 8V-92 large
diesels being overhauled. Ether starting is very hard on ANY diesel.

You said that there was a big difference, but didn't explicitly say
which one was worse or in what way.

Larry

Rosalie B. wrote in
:

You said that there was a big difference, but didn't explicitly say
which one was worse or in what way.


Slow turning large diesels tolerate ether much better than light-duty,
fast turning diesels. Fast diesels are much more prone to the ether
going off BEFORE TDC, which may cause piston or rod or crank failures.
This cannot happen if you stop pouring FUEL down its air intake into the
cylinders. There's PLENTY of heat to make fuel dumped down its air
intake EXPLODE before TDC in any diesel, which is exactly why the
instruction book forbids it....destroying the engine, either
catastrophically by breaking something, or weakening it by causing undue
stress on moving piston parts that fail prematurely later on. Repeated
use of ether to crank it repeats the weakening until something lets
go....usually through the side of the block...(c;

Not good....don't do it. HEAT THE AIR....FIX THE LOW COMPRESSION!

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;