starting fluid=bad?

[95dieselsmoke]

hey guys, i have a freind who has a 97 psd and his truck has been starting hard in the mornings, so to get it started he has been using starting fluid. i know that it is bad for diesels, but i don't know what exactly it is harming. can anybody please tell me what this will do harmwise to the engine? thanks in advance.

[SCUFFY828]

if used correctly in a emrgency situation it can be used , to start it every day , not a god idea , it is very possible to get to much in the engine and bend a connecting rod , blow a headgasket , ive even had them come in with the turbo cracked and intake blowm completely off the truck , so it isnt good to use , the biggest problem is it isnt used correctly

[taylorking]

yeh if hes having hard starts, have him swap for a new glowplug relay, or check the relay to see if he has voltage. if its good there then pull the glowplugs indiidually and check them.

but if he has to do that for a while, then unplug the glowplug relay (if its bad already then dont bother)

[95dieselsmoke]

Originally Posted by SCUFFY828

if used correctly in a emrgency situation it can be used , to start it every day , not a god idea , it is very possible to get to much in the engine and bend a connecting rod , blow a headgasket , ive even had them come in with the turbo cracked and intake blowm completely off the truck , so it isnt good to use , the biggest problem is it isnt used correctly

thanks for the reply. so by using it correctly, i take it you mean as little of a spray as possible?

[SCUFFY828]

when i use it , and have to from time to time ,i use 2 people, , the person inside i tell them to go ahead and try to start , after the engine is already spinning so its not as hard on it , i dont spray it directly in the air box , i hold it back and slightly mist it in ,doesnt take much, its really best to diagnose and fix the problem, lot less to repair problem, than replace engine

[taylorking]

so am i anywhere close when i told him what he should do to fix it? lol im 16 but i think i had a good idea

[SCUFFY828]

Originally Posted by taylorking

so am i anywhere close when i told him what he should do to fix it? lol im 16 but i think i had a good idea

testing the glow plug system yes would be a good place to start , to remove the glow plugs to test them woud be overkill, they can be tested very easily by just unhooking the harness right outside the valve cover , and test them there , 97 models were bad for relays and the gow plugs themselves , so just a few minutes of diag would tell the tale

[MarlandS]

Originally Posted by 95dieselsmoke

hey guys, i have a freind who has a 97 psd and his truck has been starting hard in the mornings, so to get it started he has been using starting fluid. i know that it is bad for diesels, but i don't know what exactly it is harming. can anybody please tell me what this will do harmwise to the engine? thanks in advance.

I gotta ask, where did you hear starting fluid (ether) is bad for diesel engines? It's made for diesel engines.

As Scuffy pointed out when used improperly it can do damage, But I took your question as what is bad about ether being used to start a diesel engine itself right? The truthful answer is if you buy quality brands, nothing. If there was something inherently wrong with using ether then Caterpillar wouldn't be putting automatic ether injection systems in their engines built for the North American market would they?

Some will say it hurts the cylendars, how? The name brands all have additives for upper cylendar lube, besides, the injectors are spraying fuel also (unless they aren't and that's why it won't start in the first place) .

Now I've seen heads practically ripped off of blocks with the bolts stretched almost a quarter inch from ether, but it wasn't the ether's fault , it was the guy who sprayed a half a can into the intake's fault.

So, next time you see someone post on here that "ether is bad" and nothing else,(always reminds me of Mr Mackey from South Park) ask them why it's bad.

Here's the proper way to say it " ether is bad in the hands of the unschooled"
and they should read Scuffy's way, hard to hurt an engine that way.

[95dieselsmoke]

Originally Posted by MarlandS

I gotta ask, where did you hear starting fluid (ether) is bad for diesel engines? It's made for diesel engines.

As Scuffy pointed out when used improperly it can do damage, But I took your question as what is bad about ether being used to start a diesel engine itself right? The truthful answer is if you buy quality brands, nothing. If there was something inherently wrong with using ether then Caterpillar wouldn't be putting automatic ether injection systems in their engines built for the North American market would they?

Some will say it hurts the cylendars, how? The name brands all have additives for upper cylendar lube, besides, the injectors are spraying fuel also (unless they aren't and that's why it won't start in the first place) .

Now I've seen heads practically ripped off of blocks with the bolts stretched almost a quarter inch from ether, but it wasn't the ether's fault , it was the guy who sprayed a half a can into the intake's fault.

So, next time you see someone post on here that "ether is bad" and nothing else,(always reminds me of Mr Mackey from South Park) ask them why it's bad.

Here's the proper way to say it " ether is bad in the hands of the unschooled"
and they should read Scuffy's way, hard to hurt an engine that way.

thanks for the input MarlandS. i have no clue either way if it was bad for them or not. i just told my freind that i had heard it was bad for them, and he asked me why? and i told him i was unsure of the effects it does to the engine so i figured i would get other opinions about it on here. and you say name brands are ok for them? can you give me an example of a name brand? he is using a can called THRUST starting fluid. thanks again. anybody else have an opinion on this subject?

[Big K]

Originally Posted by MarlandS

I gotta ask, where did you hear starting fluid (ether) is bad for diesel engines? It's made for diesel engines.

Only if used right and should NOT be used on Newer Engines.
The "Diesels" you are referring to are NOT PSD's.

Don’t use ether (starting fluid) to start a diesel engine. Ether has too high a flash point and when put up on glow plugs can blow the valve cover right off the engine.

You run a risk of hurting something EVERY time you use starting fluid on the engine.

And you ARE doing damage to it EVERY time