Diesel wont crank or start... nothing

[tangraf]

Engine wouldn't start. It would crank but not startup. Friend suggested I use some ether. I sprayed a little in the air filter compartment and when I went to start it cranked real slow a couple of times and just stopped. Now when i turn the key nothing. This is a 94.5 diesel. I am new to diesels.... hope i didn't mess it up. Any help is appreciated.


thanks

[vitalidle]

Is your batteries dead? Start there get a charger on the batteries and load test them to see if they are good.

[460+]

What you did is either locked the motor, just let it sit for a hour or so. The either will evetually evaporate and it will crank again.

[AWD Bare]

I am THINKING that you shouldn't use ether or any start assistants. But thats just from what I have read ... somewhere.

+1 for a dead battery

[AWD Bare]

Does it have a block heater? And if so do you use it?

[vitalidle]

Yeah ether is not recommended on a diesel because the glow plugs can preignite the ether before the piston is at top dead center and that is a bad thing

[tangraf]

Yes it has a block heater but i didn't have it plugged in.
The batteries looked a little weak so I am charging them up now also.

[vitalidle]

Yeah could be your issue. Hopfully its the batteries eh The pcm needs to have at least 10.5 volts while cranking to start the truck, so if the batteries are weak that could be the problem.

[wayno1967]

THE SAME THING SORTA HAPPENED TO ME, I ALMOST RAN OUT OF GAS, AND THEN IT STARTED CHUGGING, IT WON'T RUN SMOOTHLY, DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ANSWER FOR THAT?

[vitalidle]

You probobly have air in the fuel lines just need to drive it to work the air out. If it doesn't go away you might have sucked some crud off the bottom of your tank so you might have to check your fuel pressure if the chugging doesn't go away.