BoostnBenz, glad you got it home. Give the car a chance as you're still on the lower and colder end of the learning curve. Dollars to donuts it won't ever happen you again and you'll also be able to help somebody else in the future.

rsl007 and whunter, the plot of temperatures previous to this post is for Grand Forks, ND. Yes, it's nice to have a heated garage, but most folks don't for the semi-trucks. You aren't going to make a profit by running the engine at home, so there are electric engine block heaters and electric heaters for the fuel/water separators. Webasto is also gaining popularity, as you can tap into the Artic Fox (coolant line run through fuel tank). Either way the truck gets checked every eight hours or so and if all isn't well then we bite the bullet and start the engine and run at high idle (1 gal/hr). And #1 fuel only at these temperatures for semi, pickup, or car. Diesel cars very rare around here. It's all the other stuff that creates problems, like batteries, clutch actuator, transmission, and rear end fluids, and anything that is greased or oiled. Grand Forks city buses ran with the door open Friday because the hydraulic actuators failed. How'd you like to be a bus driver in -40F?

whunter, your directions should be pasted to every can of starting fluid. The folks that get into trouble are those who go 6 seconds on the second try. Sometimes they get a third try, sometimes not.

Attached is a pic of a college student doing the boiling water trick. Sounds like Rice Krispies when the impurities get blown out of the molecular chain as the water flash-freezes. Notice that the college student is 1) downwind and 2) not wearing a hat. Jeepers.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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daBenz - 1970 220D

WHunter,
Thanks for sharing that....Some of the other ' horror' stories involved other brand engines, very different types on putting the 'ether' into the system... direct injection compared to our precombustion chamber , etc....
If anyone is concerned about the ' glow plug ' item then fj bertrand's method takes that out of the equation...
But the tiny amount of BTU's available in your method ( which is mine also ) and the tiny area of the rings which might be exposed to any detonation type explosion.... and the extreme durability of our engines piston design..
Most of the answers on cold starting don't understand where the problem exists... that is in the actual bore and intake air temperature .... if it is cold then 50 degrees of difference in its temperature can make all the difference in a ' compression ignition' situation. And the ether ( evaporated starting fluid ) can make up what is needed to get it going long enough for it to sustain itself.... sometimes this might be from the actual heat added.. but might sometimes be the ability to turn the engine over fast enough to get some other piston bore to fire from simple compression heat.
The post by JimSmith may take me a while to find.. but I think he,tirebiter and a really good treatise by _______________, more recently may be easier to find....

Whunter, Just for you ....
"I think before we take this too seriously ("dogma" just sounds way to serious) we should try to frame the argument so we can sort the answers into categories that make sense. Nature is not solely a black and white event, there are shades of gray and even colors. So don't expect the answers to questions to be black and white all the time.

First, a single molecule of ether that gets sucked into the engine is not going to cause it to blow up. You can do that over and over, all day long and it won't damage anything. Matter of fact, two won't either. So it is not ether itself that is bad for Diesel engines, it is more likely that ether in the hands of morons is bad for Diesel engines. Just like any other standard maintenance operation, if you do it wrong you can hurt yourself and ruin the engine, brakes, etc.

Lets be a little more broad minded about this issue and see where we would be if we applied the same logic to the rest of the stuff we commonly add to the engine. For example, we add stuff like gasoline and kerosene and other chemicals to the Diesel fuel (some pretty loosely defined stuff, by the way) to prevent it from becoming solid - is it ok to run the engine on these items instead of Diesel fuel? Could they destroy the engine? Yes, but do we ban them from the fuel tank because of that? No, we use some judgement knowing they are not Diesel fuel, follow the manufacturers instructions, or trust the kid at the station did.

I am not sure, but I think the energy content of Diesel fuel, being a liquid at room temperature and wanting to be a solid at below zero Fahrenheit (thus the additives needed) is probably greater than the same volume of ether, as a gas at these temperatures. So, I find it hard to comprehend how a small quantity of ether is going to destroy something as robust as an MB Diesel engine.

That said, and I believe you can safely pass a whif of ether across the air intake while cranking, I agree that if your Diesel does not start like the manufacturer intended, you should fix it. Who wants to lift the hood and have another person tagging along to help you get your car started all the time? And if it is really cold where you live or your battery dies all of the sudden, if you have a manual transmission unit you can "pop" start it as my daughter says. And you can do this by yourself if you think ahead a little and park aimed down a slope with enough room to just coast out of the spot. So, lets get a rant going on the use of automatic transmissions with Diesel engines. They even cause people to put ether in the intake upon occasion! So they have to be worse than ether alone!

I hope this helps. Jim "
JimSmith

WHunter, That was the most recent post from JimSmith on that...

Here is the first one....
"Leathermang, and Smoke 'n Poke,

Ether and other similar agents can be used safely, as noted to help start a Diesel. Even an MB Diesel like the 240D. The benefit from such starting agents lies in the fact that they typically have a lower temperature threshold for ignition. They typically, as a vapor, do not have the energy density of Diesel fuel, or even gasoline as liquids per unit weight or unit volume though, and therefore by themselves, unless really over dosed, don't pose a great threat.

The real risk comes if the injected fuel is injected into a cylinder full of gas at a temperature that causes it to ignite all at once instead of in a controlled pattern based on the design of the injector nozzle, the timing, and the combustion chamber. This risk rises if there is a bunch of wetted area inside the cylinder that has Diesel fuel clinging to it from previous unsuccessful attempts to start the engine.

The procedure that one is looking for is to have the starting agent ignite before the piston reaches top dead center, and before the injector squirts the intended dose of fuel into the cylinder. As the piston continues compressing the burning starting agent and normal air charge, the temperature is further increased and ignition of Diesel fuel is assured. While I cannot imagine exactly what you would do to over dose the starting cycle so much that the engine would self destruct, if it can be done, I am sure some one has done it, no matter how hard it might be. I would expect the engine to try to run backwards and stop before it would ruin itself in the normal direction of rotation, but I suppose that also depends on what the agent is and how it is misapplied.

Leathermang, I hope I did not wait so long to chime in here that the discussion is already over. Good luck, Jim"
JimSmith

Thank you leathermang
I deleted the other post.
This is some great reading material.

What bothers me isn't the fact of knowing how to do it or not but that I've "fixed" many of these problems before and they just keep coming back. Just like the heat has worked flawless for over a month until now it just quits again, the injectors which have leaked after changing the bypass hoses already....

Thanks for posting that Greg, now the only thing I wonder is that if you use ether in a motor with glow plugs and obviously use the glowplugs first, then if it doesn't start how long would a person have to wait for it to be safe to cycle on the GPs again? If the motor was ran through two complete cycles would the danger of any ether left in the system be gone?

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Jeff M.
Mercedes W123 DIY pages are now located here.
1983 / 1984 300D Sold
2000 CLK430 Cabriolet ~58k Sold
2005 Avalanche 4x4 ~66k

There is nothing wrong with disconnecting the electricity to the glowplugs if anyone has any concerns in that direction....
My stance on this has always been that the amount of energy in the evaporated fumes of the starting fluid put into the end of the air intake, and taken in by the turning over of the motor is just not enough to cause any harm in these overly constructed engines...... in comparison with the amount of energy produced by the very powerful diesel fuel....and the tiny area exposed to direct ' explosion' down between the piston and the bore wall just does not have a chance of harming the rings or the lands holding them...
The point is to get the diesel which will be being injected hot enough to do its job.. whether that happens from heat from the fumes igniting or helping this piston in question to move fast enough to cause the next piston in the firing order to move fast enough to cause compression ignition does not matter.... but I think , explosion, detonation, or not , that the total power in any of the combustion areas is not enough with this ' explosive' but relatively weak substance ( compared to the diesel fuel btu's ) to do any harm.
If someone uses a different method for introducing the evaporated starter fliud ( like squirting directly into the port ) then these assumptions may not apply ....

Anyone try brake cleaner spray as a starting fluid?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 167,870 July 2025
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

why not just use starting fluid?

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Maybe they have brake cleaner and not starting fluid

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1981 300SD 512k OM603

Because you will kill yourself? The explosion caused by starting fluid + diesel glow plugs is not a pretty sight...

Starting fluid is for gasoline cars ONLY.

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

Or DI diesels without glow plugs.


One of the more creative solution I have heard for being stranded is to by a bag of charcoal and a disposable aluminum pan. Available at any grocery store in America and will warm the engine.

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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg
1995 E420 Schwarz
1995 E300 Weiss
#1987 300D Sturmmachine
#1991 300D Nearly Perfect
#1994 E320 Cabriolet
#1995 E320 Touring
#1985 300D Sedan
OBK #42

bs john deere has a factory setup for starting fluid. push a button and it sprays a little in the intake. (o btw this is a diesel tractor) gas engines dont need starting fluid unless something is wrong.

__________________
have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

Boosstnbenz you said the engine was turning over slowly....