What else is going to blow holes in the pistons and FRACTURE the ring lands off the piston? Diesel fuel (unless the cylinder is full, in which case the head gasket will go, too) won't do this under any circumstances.

Ether explodes in the cylinders, diesel fuel burns. Melted piston tops might be a result of serious overfuelling or putting a turbo on a non-turbo engine (so that there isn't any oil cooling for the pistons), but the melt "craters" from ether are distinctive. Pretty common cause of dead diesel engines when some idiot uses ether instead of the glow plugs to start the engine. If you don't believe me, just go talk to an engine rebuilder, they see it all the time.

A friend of ours used to start his diesel tractor on ether all the time. However, about 30 years ago, the compression went, so he had it rebuilt. Rings fell out in pieces, along with the ring lands. He (and his son now) have used the pre-heater ever since, and the tractor still runs great. Just goes to show, it's got a lot more hours on it since the failure that it did at the time.

You can do anything you want, but don't come crying when you do serious engine damage by trying to use ether. If it won't start on the glow plugs, it's sick and needs repair. My 300D has 190,000 miles on it a start on the first compression stroke at 10 F.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!