Thank you Ed.
I didn't know about the block heater nor the ether technique. I have used
ether to start my boat when the real problem was the points wire was loose
on the ignition coil.
The long story, if you care:
I was the last to water ski late one summer evening. When we stopped I told
the boat driver to turn on the lights. A minute later smoke erupted from
the bilge area. Although I wasn't yet in the boat, I told them to grab the
collapsible two gallon bucket from beneath the seat. Fire extinguisher was
also available but I wasn't thinking clearly when bobbing around 70 feet
behind the boat. They proceeded to fill the bucket with lake water; lift
the engine cover and without any flames present, doused the engine till it
would not start. The lights wiring had been pinched to ground and the
insulation was smoking, but no real fire. By the time I swam back to the
boat it started to get dark. Another boat was flagged down and offered to
tow us back to the marina. The tow boat was sinking but had bilge pump
going continuously to keep it afloat! Once back to the dock I removed the
engine cover and I tried the Ether Technique on the gasoline engine which
acted like it wanted to start, but wouldn't. After spending an hour
troubleshooting the no start problem late at night (tied to the dock on
Shasta Lake in Northern California) the points wire fell away from the
coil(cause of problem). Later an expensive ski was lost overboard while
hunting for our campsite at lake's edge. Never could find the campsite site
and returned to van in parking lot to sleep till daylight. It took most of
the night navigating the length of the lake to arrive at the van.
The wire came loose because a neighbor had completed the tuneup before we
went on vacation and didn't get the wire tight enough.
Now back to the tractor.
Gary
Post by C. E. WhitePost by v***@sbcglobal.netI have a 1973-1976 International Harvester farm tractor, Model 674, 239cu
in. but cannot find the glow plugs. Don't all diesel engines require glow
plugs to get the cylinders up to temperature so the fuel will light off
when compressed? I also have a 1983 GMC 6.2L diesel and a 1982 VW Rabbit
diesel that both have glow plugs. In the winter when the Rabbit is hard
starting or will not start, the problem is usually with one glow plug open
(no continuity). Most glow plugs measure around 1 ohm.
Gary,
Many larger farm tractors don't have glow plugs. My two larger farm
tractors (a Ford 7710 and a Ford 8630) don't. They both have block
heaters. The Ford 7710 has a system that dribbles fuel into the intake and
ignites it using something like a glow plug. The Ford 8630 has ether
injection (press a button on the dash to inject ether into the intake
while cranking). Both of the Fords have a button on the injector pump that
advances the injector timing to improve cold start performance. I have a
smaller Kubota (M4700) that does have glow plugs. When I want to start the
larger tractors on really cold days, I usually plug them in for an hour or
so. Of the three systems, the Ford 7710 system that dribbles fuel into the
intake seems to work the best. If you are patient and wait about 90
seconds, it will usually start a cold engine as long as the temperature is
above 5 degrees F or so (assuming you also pressed the injector advance
button). The only complaint about this system is the lack of any visual
indication of its operation. There is no light, no sound, nothing. You
have to go on faith alone. The Kubota glow plugs work OK as long as the
temperature is above 20 degrees F. Below that and I have add ether to the
intake manually. The 8630 will start with ether assist as long as the
temperature is above 32 degrees F. Below that, you need to warm it up with
the block heater to get it to started.
Ed