Unpopular opinion: Old timers who say to never use ether on a diesel are full of it

My grandpa Jake swore I'd blow a hole through a piston if I ever used starting fluid on a 7.3 IDI. He said if it don't start without it, somethings wrong with the glow plugs or batteries. But last winter my buddies F-250 sat for 6 months in the snow, batteries were fine but it would NOT catch. I cracked the glow plug relay and gave her a quick shot of ether, fired right up and has run fine for 3 months now. Has anyone else saved a cold IDI with ether against old school advice or am I just lucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_lisa23d ago

Thing is, no one talks about how different glow plug systems handle it.

jasonallen23d ago

Man it's wild how that applies to everything. Like I swear every brand of freezer has its own weird way of letting you know the ice maker is jammed. Some just stop making ice and you gotta figure it out yourself, others beep at you in a pattern you have to google. You'd think by now someone would just make a universal standard for little stuff like that.

violaramirez23d ago

Funny you mention that, because it's like how every brand of something has its own little quirks that no one mentions until you're standing there trying to fix it. Glow plug systems are kind of the same way - you'd think they'd all work the same, but the way one brand handles cold starts can be totally different from another. That's just how it goes with most things, really. You get used to one way of doing something, then you switch brands and suddenly you're figuring out a whole new system. Makes you wonder how much time we spend learning little differences that nobody warns us about.