TheBuggyman
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- Fredericksburg, Virginia
Well, I went and did it. After weeks of teens and twenties outside with the single intake glow plug giving all she had, I had it.
Sure, the truck would start eventually, after pumping and cranking and pumping and cranking, wearing out my starter and discharging my batteries.
I began researching the ether systems available and settled on the DieselMatic from Koldban. A few reasons why: Caterpillar uses their systems on their heavy equipment, the cylinders are readily available from any Cat dealer, this system is invisible in its operation.
In normal use there is a temperature sensor mounted to the block that will energize the system anytime the temp is below 40 deg F and the starter solenoid is engaged. The unit will continue to discharge ether through a spray nozzle sized for your engine until the engine fires. Now the cool part- there is a small reservoir built into the solenoid valve that holds a tiny amount of ether that will continue to feed the engine for 5 to 10 seconds to ensure stabilization.
The tech line tells me to expect 80 to 100 starts from a 21 ounce bottle depending on crank time.
I used it today at 19 deg F (w/o the glow plug obviously!) and the engine fired in about 10 seconds and stayed running! It worked very well!
I have added one thing: a toggle switch in series with the starter switch to allow the manual isolation of the ether system, if desired.
The kit was (is) on sale for $199 with the bottle and there is a cheaper one called the DieselStart for $129 if you do not mind manually activating your ether delivery.
This is the link to the kit I purchased: http://www.koldban.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=9
Maybe I can get some pics tomorrow and post up in the evening.

Sure, the truck would start eventually, after pumping and cranking and pumping and cranking, wearing out my starter and discharging my batteries.
I began researching the ether systems available and settled on the DieselMatic from Koldban. A few reasons why: Caterpillar uses their systems on their heavy equipment, the cylinders are readily available from any Cat dealer, this system is invisible in its operation.
In normal use there is a temperature sensor mounted to the block that will energize the system anytime the temp is below 40 deg F and the starter solenoid is engaged. The unit will continue to discharge ether through a spray nozzle sized for your engine until the engine fires. Now the cool part- there is a small reservoir built into the solenoid valve that holds a tiny amount of ether that will continue to feed the engine for 5 to 10 seconds to ensure stabilization.
The tech line tells me to expect 80 to 100 starts from a 21 ounce bottle depending on crank time.
I used it today at 19 deg F (w/o the glow plug obviously!) and the engine fired in about 10 seconds and stayed running! It worked very well!
I have added one thing: a toggle switch in series with the starter switch to allow the manual isolation of the ether system, if desired.
The kit was (is) on sale for $199 with the bottle and there is a cheaper one called the DieselStart for $129 if you do not mind manually activating your ether delivery.
This is the link to the kit I purchased: http://www.koldban.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=9
Maybe I can get some pics tomorrow and post up in the evening.