Oil Consumption

[Alan Wheeler]

Yeah just to side with Hellosailor. Either if used correctly is not too much of a problem. It certainly won't cause excessive wear and suddenly make an engine start using huge amounts of oil. The danger of Either is that it has a Percussive effect upon detonation which is hard on Big end bearings and crank. It gets very hot quickly and results in Valve burn. It is a very clean dry burn, so it has no lubricating properties, but the diesel fuel entering the cylinder helps that and the oil on the cylinder wall takes care of the lower area. If it was running on large quantities of either, it's a different story, but you use just enough to start the engine. The old Ford engines were a problem with cold start, especially as few had Glowplugs or manifold heaters and would require a long period of turnover to get going. The best remedy of the older fords was to ensure you had a very good start bank that wold maintain some decent turnover speed. The other way was to use the decompression lever if it had one. I don't know about the rest of the world, but here a common old Ford engine found in older boats was the Old Fordson Major and Super major Tractor engine. Common to find, cheap as chips and would run faithfully for years. When worn out, it would make a great mooring block :-)

[alanperry]

I am curious why on an engine with that many hours, once opened up, why didn';t you go ahead and replace the rings and bearings? I don't mean this to sound judgemental at all but am wondering if there was a reason that isn't apparent from your post?

I agree with the preponderance of advice here it sounds like rings rings rings. the leakdown test will tell you for sure but at that age and hours I think it';s a sure bet. Good luck!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha All,
My experience is that diesel engines will run on ether, WD40, diesel injected into the intake and nearly anything you can force past your air cleaner. I also know by experience that making an engine run when it shouldn't will burn out your glow plugs and prechambers and maybe even ruin your head. My engine was out of injection timing due to my own fault. I made it run using a combination of diesel and kerosene sprayed into the intake because I thought that it just needed to bleed out all the air. Big mistake!!
Don't use ether or any spray in the intake unless you are willing to suffer the consequences. Follow the manual. Learn your engine.
If your engine is hard starting there definitely is a reason and ether will not cure it and will cause more harm.
Kind Regards,
JohnL