Author Topic: ether use  (Read 16053 times)

dab67

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 460
  • 67 SS
    • View Profile
ether use
« on: January 18, 2008, 12:26:47 AM »
The weather this January here in Wisconsin has really been up and down!!!!!!! Believe it or not, one day it was 60 and then the next 20. My point is this, With all the dramatic changes in the weather, I had a real hard time starting my 67 this month and I am guessing it was because of the moisture. I pulled the distributor cap off and sprayed it with WD40 and wipe it out. I have electronic ignition by the way. Still would not start. I then sparyed a little ether in the carb(Quadrajet) and it fire up. My question is this,,,,,,,,,,,,, (finally ;D) does using the ether to start the car do any damage to the engine or carb?

dab67

JohnZ

  • CRG Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4365
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2008, 08:07:19 PM »
My question is this,,,,,,,,,,,,, (finally ;D) does using the ether to start the car do any damage to the engine or carb?

dab67

Not really, but it can create a fireball that will do other damage. If you have fuel in the float bowl and the accelerator pump and choke are working properly, it should fire right up without ether.
'69 Z/28
Fathom Green
CRG

lakeholme

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2497
  • 68-12D L30/M35
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2008, 01:25:11 AM »
Be careful, Dave.  I've got a friend who went around without eyebrows for a couple of months using ether to start a riding mower.
Phillip, HNR & NCR-AACA, Senior Master, Team Captain, Admin.,
Spring Southeastern Nationals chair, AACA National Director

KurtS

  • CRG Coordinator
  • *****
  • Posts: 5884
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2008, 09:54:18 PM »
Don't use it on a diesel either!
Kurt S
CRG

z-villejw

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 32
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #4 on: January 20, 2008, 04:35:24 PM »
When using it have someone help you. Have them try to start it, while its cranking over give it a shot. It should start. Like JohnZ said check and make sure its shooting gas.
J. Wiles  Southeastern Ohio
1968 RS SS Coupe with 1967 427-435 Tri-power
Tripoli Turquoise with Black Vinyl Top
4 Speed with 3:31 12 bolt

fireZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 548
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #5 on: January 20, 2008, 06:10:49 PM »
Be carefull that when you spray it into the carb. We had a fire call at work last week for a fellow trying to start his truck. He sprayed the either into the carb as his wife was turning the key. The carb burped and the fire came up as he was spraying the either,burnt the living %#&* out of his hand. Keep your eyes on it.
1968 Z28 LA Built
LIC # RPO Z28

lakeholme

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2497
  • 68-12D L30/M35
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #6 on: January 20, 2008, 06:21:05 PM »
Besides, if it fired right up with ether; then that really could be a moisture issue.  So, I'd add some gas stabilzer like Sta-bil into my tank.  We definitely have a high humidity, temperature range in the winter here in NC.  I put gas stabilizer in every tank from the Camaro to the push mower.  They all fire right up in the Spring (or in the case of the Camaro, every week in the winter.) 
Phillip, HNR & NCR-AACA, Senior Master, Team Captain, Admin.,
Spring Southeastern Nationals chair, AACA National Director

duntov3030

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 51
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #7 on: January 21, 2008, 12:47:22 PM »
Man, I don't think a can of ether should be in the same shop as a Camaro!  Throw that stuff away and find the real cause of your starting woes.  A properly tuned car with good, fresh fuel will never need ether.  Not dissing on you, I just don't like using ether.
Butch

'67 Z/28 RS Tuxedo Black

dab67

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 460
  • 67 SS
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #8 on: January 21, 2008, 10:43:25 PM »
Hey CRG members thanks for the responses. Finally had a chance to look at the forums. I'm not a big fan of having to use ether to get the car started either!!!!!!! I had a friend with me while I was doing this. We checked the carb "before" I put anything into it to make sure the pump and choke were working properly. They "appeared" to be. I held the butterfly open and pushed back on the linkage and gas pumped into the carb. we let it set for about 5 minutes, then I went and pumped the gas pedal twice, like I always do and turned the key. It would not fire up, that is when we put a spray of ether in the carb, then turned the key and the engine fired up. I'm thinking the moisture is playing havoc with everything involved. But,,,,,,,,,,,, I could have a pump going out or the choke is not working properly or a combination of all of the above. Just have to wait and see what happens next month!!!!!!!!!!! I will put an additive into the gas (full tank) to help with the moisture problem like Phillip suggests. I should have thought about that when I stored the car.

Dave

hotrod68

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
  • almost finished
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #9 on: January 22, 2008, 05:13:29 AM »
I have to defend ether; it's like any other highly explosive chemical--you have to respect it or you'll get your eyebrows burnt off or get a fireball...chuckle. Where most people get into trouble with it, is using it as a sledgehammer to kill gnats. Us country boys have used ether since dirt to start a balky tractor engine on a cold day, and if you understand it, it's your best friend when the mercury is down in it's ball. Today's gasoline doesn't atomize when cold like it did when it was full of aromatics in the old days, and I can understand why Dave's car wouldn't want to hit when it's very cold. Ether is like Brylcreem--a little dab'll do ya. Load an intake tract up with it and you're just asking for trouble if the engine spits back. It's not the ether--it's the sprayer.
HotRod'68  1968 SS350 coupe undergoing frame-off resto/rod. 386/350/4.11s
Butternut Yellow    black standard interior

lakeholme

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2497
  • 68-12D L30/M35
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2008, 01:55:31 PM »
I don't completely disagree with Hotrod about cold starting on a farm, but Dave presents his real problem as moisture.

Dave,
How cold is it in the space where you store your 67?  What's the humidity when the temperature goes up?

I keep it about 45 degrees F and dry in the garage.
Phillip, HNR & NCR-AACA, Senior Master, Team Captain, Admin.,
Spring Southeastern Nationals chair, AACA National Director

dab67

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 460
  • 67 SS
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #11 on: January 23, 2008, 11:37:34 PM »
Phillip:

The car is stored in my one car attached brick garage. It is unheated, uninsulated. So the car gets all the good and bad of the winter weather. When it reached 60 degrees here the cement floor was covered in moisture. The engine was also covered in moisture. Then the next day the temp dropped almost 35 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll wait a couple more weeks, sometime in early Feb. and attempt to start it again. Hopefully it is just because of the drastic change in weather that we had.
Just to let you know, during this time of extreme weather conditions, we had a tornado touchdown and do some major damage to a small town called Wheatland just west of  Kenosha where I live. The tornado tracked over the northern edge of Kenosha and did some damage on that side of town. So we have had a funfilled beginning of a new year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ::)

Dab67

lakeholme

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2497
  • 68-12D L30/M35
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2008, 03:29:51 AM »
Just got my car out of one shop with electrical work ( had to put in a new printed circuit), and then drove it to a paint shop that's a part of the same group as Classic Muscle.  By the late Spring my 68 will finally be de-cloned... which is proving even more expensive. 

I think you ought to at least invest in a dehumidifier.  Any way you look at it, moisture is spelled R-U-S-T...

Hope nobody was hurt in the tornado!  Winter has finally come to NC and is slowly relieving our drought.
Phillip, HNR & NCR-AACA, Senior Master, Team Captain, Admin.,
Spring Southeastern Nationals chair, AACA National Director

hotrod68

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 520
  • almost finished
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2008, 04:13:41 AM »
Hey, Phil--did ya see all the idiots wrecking on the ice Tuesday morning? Right in front of me on a bridge I saw a lady in a Cavalier hit her brakes--wrong move! She tagged the concrete guardrail while a Jeep Cherokee got sideways behind her trying not to hit her. There were many cars in the ditches on my way to work and of course they had the the 20-car pileup on 85/40. Man, it was NASTY out there!
HotRod'68  1968 SS350 coupe undergoing frame-off resto/rod. 386/350/4.11s
Butternut Yellow    black standard interior

KurtS

  • CRG Coordinator
  • *****
  • Posts: 5884
    • View Profile
Re: ether use
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2008, 10:52:51 PM »
I think you ought to at least invest in a dehumidifier.  Any way you look at it, moisture is spelled R-U-S-T...
I've tried that. Often it's too cold and the dehumidifier just freezes up.
I'd bag the whole car if you start having rust show up.
Kurt S
CRG

 

anything