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Can propane be used as starting fluid for diesel?

Hendrik

Hendrik

Member
Starting fluid can be used to aid starting diesel engines. (I know there are risks involved but I would like to avoid a discussion on its pros and cons.)
Gaseous propane can be used to detect vacuum leaks around carburetors and intake manifolds of gas engines; an idling engine will rev up if there is a vacuum leak.
My idea is to use gaseous propane (from an unlit torch) in lieu of starting fluid to aid starting a diesel engine.
Your thoughts and, if any, experiences please.
(I'm prepared to get some flack over this idea; I have NOT tried it (yet), so it is an honest question.)
Thanks, Hendrik
 
Don't know about it for starting fluid ? But I have heard propane works good on diesels as a HP booster. Sort of like nitrous does for a gas engine.
 

I think propane torch can be utilized as a starting aid similar to pressurized silicone, carb cleaner,WD 40 or gasoline soaked shop towel covering intake pipe.

Myself I prefer not to use a starting aid unless it's absolutely the last resort.
 
I see some of the cheap starting fluid is propane and not ether at all . I know it?s about impossible to pop A tire with some of the cheap junk you can buy at farm stores and auto parts stores
 
st never, ever, ever use acy gas from your cutting torch--NOT ME, but a story i heard about. you can fill in the blanks lol
 
(quoted from post at 04:46:37 07/20/18) Starting fluid can be used to aid starting diesel engines. (I know there are risks involved but I would like to avoid a discussion on its pros and cons.)
Gaseous propane can be used to detect vacuum leaks around carburetors and intake manifolds of gas engines; an idling engine will rev up if there is a vacuum leak.
My idea is to use gaseous propane (from an unlit torch) in lieu of starting fluid to aid starting a diesel engine.
Your thoughts and, if any, experiences please.
(I'm prepared to get some flack over this idea; I have NOT tried it (yet), so it is an honest question.)
Thanks, Hendrik
Click to expand...

I have a backhoe that was available new from the factory with a propane assist for cold starting. I never did follow up on it.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 08:15:51 07/20/18) Don't know about it for starting fluid ? But I have heard propane works good on diesels as a HP booster. Sort of like nitrous does for a gas engine.
Click to expand...

LP is fuel, NOX is an oxidizer. Two very different compounds.
 
(quoted from post at 13:41:28 07/20/18)
(quoted from post at 04:46:37 07/20/18) Starting fluid can be used to aid starting diesel engines. (I know there are risks involved but I would like to avoid a discussion on its pros and cons.)
Gaseous propane can be used to detect vacuum leaks around carburetors and intake manifolds of gas engines; an idling engine will rev up if there is a vacuum leak.
My idea is to use gaseous propane (from an unlit torch) in lieu of starting fluid to aid starting a diesel engine.
Your thoughts and, if any, experiences please.
(I'm prepared to get some flack over this idea; I have NOT tried it (yet), so it is an honest question.)
Thanks, Hendrik
Click to expand...

I have a backhoe that was available new from the factory with a propane assist for cold starting. I never did follow up on it.

Rick
Click to expand...

Propane to heat the coolant or the intake air ? Or propane injected into the combustion chamber ?
 
This is a difficult question. When used as an engine fuel, propane is generally used in gasoline type engines with spark ignition. Diesel uses compression ignition. So the question is whether propane's flash point is compatible with the temperatures reached in the combustion chamber of a cold diesel engine.
On a hard starting diesel, it is still assumed that it is getting fuel into the combustion chamber. As such, the temperature in the combustion chamber is not getting high enough to ignite the fuel. But, is it hot enough for the propane to ignite? Also, does propane have enough energy in it to support starting the engine?

You raise an interesting question.
 
The starting fluid with upper cylinder lubricant will not work for popping a tire. I don't think it works as good for starting either.
 
(quoted from post at 10:14:47 07/20/18) Where was actylene gas mentioned?
Click to expand...

In the post above yours.

It's not a huge "logical" jump to go from propane to acetylene. Can't find the propane torch, or the little 1lb bottle is empty, but the cutting torches are sitting over there, and they have PLENTY of gas...

I know, I know... You would *NEVER* do that right? Well, you aren't everyone and some people are "creative" in a different way from you.
 
Handy trick on a diesel with an intake manifold that has a petcock (similar to the drain valve on a radiator, only smaller- IH 674 does, for one). On a cold morning, heat the manifold with a propane torch. After you have heated it up a bit, open the petcock, move the burning torch over by it, and start cranking the engine. The vacuum will put out the flame, draw the propane into the manifold, and with the added advantage of the warmer air going into the engine, will greatly assist in starting the engine. I think the valve was intended to squirt ether into, but my method is "kinder and gentler", and engine doesn't have the extra strain that ether gives it.
 

In 20 years of driving diesel powered vehicles, the only thing I've ever needed for cold starts was a hot battery.
 
(quoted from post at 10:44:55 07/20/18)
(quoted from post at 13:41:28 07/20/18)
(quoted from post at 04:46:37 07/20/18) Starting fluid can be used to aid starting diesel engines. (I know there are risks involved but I would like to avoid a discussion on its pros and cons.)
Gaseous propane can be used to detect vacuum leaks around carburetors and intake manifolds of gas engines; an idling engine will rev up if there is a vacuum leak.
My idea is to use gaseous propane (from an unlit torch) in lieu of starting fluid to aid starting a diesel engine.
Your thoughts and, if any, experiences please.
(I'm prepared to get some flack over this idea; I have NOT tried it (yet), so it is an honest question.)
Thanks, Hendrik
Click to expand...

I have a backhoe that was available new from the factory with a propane assist for cold starting. I never did follow up on it.

Rick
Click to expand...

Propane to heat the coolant or the intake air ? Or propane injected into the combustion chamber ?
Click to expand...

Injected into the induction tube right before the intake manifold. First I'd ever heard of using propane like that.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 13:26:47 07/20/18)
In 20 years of driving diesel powered vehicles, the only thing I've ever needed for cold starts was a hot battery.
Click to expand...

Driving em where? I've never had a problem starting a diesel with a hot battery and the engine is decent shape down to about -10F without using a block pre heater of some type. But I've yet to see a diesel sitting outside, for more than 8 hours, start at -30F without some type of help. Either preheating or starting fluid.

Rick
 
wd-40 used to work real good, that was when they used propane and a propellant, now they use CO2 which is obviously non-flammable. I would think propane is not as effective as starter fluid but the safety factors would still be the same.

since propane is being used, you could also try shooting the flame down the intake for a blast of hot air. Of course this only changes the safety factors for the same end result.
 
Thank you all for your comments and replies.
I have learned a lot from this thread and feel safe to try it now.
 
Oldtimer and timcasbolt....... Please tell us your secret. I've heard of cranking till you have white smoke and then sitting for a minute and it will start right up. Doesn't work for me...... so, what is the secret? We are talking no glow plug, no heater, no ether, just a good battery.

Bill
 
(quoted from post at 21:28:57 07/20/18) I would think it's preferable to gasoline. It's very easy to get too much gas in a diesel's intake, with bad results.
Click to expand...

When I witnessed gasoline utilized to start diesel the gasoline wasn't poured in intake but rather gasoline soaked shop towel was stretched over open intake manifold opening & only vapors from gasoline entered engine. I don't remember how cold ambient temp. was but it was cold & diesel engine fired right up.
 
(quoted from post at 14:02:23 07/21/18) Oldtimer and timcasbolt....... Please tell us your secret. I've heard of cranking till you have white smoke and then sitting for a minute and it will start right up. Doesn't work for me...... so, what is the secret? We are talking no glow plug, no heater, no ether, just a good battery.

Bill
Click to expand...

I guess I need to clarify. First, I live in Maryland. It doesn't get very cold here.
Second, my first diesel was my 91 Dodge D250. If there was enough fire in the battery to roll the engine 2 times, it was running. Those Cummins engines use a grid heater, and if the battery is in good shape, it'll start.

Second is my Kubota B7200. It has a glow plug, and if there's enough battery to run the glow plug for a minute, it'll start.

Third is my 05 Dodge Ram 2500. It has two batteries and a grid heater, so if the batteries are hot, it'll start.

Fourth is my Carroll Stream 10 hp air-cooled stationery engine. Haven't tried to start it in any extreme weather situations, but it only needs to spin a couple times and it's running. So far.
 
Why not just put a block heater in it and be done with it? I used to use the cutting torch would hold the flame in the intake manifold with a plug out turn it over and would start quite well. That was before a heater was installed. The heat would warm up the air fine. I don't know about the use of Acetylene as a gas to start. I am sure it would work just not sure about over indulgence of it in the engine might cause problems like ether can.
I would use the propane as a flame to accomplish your desired result.
 
I have seen diesel vehicles with an inverted propane bottle, like a propane torch bottle on a bracket with tubing going to the engine. I have never looked at one close to figure it out. Is this bottle for propane injection for starting or is it for a preheater of some sort?
 
(quoted from post at 18:50:57 07/23/18) I have seen diesel vehicles with an inverted propane bottle, like a propane torch bottle on a bracket with tubing going to the engine. I have never looked at one close to figure it out. Is this bottle for propane injection for starting or is it for a preheater of some sort?
Click to expand...

That's probably a performance enhancement. Drag racers love that stuff.
 
(quoted from post at 13:50:57 07/23/18) I have seen diesel vehicles with an inverted propane bottle, like a propane torch bottle on a bracket with tubing going to the engine. I have never looked at one close to figure it out. Is this bottle for propane injection for starting or is it for a preheater of some sort?
Click to expand...
any had such an arrangement (trucks & tractors), BUT it was ether, not propane.
 
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