this engine, built on a gasoline block was fragile US are debutants in car diesel...
To start a diesel in cold t° (down to -20°C) , that need "winter" diesel fuel+functionnal glow plugs+ correct compressions, nothing more. With less than -20°C this need a fuel warmer...
is this diesel a 1980's cadillac ?.. i know what the problem is i have had the same problem the bleed in the back of the engine needs to be opened to let the air out to get the fuel up there and then it will start up if not the fuel pump is bad its very common to happend all diesels need to be bleed if ran out of fuel or sat for a very long time !! any other questions just ask ..
Not sure actually. It happened in the dead of winter in my employer's parking lot, and I had to sell it so they wouldn't tow it. It was also during a time when I had no place to work on cars, no driveway, no garage.
At one time WD-40 was a good 2-stroke and diesel starting spray, but since they took propane out of the formula and replaced it with CO2 it isn't good for cold starts any longer.
Some guys say that it even used to have some nitro, but I have no idea if that part is true!
This method works great if you do not have access to the engine heather when the temperature drops below 0 degrees. These 350 diesel engins are high compression engines, so hot intake manifold and the warm air helps a lot during a cold start. It is important to have good batteries and oil with high viscosity. Water in diesel fuel is bad with diesel engines!
Yep. You got it. Thanks for covering the things I left out. Good (and fully charged!) batteries are so important when starting the old IDIs. They're not going to start if you can't spin them fast enough!
Water in the fuel will quickly destroy the injection pump, injectors, and if enough gets into the combustion chamber, you may blow a headgasket, bend a rod or even break pistons!
@CorvusCasull One thing that is also a good idea is to have more powerful and bigger batteries. I also have an extra battery in the trunk, took this solution from a BMW. The car has three batteries so cold starting is no problem! Water is the biggest enemy for 350 diesel, but poor mechanics is as big a problem. Not unusual that you turned back the top of the engine with too much torque for changing the headgasket. Result: a broken crankshaft and more ......
You guys are clueless. How is heating up the intake going to help when the heat needs to be in the combustion chamber? You should've kept the stock mechanical fuel pump and if the glow plugs are shot,just use a shot of ether. That lousy electric lift pump may be bad and just about every diesel uses a mechanical fuel pump anyway.
You sure about that? The timing chain was broken, which I didn't know at the time. This technique works with other old IDIs when the glow plugs are non functional. In fact I've used a hair dryer to start an old GM 6.2 below freezing with no glow plugs. Did you read any of the comments? The electric lift pump was running good PSI. And why would you ever use ether on a high compression light duty N/A diesel? That is asking for trouble!
@CorvusCasull A little ether shot won't create enough water during combustion to harm the head gaskets. You get more water created with cold diesel so a slight ether shot wont hurt it. I don't know what psi your electric fuel pump is runnin at but if that's a stock injection pump,then it's disigned to run off the low pressure of a mechanical fuel pump. Your electric lift pump may be putting stress on the injector pump which is driven by the timing gear;hence broken timing chain.
I don't follow. The problem with ether & light duty diesels is that ether is so volatile that it can damage rings, bend valves, and even break pistons. Most of this is because these old N/A engines run such high compression ratios. Some even close to 23:1. When these engines get "addicted" to ether, it is because they loose compression with each use and will eventually only be able to start with ether.
With the Olds diesels, they blow head gaskets because they lack proper clamping force, headbolt strength and the total number of headbolts is too few. It didn't help that they lacked a water seperator or a good fuel filter - both of which were added to this Cadillac. Those were the only problems with water in the fuel as far as I know.
The electric fuel pump ran around 5-8 PSI. The timing chain broke because the previous owner installed a modified Stanadyne DB2 instead of the stock unit.
this engine, built on a gasoline block was fragile US are debutants in car diesel...
To start a diesel in cold t° (down to -20°C) , that need "winter" diesel fuel+functionnal glow plugs+ correct compressions, nothing more. With less than -20°C this need a fuel warmer...
oiseautempete 3 months ago
is this diesel a 1980's cadillac ?.. i know what the problem is i have had the same problem the bleed in the back of the engine needs to be opened to let the air out to get the fuel up there and then it will start up if not the fuel pump is bad its very common to happend all diesels need to be bleed if ran out of fuel or sat for a very long time !! any other questions just ask ..
midnitesquirldog 1 year ago
Yes. Early 80s Cadillac. Thank you for the input! We've actually had similar problems with air bubbles on 6.2 IDI equipped vehicles.
The timing chain had snapped on this engine and that is why it wouldn't start.
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
@CorvusCasull - OUCH. Did it damage the valvetrain?
Alrgc2Air 10 months ago
Not sure actually. It happened in the dead of winter in my employer's parking lot, and I had to sell it so they wouldn't tow it. It was also during a time when I had no place to work on cars, no driveway, no garage.
CorvusCasull 10 months ago
I was told once that a little wd40 is a better option to ether. You ever tried it?
mdytmhgd 1 year ago
At one time WD-40 was a good 2-stroke and diesel starting spray, but since they took propane out of the formula and replaced it with CO2 it isn't good for cold starts any longer.
Some guys say that it even used to have some nitro, but I have no idea if that part is true!
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
This method works great if you do not have access to the engine heather when the temperature drops below 0 degrees. These 350 diesel engins are high compression engines, so hot intake manifold and the warm air helps a lot during a cold start. It is important to have good batteries and oil with high viscosity. Water in diesel fuel is bad with diesel engines!
cadillac350diesel 1 year ago
Yep. You got it. Thanks for covering the things I left out. Good (and fully charged!) batteries are so important when starting the old IDIs. They're not going to start if you can't spin them fast enough!
Water in the fuel will quickly destroy the injection pump, injectors, and if enough gets into the combustion chamber, you may blow a headgasket, bend a rod or even break pistons!
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
@CorvusCasull One thing that is also a good idea is to have more powerful and bigger batteries. I also have an extra battery in the trunk, took this solution from a BMW. The car has three batteries so cold starting is no problem! Water is the biggest enemy for 350 diesel, but poor mechanics is as big a problem. Not unusual that you turned back the top of the engine with too much torque for changing the headgasket. Result: a broken crankshaft and more ......
cadillac350diesel 1 year ago
You guys are clueless. How is heating up the intake going to help when the heat needs to be in the combustion chamber? You should've kept the stock mechanical fuel pump and if the glow plugs are shot,just use a shot of ether. That lousy electric lift pump may be bad and just about every diesel uses a mechanical fuel pump anyway.
dstarks80 1 year ago
You sure about that? The timing chain was broken, which I didn't know at the time. This technique works with other old IDIs when the glow plugs are non functional. In fact I've used a hair dryer to start an old GM 6.2 below freezing with no glow plugs. Did you read any of the comments? The electric lift pump was running good PSI. And why would you ever use ether on a high compression light duty N/A diesel? That is asking for trouble!
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
@CorvusCasull A little ether shot won't create enough water during combustion to harm the head gaskets. You get more water created with cold diesel so a slight ether shot wont hurt it. I don't know what psi your electric fuel pump is runnin at but if that's a stock injection pump,then it's disigned to run off the low pressure of a mechanical fuel pump. Your electric lift pump may be putting stress on the injector pump which is driven by the timing gear;hence broken timing chain.
dstarks80 1 year ago
I don't follow. The problem with ether & light duty diesels is that ether is so volatile that it can damage rings, bend valves, and even break pistons. Most of this is because these old N/A engines run such high compression ratios. Some even close to 23:1. When these engines get "addicted" to ether, it is because they loose compression with each use and will eventually only be able to start with ether.
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
With the Olds diesels, they blow head gaskets because they lack proper clamping force, headbolt strength and the total number of headbolts is too few. It didn't help that they lacked a water seperator or a good fuel filter - both of which were added to this Cadillac. Those were the only problems with water in the fuel as far as I know.
The electric fuel pump ran around 5-8 PSI. The timing chain broke because the previous owner installed a modified Stanadyne DB2 instead of the stock unit.
CorvusCasull 1 year ago
Did you check to see if you had fuel to the injection pump?
The lift pump may be out.
ke5hbd 2 years ago
Sure did. The Cadillac had an electric lift pump and it was working fine during our attempts.
CorvusCasull 2 years ago
Damn, hope you get it fixed!
focusonthegreen 2 years ago
cool
jdshaq 2 years ago
Fuel must of went back to the tank.
Man those old 5.7L Diesels are getting so rare! And so freakin' hard to find! I'd love to get an Oldsmobile Delta 88 with a 350 Diesel lol :D
IDIDieselJohn 2 years ago
You ever look under the parts car section of eBay? I saw a Delta 88 with a 350 diesel that the owner had listed repeatedly. It sold for $250.
giberish9 2 years ago