Now what? Horrible clanging engine sound

[gumpy]

For your sake, I hope this is truly over and you will have a great engine in your bus for the rest of your life.

When you put together your summary, please consider including the costs and $$$ spent on this ordeal. I think this lesson is one which every prospective busnut should know about before they jump into the pool. I know I'm curious.

One of the first busnuts I talked to when I was first looking for a bus said to me, "Do you have $10,000 to spend when you blow an engine in the middle of nowhere?" That was almost 20 years ago, and obviously the numbers have only increased.

[daddysgirl]

Good advise Craig.
Ever since we did our first bus, we've always had a "bus fund" for that very reason.

[uncle ned]

It just gets better.  5 years and about 8 or 9 thousand miles Huggy just seams to be getting loosened up.

and a turbo engine does not start as good as a non turbo engine.  less compression.

uncle ned

[bevans6]

If my turbo engine is cold-soaked overnight at 25 and no block heater, it's lucky to start at all, and yep - it will smoke for a minute or so.

[chessie4905]

Our 4104 didn't start as well below 40° after it was turbocharged. You can get them to start when pretty cold many times by cranking them 5 to 10 seconds from the Rear while you hold the fuel shutoff closed on the governor cover, then releasing it. It helps prewarm the combustion chamber before injecting fuel.

[dtcerrato]

Does anyone use ether injection? I know in general it's voodoo - especially for a 2 cycle. I have a metered charge that I can energize from the drivers seat. It has a thermostat so it cant squirt unless its cold. The metered squirt is 3 cc in our case which is a specific amount for Inline 671s. I don't use it unless absolutely necessary (severe below zero cold or inability to energize the 2000 watt block heater). It works awesome. Yea I know I'm doing an engine job on the tired old Detroit but lets face it we'd been driving a 53 bus around since 79 with a 69 motor rebuilt in 71 with ether injection all that time.

[luvrbus]

There is not enough ether in the starting fluids sold today to harm a engine most are Heptane not either, the old 100% ether capsules of the past would make one beg for mercy, I seen those blow the oil pans off before.QuickStart has a good read about ether check it out lol some of us old school guys just used alcohol when we ran out of capsules      

[Jeff Willard]

WD40 works pretty well too. Never used it on a Detroit but I've used it a number of times on my 6.2 Suburban when I was having starting issues.

[stanton]

Detroit used to sell an Either starting kit .
Install the can in a special container, a button was on the dash.
Viola!
Next , the two-stroke contains the explosion for less than 1/2 the time of a 4 stroke ..
Pretty safe to use.

[eagle19952]

I know people are probably tired of hearing it but..oh well.
In the oilfield in the Arctic, I will bet 10 cases of starter in a can got sprayed into Detroit's every week and sometimes everyday. not a single one suffered as a result. thru the air cleaner or directly into the blower. Many got fed two cans.
now idling at 600rpm...that killed a bunch...

[Iceni John]

Does anyone use ether injection? I know in general it's voodoo - especially for a 2 cycle. I have a metered charge that I can energize from the drivers seat. It has a thermostat so it cant squirt unless its cold. The metered squirt is 3 cc in our case which is a specific amount for Inline 671s. I don't use it unless absolutely necessary (severe below zero cold or inability to energize the 2000 watt block heater). It works awesome. Yea I know I'm doing an engine job on the tired old Detroit but lets face it we'd been driving a 53 bus around since 79 with a 69 motor rebuilt in 71 with ether injection all that time.

That sounds like the Quick Start system I have in my bus.   I removed the ether injector from the blower so I could install a turbo boost gauge instead, but it would be simple to reinstall it.   My bus was originally from Auburn CA in the foothills of the Sierras  - it can get quite cool there in the winter.   A few years ago I had to start my bus after a 30-degree night at 4,000 feet, and I was surprised how much it spluttered and smoked for a minute or so until all the cylinders were firing.   I guess that's normal for lower-compression turbo engines at altitude in cold weather.

John

[Cary and Don]

John, 

Hey that is very close to us. We are in Foresthill, twelve miles up the road. Actually, that's where George got his bus. We got caught on 395 after a good snow and tried to get it started. It must have been in the low 20s. I know he has been in much colder weather. That grinding on the starter to get it going seemed like a problem waiting to happen to us. We went with the ether start system in both our buses. One well timed push of the button is all it takes.

Don and Cary