SureStart conundrum

[oldbilbo]

Most of the MABs I've encountered have a spray-tin of SureStart adjacent to their ould engines. On querying, some experienced engineers insist use of that product causes the engine to 'become addicted' to the stuff, and recommend use of WD40 instead.

A skilled specialist in Haynes Motor Museum - the part that services classic and specialist cars - suggests that a recurring starting problem might well be due to a small air leak in the fuel supply, requiring that air to be purged through by 'churning' before diesel fuel gets through....

Can any erudite forumite explain the 'addiction' concept? Is WD40 a better product to use for assisting a start?

 

[reginaldon]

Most of the MABs I've encountered have a spray-tin of SureStart adjacent to their ould engines. On querying, some experienced engineers insist use of that product causes the engine to 'become addicted' to the stuff, and recommend use of WD40 instead.

A skilled specialist in Haynes Motor Museum - the part that services classic and specialist cars - suggests that a recurring starting problem might well be due to a small air leak in the fuel supply, requiring that air to be purged through by 'churning' before diesel fuel gets through....

Can any erudite forumite explain the 'addiction' concept? Is WD40 a better product to use for assisting a start?

Air leak =- that was the problem with my Yam 5, my grandson found it!

 

[ufans]

“addiction” is caused by the lack of lubricant in the spray (used to be ether, not sure on modern equivalents).
Apart from combustion it washes lubricant from the bores, so if used excessively over time leads to reduction in compression this can lead to being unable to start normally without its use.
It was a common problem in trucks prior to improved cold start devices.

 

[scottie]

Most of the MABs I've encountered have a spray-tin of SureStart adjacent to their ould engines. On querying, some experienced engineers insist use of that product causes the engine to 'become addicted' to the stuff, and recommend use of WD40 instead.

A skilled specialist in Haynes Motor Museum - the part that services classic and specialist cars - suggests that a recurring starting problem might well be due to a small air leak in the fuel supply, requiring that air to be purged through by 'churning' before diesel fuel gets through....

Can any erudite forumite explain the 'addiction' concept? Is WD40 a better product to use for assisting a start?

The active element is normally an ether type gas which has 2 effects
The first is that it explodes at far lower temp and is not subject to accurate timing and other is that it removes the lubricant from the engine bores
The addiction theory is based on the increasing bore wear and thus lack of compression resulting in the need for additive

 

[VicS]

Can any erudite forumite explain the 'addiction' concept? Is WD40 a better product to use for assisting a start?

The addiction concept is the result of owners not fixing the real cause of poor starting. As time goes by the original problem gets worse and the engine wont ever start without the use of a starting fluid.

WD40 is mosstly white spirit, or similar. If the auto ignition temperature of white spirit is loer than that of diesel oil then it will help. Traditional starting fluids are ether based. That has a much lwer autoigniion temperature.

Wd40 at least contains a little light oil which may help overcome the lack of lubrication in ether based products.

Easy start is bad in compression ignition engines because you have no control over the ignition timing, as you do with spark ignition. This can result in serious mechanical damage if the ignition occurs too early. If Skpper stu comes by he will tell you how many thousands of diesel engines around the world he has had to rebuild as a result of this

 

[Boo2]

The active element is normally an ether type gas which has 2 effects
The first is that it explodes at far lower temp and is not subject to accurate timing and other is that it removes the lubricant from the engine bores
The addiction theory is based on the increasing bore wear and thus lack of compression resulting in the need for additive

Presumebly WD40 would have the same effect re washing lubricants off the bores ?

Boo2

 

[Sandy]

Camelia came with a can of the stuff. One of the first things to go in the skip, the engine has not missed a beat since then!

 

[cliff]

Presumebly WD40 would have the same effect re washing lubricants off the bores ?

Boo2

No. WD40 helps seal the rings, aids compression, lubs the bores and assists the compression/ignition

 

[PCUK]

As many industrial engines used ether starting as standard it can't be that harmful. As said find the source of the trouble and rectify. Better to use the stuff to start the engine when needed than to not be able to start it at all!

 

[ghostlymoron]

I think the problem with easystart (surestart is a sort of marine AA) is that an engine that is marginal in the first place has the symptoms magnified and disguised by the easystart until it will NEVER start without it. If you have to resort to it, you should only do it once and then when safely home, find and rectify the faults.

 

[sarabande]

have you tried unscrewing the bleed nut of the injector pump?


If air bubbles come out with diesel, you have confirmation of your thesis. The hard bit is tracking the source of the air intake.

 

[Len Ingalls]

have you tried unscrewing the bleed nut of the injector pump?


If air bubbles come out with diesel, you have confirmation of your thesis. The hard bit is tracking the source of the air intake.

If bleeding air doesn't cure hard starting,check compression. Probably needs valve grinding. / Len

 

[KellysEye]

>The hard bit is tracking the source of the air intake.

Put talcum powder on the bleed screw, all the joints in the fuel line and any connections in the filters plus anything else you think could leak. Diesel will go through a microscopic holes and draw air in. Run the engine for half an hour and check the talcum power. Usually the revs go up and down if the is a significant diesel leak.

 

[Alpha22]

Another reason WD-40, or for that matter ANY aerosol can works, is that the propellant used is quite often butane gas. Hair spray, fly spray and even deodorant are all highly flammable due to the butane propellant. I suspect far more butane gets sucked into the cylinder than the actual oil.

Even "canned air" favoured by photographers for cleaning dust is largely butane. As one technician at work found out at the cost of his eyebrows and fringe. He was cleaning the optics of a slide projector whilst it was turned on and hot. The fireball was large and very impressive..... thankfully also very short lived.