[Remote95]

I am trying to help someone with their 1996 P/Stoke. Please forgive me as I am clueless about the P/stroke. My knowlege is in the 7.3 IDI motor. The truck my friend has is pouring oil from what he thinks may be the rear main seal and other places. He thinks or knows this was caused because of spraying either into the engine while trying to crank it. The Either ignited and blew the plastic apart from the intake. This resulted in the oil leaks when he drove the truck immediately after. Remembering that I am cluless about the physical parts of this motor please tell me what could be damaged and their location so I can investigate his problem.

Thank you for all help in advance,

Remote 95

 

[jmadigan]

make sure its not the oil pan seal. When they go out the motor needs to come out. I doubt its the rear main seal those almost never go out. The problem with ether and starter fluid on a diesel is it dosent really ignite rather it exploads forcing the pistons to move which will destroy piston rings. Gassers can handle it diesels can be hurt. Anyway my guess is oil pan seal. Pictures would really help.

 

[madpogue]

If the intake is damaged, I'd be checking the CCV.

What jmadigan describes above is what happens when ether ignites on the power stroke, as part of the normal diesel cycle, with both valves closed. I've read varying opinions (you get 10 guys on a forum discussing this, you'll get 12 different opinions) about whether that's really possible. What isn't so debatable is what ether does when you use it with the glow plugs working. When you do, the GPs can ignite the ether at any point. That's what happened to your friend. It ignited while an intake valve was open, which is what damaged the air cleaner. This, of course, can't happen with an Otto (spark ignition) engine.

I'd leave it to the "experts" to argue whether it's safe to use ether at all on a diesel engine, but at the very least, if you choose to use it, ONLY do so when you're SURE the glow plugs and/or intake heater, whichever is applicable, are disabled.

 

[klhansen]

Like jmadigan said, the rear main seals rarely go bad. They may seep a bit, but oil pouring from that area is usually coming from the engine valley, which has a drain hole into the bell housing area. The will cause the uninitiated to jump to the conclusion that the rear main seal has gone bad.

He needs to clean the engine, then determine where the oil is coming from. Turbo pedestal o-rings are a common source of leaks, as well as o-ring seals on the HP oil system.

Ether with glow plugs or intake air heater active = a real chance of damage or injury. Not a good idea.

 

[madpogue]

Turbo pedestal o-rings are a common source of leaks, as well as o-ring seals on the HP oil system.

Both strong possibilities. Turbo pedestal leak would be "kinda" fast; HPO leak could be _very_ fast. Of the two, my money would be on the turbo, based on how it's been reported. That, and an ether explosion from a chamber with an open intake valve blowing out the air cleaner would of course blow back through the turbo.

 

[Remote95]

New info

The Truck will crank and run fine at idle. If you increase idle to 2000 rpm Oil pours from rear of engine. Thats where the main seal theory came from. It also seems that the OIL pan gasket at the front is leaking, begging the question could the ether blowback push out an oilpan seal? Again thanks to all for their insight. ?

Remote 95

 

[madpogue]

Are you watching the VALLEY, esp. under the turbo, when revving it up to 2000 RPM?

Also watch the aft surfaces of the cylinder heads while doing the rev test.