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Ether and small engines.

5K views 6 replies 6 participants last post by  1950AllisWD 
#1 ·
It's a long story so I'll try to keep it short. My buddy's quad took in a little water earlier this winter when he got stuck in a place he should of never been in. He drained it all out and continued to run it. It eventually died and sounded like it ran out of gas. We pulled it into the shop to get it running. His dad loaded it with ether and got it to start. He continued to run it on ether until the engine seized. I think he got some water it the fuel system and froze it up causing it to run out of gas. I'm dang sure it had to be the ether that did it. His dad seems to think that water got into the cylinder and crankcase and caused it to seize. The oil was completely clean. Here are some pictures. I want to hear what you guys think, ether or sand and water.


 
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#3 ·
I can't say as I've never abused an engine so bad that it looked like that when I took it apart.
Then again, I've never used ether to try and start a small gas engine. Just found the problem why it wouldn't and fixed it.
 
#4 ·
I will use a little squirt of ether sometimes to waken an engine that has not been started in months after pulling the starter a few times. This serves as a reminder about too much of a good thing.
 
#5 ·
Skipper nailed it. Good gosh, they must have ran that engine for a loooooong time on it to cause that much damage. This one rates up there with the top one or two I've ever seen !!! The excessive knocking, popping and rattling should've been a warning within just a few seconds that damage was occuring. They actually liquified the aluminum surface of the piston. Whew !!
 
#7 ·
He ran it for a minute before it seized. I was gonna tell him he shouldn't do that but if I did he probably would of done it anyway so I decided to keep my mouth shut. All I could do is cringe as he loaded it with ether. It needs a new jug, piston, and rod. Since the crankcase and trans are all one unit everything is contaminated. It would half to be stripped down and cleaned out good and once it was back together the oil would half to be changed often and the filter would half to be dissected until there wasn't any signs of steel shavings. The honda dealer quoted them $3000 which would be mostly labor. It would be about $500 in parts.
 
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