I would only use Ether for emergency or max destruction senerios...... But hey I use it when my NA was on it's last leg, it kinda worked but just change the GP and call it as day, even changing 3 out of 4 will help alot.....
Another idea is to get a magnetic block heater.... throw it onto the oil pan, plug her in, and the diesel loves to start
Now this get's me thinking about the benefits of Synthetic, using your starter to build oil pressure before you start on a cold day, and pluggig you car in were ever possible....
But I'm prob just going over kill, try to baby these motors to make them last as long as possible
Ether works fine,if you use it correctly.Many diesel trucks use either systems for starting,even IDI's.
The key is to make sure you use just a little,and let the engine suck it in with fresh air.
Whatever you do,the glow plugs MUST BE DISABLED.
The best way is to spray 2-3 secs near the air intake at the front of the car.Wait a few seconds,then crank.The ether wil get sucked into the airbox,and mixed with the incoming air,and the engine should start.If it doesn't,wait a minute,and try again.
I've started hundreds of cars with ether,and never had a problem.
Most people use too much,and squirt it directly intot the engine,via the intake.This will usually result in detonation,and over revving.
I know you can cause damage by overusing ether, but we offer ether injection as a factory option on our trucks with both Cummins and Detroit engines. I know on the Detroits at least there is some sort of interaction with the factory ECU to activate the cold start option, so I assume that Detroit Diesel knows about it and is ok with it. Mind you this is on engines a lot larger than these VWs.
I'll give that a try. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the design of of the toyota and mitsubishi diesels which have the glowplugs vertically mounted on top of the engine instead of in the side and takes 10 minutes to change them if you're slow. Just seems to me that VW really goofed up the design on those... Still not quite as bad as the spark plugs on some V8 engines I've seen which take several hours to change, but not as convenient as they could be.
changing those plugs really isn't that bad. Use a ratcheting box end wrench (if you can get one that small) or just the old fashioned wrench way to remove the small nuts. I find once you get them loose, it's faster to spin them with the tip of a screwdriver and grab them with a magnet. Same with the plugs. 12mm ratcheting wrench to loosen, and add friction with a screwdriver when they're too loose for the wrench pawls to ratchet. then extract with a magnet. Again, with the magnet, insert new plug, and push the plug into place with a screwdriver tip. With another screwdriver, poke the plug clockwise until the threads catch. Not crossthread!! then slip the gearwrench over the plug, use the screwdriver tip for friction and turn it back in. put the small nut in place with a small diameter telescoping magnet, hold it against the threads with a screwdriver, remove magnet and poke it clockwise with another screwdriver until it's threads catch. Then wrench it on. (not too tight)
with a little manual dexterity, shouldn't take much more than a half hour for a complete plug change.
I didn't read EVERY word of every reply to your original question, but I don't think anybody answered directly. Basically, the reason that the use of ether is discouraged in diesel engines, is because the ignition on a diesel engine is timed by the firing of fuel into the extremely hot gasses that are in your cylinder during the compression stroke. The problem is that if you've got enough fuel in that intake charge (e.g. ether), chances are good that the mixture of air/fuel will detonate during the compression stroke when that charge gets hot enough. This could happen many many degrees before the fuel would normally be injected and normal ignition was supposed to occour.
Obviously, the reason you can get away with this on a gas engine, is because normally temperatures in the cylinder are not high enough to ignite the air/fuel mixture on their own, and it's the spark of the spark plug that causes ignition.
It doesn't matter if it's a diesel or a gas engine though, too much of this preignition is gonna cause the motor to explode!
