For U Solution

International surely had no way of knowing just how important their new 6.9 liter diesel would become when they introduced it in 1978. While the 6.9 liters 170 horsepower and 338 foot-pounds of torque arent particularly impressive by todays standards, the fact is this engine laid the foundation for a partnership between International and Ford that would eventually culminate in the well-known Powerstroke series.

Starting Fluid

Starting fluid is a mixture of various volatile hydrocarbons, primarily diethyl ether and heptane, butane and propane. Starting fluid has a much lower auto-ignition temperature than gas or diesel, making it an ideal fuel to start engines with ailing ignition or fuel-injection systems. The 6.9 liter diesel is a simple engine, and responds to starting fluid the same way that any other diesel does. A three to five second burst of starting fluid sprayed directly into the intake tube should be all you need if the engine is capable of starting at all.

The Addiction Myth

Some old-timers will tell you that starting fluid is a death sentence for any engine, especially diesels. According to the wisdom of ages, diesel engines get "addicted" to starting fluid and will forever more require it after the first application. This is patently untrue; starting fluid is a fuel just like any other and your engines physical structure in no way changes just because you start it with ether. More likely, this "addiction" is simply a worsening of whatever condition it was that forced you to use starting fluid in the first place.

An automatic transmission changes the gears, engages and disengages the transmission and downshifts the vehicles engine without requiring the driver to use a clutch or gear shifter. Transmission fluid is responsible for lubricating and maintaining a proper internal core temperature of the transmission. Transmission fluid should be changed every 50,000 miles under typical driving conditions. Replacing transmission fluid can be cumbersome, and requires dropping the transmission pan and changing all of the gaskets and filters. To avoid these extra steps, the fluid may also be changed via the transmissions dipstick tube.

Instructions

1

Remove the dipstick from your vehicles transmission.

2

Feed the input tube of the petroleum siphon pump (see Resources) into the dipstick tube until it reaches the bottom.

3

Pump the fluid out of the transmission, placing the output tube into a bucket for collecting the old transmission fluid.

4

Remove the siphon tube from the transmission dipstick tube when all fluid has been removed.

5

Place a funnel into the dipstick tube, and pour in one quart of fresh transmission fluid at at time, checking the fluid level with the dipstick after each quart. Repeat this until the dipstick reads full.