Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 09, 2025 ...

I'm planning on using the boost switch when I start tomorrow morning. The temperature is going to be right about 32 degrees when we plan to start. I've got the block heater on now. When we left St. Peters last week it was in the 20's with winds up the tailpipe of upper 20's, so even the boost didn't really get it going. I added the Jeep to the mix and it fired.

I have started non heated engines at -30 f using the ether start built into the coach many times

Bob,

That was MANY years ago.  All the engines in the last many, many years have an INTAKE MANIFOLD HEATER.  Spraying ether on a red hot wire grid is a good way to blow things up.

As Brett says, when ether hits the hot grid, it may explode big time. Non-professional drivers may use ether on hot engines in a situation like clogged fuel filters. This is a good way to bend connecting rods and break compression rings.

Pierce

The ether start was/is thermostatically controlled and did not work above 50 degrees on the Oshkosh's.  I assume my m11 is the same way.

Doesn't matter how the intake manifold heater is controlled or how the ether is controlled.  The colder the temperature, the more the intake manifold heater stays on (i.e. red hot wires) and the more ether would be injected.  Again ONE OR THE OTHER.  NEVER BOTH.

It is really important that each of you VERIFY whether your engine has an intake manifold heater before considering ether.

Our 03 u320 with the ism cummins has an ether switch on the dash and an ether canister at the rear. As far as I can tell there is not intake grid heaters on it, like our 98 u295 with the 8.3 cummins which did have the grid heaters.

The canister was rusted