Hello Bob:

          I have using Amsoil CB at 2% with the same mix as you for many years.  It works very well.

          In the 80’s, I obtained all of the ether that I wanted for FREE.  The good old days!  Now, running a Diesel is not as much fun!

                                                                                     Be well,

                                                                                     Frank McCune

The stories would never end. And some of them might even be true. 

2.5 DII seems a little high to me. Are you jacking that up because of the small displacement?

McSlow

the diesel not being cowled in cools down once in the air .the extra DII lets it run a little harder so it do sent drop off

Bob,
Interesting with the AMSOIL Cetane improver. From data sheets the main component is  2-Ethylhexyl nitrate (see attached excel file). This has an autoignition temp of 266F (130C). It seems to burn rather then detonate which allows higher percentage. Maybe could do high percent an no ether?

Best,   DennisT

Where do you get this stuff?

Many truck stops, as well as via Amazon.

Contrary to Bob's unique way of spelling "-) , Look for "Amsoil cetane boost"

Bill, your job is never done. got mine at O'REILLY's

Bill, on the bottle it is spelled AMS OIL wont let me spell it all together

Uncross your eyes, Bob! 

I've used an Aussie product called Diesel Fuel Booster made by local company Nulon.  It is basically a Cetane booster, like the AMSOIL product, the active component being 2-ethylhexyl nitrate, at 10%-30%.  This is the component we need which controls the ignition of our diesel fuel.  Previously, when available, the 2% of so of ignition improver was Amyl Nitrate or Isopropyl Nitrate. (Any of those "Nitrates" seem to do the job, but most are now off the market thanks to the junkies).  Without it, the engine can be prone to pre-ignite, so the DII smooths out the ignition of the Ether and prevents diesel-knock. 

The remaining ingredients are glycol at >10% and Naptha Petroleum at >60%. So, whereas in the old days we used 1.5%-2% "straight" ignition improver, the products of today that contain the important ingredients are virtually all kerosene.  If we were to use 2% of a product such as this (or the AMSOIL Cetane booster), then the actual active ingredient we want is at a total of only 0.6%, hardly enough to make any difference.

For those using these "truck" diesel Cetane boosters, can I ask, are you using 1.5%-2.5% of the entire product?  I figured that if the Nitrate component needs to be at 1.5%-2.5%, then we need a whole lot higher %  of the product in our fuel to add enough DII to make the difference needed.

So, I simply factored in the 70%-90% of the remaining ingredients as part of the kerosene, reducing the added kerosene proportionally. At this, I ended up with the correct % of the Nitrate product.

Having said all that, I'm only working through my own theory.  I've tried it on several bench runs.  Seems to run ok.  In flight? I have no idea.
Hope I haven't baffled too many.

Rod.

We don't have the John Deere starting fluid out here, but I have found that "Master" (US brand) has %50 Ether, so considering most of the remainder is Petroleum Naptha, I plan to do as Denis suggested and mix it straight with oil.

Hi Dennis.  Everything I have said about the starting fluid is pretty much speculative because I haven't run out of my previous mix of diesel fuel as yet.  I had a guy find me some pure Ether a while back, at huge $$, so I mixed up 33% ether, 33% castor oil and the remainder in Jet-A1 plus the cetane improver (diesel booster) as mentioned in my previous calculations.  This fuel seemed to start and run pretty well in the majority of my diesels on the bench.  I just go on the traditional blend of 1/3 each component, although 33% oil is pretty heavy going and modern diesels regularly recommend 25%.

I have a can of the Master 50% Ether starting fluid and plan to test my theory once my existing fuel supply runs out.

On another note, I found an interesting clip of an OS FS-48 diesel which is started on standard Ether based fuel from an external tank, and once warm it is switched to the on-board tank containing Etherless fuel.  Very interesting to see it running so nicely without Ether.