Thank you Ed.

I didn't know about the block heater nor the ether technique.  I have used
ether to start my boat when the real problem was the points wire was loose
on the ignition coil.

The long story, if you care:
I was the last to water ski late one summer evening.  When we stopped I told
the boat driver to turn on the lights.  A minute later smoke erupted from
the bilge area.  Although I wasn't yet in the boat, I told them to grab the
collapsible two gallon bucket from beneath the seat.  Fire extinguisher was
also available but I wasn't thinking clearly when bobbing around 70 feet
behind the boat.  They proceeded to fill the bucket with lake water; lift
the engine cover and without any flames present, doused the engine till it
would not start.  The lights wiring had been pinched to ground and the
insulation was smoking, but no real fire.  By the time I swam back to the
boat it started to get dark.  Another boat was flagged down and offered to
tow us back to the marina.   The tow boat was sinking but had bilge pump
going continuously to keep it afloat!  Once back to the dock I removed the
engine cover and I tried the Ether Technique on the gasoline engine which
acted like it wanted to start, but wouldn't.  After spending an hour
troubleshooting the no start problem late at night (tied to the dock on
Shasta Lake in Northern California) the points wire fell away from the
coil(cause of problem).   Later an expensive ski was lost overboard while
hunting for our campsite at lake's edge.  Never could find the campsite site
and returned to van in parking lot to sleep till daylight.  It took most of
the night navigating the length of the lake to arrive at the van.

The wire came loose because a neighbor had completed the tuneup before we
went on vacation and didn't get the wire tight enough.

Now back to the tractor.

Gary

In regards to the Kubota Engine...Some Kubota engines use a timer.
This timer only allows power to the glow plugs for 8 to 10 seconds.  If
you continue to hold the key past 10 seconds, the relay kicks out and
the glow plugs go cold.   You must start the engine at 10 seconds.  The
Kubota engines do not like starting agents.  You can blow the rings off
the piston or shatter a piston due to the high compression ratio.
Blockheaters are available for most Kubota engines and a diesel fuel
additive, such as Stanadyne Performance Formula, will help keep the
diesel fuel from gelling at low temperatures.

Randy