Stabilizer in White Gas

[bakechad]

I am in the market for a camping stove and lantern. For various reasons I have decided to purchase a liquid fuel stove which uses white gas(aka Coleman Fuel).

Based on what I have read it has a very long shelf life when sealed and a reasonable (18 months) shelf life when opened.

Is it okay to use stabilizer in white gas?

If I do how much longer than 18 months would I be able to go?

When it gets too old, can I safely dump it in my car's gas tank?

Thanks

 

[Shagger]

I don't think using it in a car is a good idea...

 

[Shagger]

Stablilizer is also a bad idea...

 

[jcwit]

I live in the No. Indiana Amish country and almost every Amish family has a 55 gal. drum on its side marked as white gas/Naptha. Have never heard of Naptha going bad, it is the same as liter fluid which lasts forever in the little cans. I've got bulk white gas that has been 3 to 4 years old that I've used in my Coleman stove and lantern. Yes, bulk gas, here we canbuy it off the pump just like auto gas because of the Amish.

Regarding using it in your gas tank, I would believe it would be alright added a little at a time like matbe 1/2 to 1 gal. to a tankful, but this is just my opinion. I did use it one time years ago during a deer hunting trip when almost running out of gas but that was back in the days before all the electronic gadgets on the engine.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: Shagger
I don't think using it in a car is a good idea...


Why, its only Naptha.

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: Shagger
Stablilizer is also a bad idea...


Yes, not good!

 

[MGregoir]

Per 20 gallons you can mix:
- 14 gallons methanol
- 5 15/16 gallons naptha
- 8 ounces two stroke oil

It should run similar to gasoline, you'll suffer mileage loss but if you are in a pinch that's the closest thing you can whip up to gas stealing from campsites, cabins, logging and gas well heads.

Just in case you're ever on the lam in northern BC.

 

[sciphi]

My dad poured a gallon of white gas into his old Aerostar when we ran out of gas on a trip. It started and went down the road pinging like crazy. Sounded like somebody had dumped a bucket of BB's into the engine. It was sufficient to get us to a gas station, however.

I've used year-old white gas before with no problems. You're fine.

 

[jcwit]

Naptha on an empty tank will cause the pinging as mentioned, it burnes hot.

 

[jcwit]

Naptha on an empty tank will cause the pinging as mentioned, it burnes hot.

 

[Pablo]

Adding fuel stabilizer to white gas won't hurt anything, but it doesn't really buy you anything either.

I won't put white gas in any modern engine I care about.

 

[jcwit]

Why? People dump all these snake oils in their oil and gas tanks. Can't see where some naptha diluted with gas would cause any harm. Say in a 12 gal tank 11 gal. gas 1 gal naptha. After all it is a petro. product.

 

[Pablo]

Because it will grossly lower the octane rating.

It will burn, but not all that great.

 

[ionbeam22]

White gas (aka natural gasoline), has an incredibly low octane rating, should be well south of 70. IIRC somewhere around 40-60.

Not only will it lower the octane rating of the entire tank, but the differences in octane response will cause further trouble. E.g unburned HC will confuse the downstream oxygen sensor.

 

[pickled]

In a pinch I once had to mow the lawn on the old Coleman fuel...I tightened up the plug gap a bit and the old 6HP BandS didn't run too bad. If you were to run that stuff in a modern car the knock sensor would be screaming for mercy! Now as far as putting stable in a food cooking application I can't say that that is a good idea. The Naptha doesn't take on water too easily and it typically doesn't leave varnish or crud behind.

 

[SecondMonkey]

In the past I've ran out of gas half way through mowing the lawn and finished mowing the rest on paint thinner.

It didn't seem to run any different than normal, though this was a flathead Briggs with about 6:1 compression...

 

[eljefino]

I ran my briggs mower all summer when gas was $3+ a gallon on 99 cent closeout coleman fuel.

It ran just fine. Funniest observation was its vapor pressure was such that it would evaporate out the little vent hole in the mower tank cap if left! I adapted to filling with just enough before every job. Exhaust also smelled slightly odd.