Magic Tank emergency fuel: What is it?

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This product is promoted as being an emergency get you to a gas station fill if you happen to be inattentive enough to actually run your vehicle out of gas.
According to their website, it's stable for ten years and is noted to be combustible, not flamable, although the published flashpoint of 105F is pretty close.
The website says that it's like 91 octane gasoline with none of the volatiles.
A half gallon container sells for some ridiculous $20+ price.
Does it work?
In the interest of experimentation, I picked up a container of this stuff on clearance at a Kroger for a buck fifty and put it to the test in my mower.
I ran the mower dry and then filled the quart tank with Magic Tank.
It performed exactly as advertised.
The already warm mower engine started without difficulty and I cut an area that would have used a quart of fuel with about the same consumption as I would have seen with pump gasoline.
So, the stuff does do what it's claimed to do.
The question is, what is it?
Good luck finding an MSDS.
I've tried.
 
Seems like you know the answer, it's "gasoline" with a really really bad Reid Vapor Pressure. They have to make it work like gasoline without calling it that, as it's probably against the law to transport actual gas in your trunk in a goofy container in some places. So it's chemically just enough, not.

Luckily for spark ignition users it doesn't have the terrible knock qualities of, say, kerosene.

For the same price you could buy a can of toluene or some other purified petrochemical common to gasoline and get the same result, though if you get rear ended, there's a bigger chance of an earth-shattering ka-boom.
 
Years back either Rislone or Pennzoil made a similar product.On EBAY there is "Spare Fuel".
 
It contains trimethylbenzene less than 40%. Trimethlybenzene, 1, 2, 4 is a viable, high octane gasoline additive.

In fact, the simple mix of Trimethlybenzene combined with isopentane makes a 100+ octane aviation fuel that is marked by Swift fuels as a 100LL Avgas replacement.

The mineral spirits in question contain C9-C12 hydrocarbons. Trimethlybenzene, 1, 2, 4 is also a C9 hydrocarbon like zylene and other ethyltolunes.
 
Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Years back either Rislone or Pennzoil made a similar product.On EBAY there is "Spare Fuel".

This stuff?

rescuefuel.jpg


Back in the late 90s, it did seem rather strange that it cost $10 for a half gallon of this stuff, when unleaded premium was selling for less than $1.50/gallon.
 
Originally Posted By: Cujet
I'd doubt that it would ever go bad.


Good.
Maybe I'll buy the rest of the jugs on clearance at a buck and a half if they're still there when we next hit the store I saw them at.
I bought the stuff partly to avoid having to make a special trip just to replenish the OPE cans I had just used the last of.
I have never run a car out of fuel, but it's often convenient for me to have something shelf-stable on hand when I'd like to finish a job without having to go out to get fuel.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Originally Posted By: Cujet
I'd doubt that it would ever go bad.


Good.
Maybe I'll buy the rest of the jugs on clearance at a buck and a half if they're still there when we next hit the store I saw them at.
I bought the stuff partly to avoid having to make a special trip just to replenish the OPE cans I had just used the last of.
I have never run a car out of fuel, but it's often convenient for me to have something shelf-stable on hand when I'd like to finish a job without having to go out to get fuel.


That seems like a good idea but I recall seeing uoas following a car running out of gas with very high wear metals. Me thinks this stuff might not be optimal for proper running of equipment under load. It is an emergency item obviously, so might not be intended for regular use.

I don't know for sure, just something to think about.
 
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