I have a 200A dated 7 61 that I picked up at an estate sale. I oiled the pump and tried it, can hear pressure when valve is opened. Put a new mantle on it. When I tried to light it, it started for a second and went out, does not sound like anything is coming out after valve open for few seconds. It had fuel in it when purchased, no idea how long it had been there. No rust that I can see inside. Where do I start? Doug
I replaced the cap, it is holding pressure but not getting fuel up to the generator. At the moment I have carb cleaner and denatured alcohol in it. Will see if it soaked the gunk lose. Old fuel smelled kind of stale, probably in there 20+ years
Doug, You're in the States, and a replacement generator is not expensive, and the 200A is still supported by Coleman. (Parts can be cheaper if you get them from Coleman.) If you remove the fuel assembly from the fount, you may see crud clogging the fuel intake. FYI: The generator is a 200A5891 that you can find here: http://www.coleman.com/Parts/130/gas/200A700/1-mantle-gas-lantern
All god advice. However with old stale fuel in there you can pretty well bet the fuel feed is gummed up and will need a clean. Easy enough to find out. Just remove the generator and then see if you get air flow when the valve is a quarter turn open and fuel only when you fully open. If you get air then the upper end of the fuel feed is good but if you get air and no fuel when the valve is fully open then you have a clogged lower fuel tube and it wil have to come out and be cleaned or replaced. ::Neil::
Doug, I find that the hands down best chemical to dissolve kerosene gunk is lacquer thinner. Alcohol and other thinners don't make a dent. The only down side is that it will also instantly (and I mean in a heart beat) dissolve the paint typically used on lamp fonts. Easy to pour into the tank, but you need to do a serious masking job around the filler cap when pouring it out. If you remove the valve assembly you'll have no problems cleaning it up. But do take Al and Neil's advice first, so you don't waste time removing the valve if you don't have to. And another thing about lacquer thinner, it will react with certain rubber seals and ruin them. I recently had this happen when cleaning an Optimus 930 lantern font which was gunked up. It expanded and locked up the NRV washer. It was stuck closed. The lacquer thinner freed it up, but I left it in the tank too long and then it swelled and stuck wide open. Had to wait three weeks for a replacement from Base Camp. Good luck, Dan
Go to the guys you buy POR 15 from and buy a can of Marine Clean. You got to have this anyway if you are going to line a tank and that stuff is awesome at cleaning out old fuel residues. Just follow the instructions on the can and it goes in white and comes out black. ::Neil::
Thanks for the suggestions. Had a mixture of Denatured alcohol and sea foam soaking in it for about a day and a half, then flushed with Coleman fuel. Filled it up with fresh fuel and a couple of caps worth of sea foam. Reassembled and checked the generator and put in new packing. Started right up let it burn for over an hour shut off and let set couple of hours and started again just fine. Doug
Glad that it's up and running, they are nice lanterns. We love pictures. Neil, I've heard good things about Marine Clean too and decided to try some. They recommend the Prep & Ready after the Marine Clean so I figure I'd follow the directions (any thoughts?). They just came in the mail yesterday. I have a bunch of lamps and lanterns that need the treatment/sealing and I plan on doing them all in assembly line fashion. Dan
Sea Foam is a fuel additive that appears to heal all things related to lacquer build up and the like. I use it in my tractor fuel (diesel) every now and then, and I've had no trouble. It's one of those miracle solutions that just seems to work at keeping gunk out of your system. I don't have trouble with my lanterns (yet), but I'll keep it in mind since I always have a can in the barn.
Yes that is the stuff. You have to remember this product is actually designed for steel tanks not brass but it does seem to work quite well with minor stress cracked brass. You do need to follow the instructions and with that cleaner in particular you need protective gloves because it will also clean off skin. Once clean then the metal ready stuff treats any residual rust and etches the metal so the epoxy forms a good bond. Prodution line is the way to go here for sure if you can. Get a number cleaned and prepped then you can pour the resin from one to the next and line several. Mind you this will take a little time as you really need to allow time for the epoxy to drain out so you don't get major puddles of it in the tanks. Maybe ten minutes or so at least. You will find out by doing what works best. Doing more than one means there will be some excess in each tank so until the stuff has cured enough to not flow you need to store the lamp at an angle so you don't get a puddle at the fuel feed pick up. Make sure all the feeds are free as well. Once that stuff cures and goes hard it is like concrete. One other point is that the epoxy sticks to surfaces pretty well and does not come off easily so gloves again and wipe up as you go. Make sure any threads are protected as well because once hard it can be a very difficult job to clean out the threads. If you have any left over after lining the tanks then because you can't store it you might as well coat the outside of any steel base plates. If you are going to do that though of course you will have to clean and prep the outer base plates when you are doing the insides. ::Neil::
