moth balls in the petrol tank - Guinea pig

Kryton · 12-10-2005, 03:46 PM

well the time has come to try it for myself.

:
ive got a full tank of fuel so now i just need to know how much i should put in.
i believe that im getting Napthalene Flakes (instead of moth balls) but wont know for sure till the other half gets home from shopping.
should i try and made it as powdery as possible or will it just disolve anyway?
will keep an updated post of what happens over the next week.

calais · 12-10-2005, 03:48 PM

what do the napthalene flakes do to the fuel system? or what is the aim of the experiment?

Paris Hilton · 12-10-2005, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calais

what do the napthalene flakes do to the fuel system? or what is the aim of the experiment?

I think they're supposed to up the octane or something like that

aimzes · 12-10-2005, 03:55 PM

i did the mothballs thing just after they did it on mythbusters. i posted it on another ford forum.

i crushed up a heap and chucked it in the tank with some left over pulp i had in a drum. the motor was pretty f-ed anyway so i could really tell the difference... it was happier to rev and liked to backfire.

gonna try it again with more mothballs.

p.s. i used a commodore 202 (standard)

4.9 EF Futura · 12-10-2005, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calais

what do the napthalene flakes do to the fuel system? or what is the aim of the experiment?

The napthalene will increase the octane of the fuel. They are some old fashioned mothballs tho.

Im not sure if you will want to go through with the experiment after reading the following:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/autos/gasol.../preamble.html

6.20 Can mothballs increase octane?

The legend of mothballs as an octane enhancer arose well before WWII when
naphthalene was used as the active ingredient. Today, the majority of
mothballs use para-dichlorobenzene in place of naphthalene, so choose
carefully if you wish to experiment :-). There have been some concerns about
the toxicity of para-dichlorobenzene, and naphthalene mothballs have again
become popular. In the 1920s, typical gasoline octane ratings were 40-60
[11], and during the 1930s and 40s, the ratings increased by approximately 20
units as alkyl leads and improved refining processes became widespread [12].

Naphthalene has a blending motor octane number of 90 [52], so the addition of
a significant amount of mothballs could increase the octane, and they were
soluble in gasoline. The amount usually required to appreciably increase the
octane also had some adverse effects. The most obvious was due to the high
melting point ( 80C ), when the fuel evaporated the naphthalene would
precipitate out, blocking jets and filters. With modern gasolines,
naphthalene is more likely to reduce the octane rating, and the amount
required for low octane fuels will also create operational and emissions
problems.

parawolf · 12-10-2005, 04:13 PM

Blending motor octane rating of 90? thats lower than ULP (91) so I can't see how that will positively effect performance of any kind.

parawolf · 12-10-2005, 04:17 PM

Oh and comparing results to the USA is not realistic, their 'regular' is like 85 or 87 or whatever.

Kryton · 12-10-2005, 04:18 PM

we'll soon find out.
how much should i put in?

4.9 EF Futura · 12-10-2005, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by parawolf

Oh and comparing results to the USA is not realistic, their 'regular' is like 85 or 87 or whatever.

Yes they use an alternative rating system.

Davway, from what ive read around the traps, shouldnt use more than 20 in a tank.

XYGTHO · 12-10-2005, 04:28 PM

Why not just use 98octane and octane boost. Shurely moth balls aren't that cheap anyhow. Seams a bit silly to me. Just my thoughts though. Will be interesting to see what happens. Hope it all goes well and nothing is harmed in the process.

Kryton · 12-10-2005, 04:36 PM

well i have the Napthalene powder. its a 350g jar.
chuck the whole lot in? the tank is FULL as well so i dont see it as being that potent a mixture.
why dont i use premium unleaded? coz this is just an experiment to see what really does happen.
at the very worse ill need a new engine.
at best ill notice some improvement or ill just have a really shyt tank of fuel for a week.

parawolf · 12-10-2005, 04:39 PM

personally i'd blend it with some petrol first and then pour it into the tank via a funnel just to make sure it dissolves.

neb · 12-10-2005, 05:16 PM

i wouldn't do it myself.. but will be interesting to see if it does make any difference

Kryton · 12-10-2005, 06:52 PM

well i poured the whole 350g in. the last bit ended up clogging up the filler neck so i had to go to the servo to wash it down with a few litres. lets just hope thats not a sign of things to come. it should disolve and if i could have been bothered i would have mixed a bit in a container first just to find out how well it does disolve.
so far i have only done less than 10km and havent really noticed anything different about performance. it hasnt made it worse and it hasnt made it better.
the car does sound beefier when revving it though and does seem to want to rev more freely.
we'll see how it goes out on the highway on the way to work tomorrow.
more updates after some more kms.

sfr rob · 12-10-2005, 06:57 PM

or..... i could just ""take"" some octane boost from where i used to work! HEHEHE

tell us how it goes man

LTDHO · 13-10-2005, 07:42 AM

I don't know how you could feel the difference, if you do then it is a major difference!
The only way to see if it makes a difference is to run the car up on the dyno then add moth balls, then after mixing and flushing/priming fuel, run the car again.
I'd be interested to see it's effect and what negative effects.

jmc-007 · 13-10-2005, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davway

well the time has come to try it for myself.

:
ive got a full tank of fuel so now i just need to know how much i should put in.
i believe that im getting Napthalene Flakes (instead of moth balls) but wont know for sure till the other half gets home from shopping.
should i try and made it as powdery as possible or will it just disolve anyway?
will keep an updated post of what happens over the next week.

Please dont put moth balls straight into your petrol tank.

Atleast buy some fuel and mix the moth balls into the fuel .

Although if you over do it. You will

1. Carbonise your injectors and Spark Plugs.

I dont know how the cat converter will take it. Make sure you get Naptha Mothballs and not the pretend ones. !!!

Im not telling you to do this, just dont blame me

RED_EL_XR8 · 13-10-2005, 11:00 AM

I couldn't find any mothballs but I have some mosquito coils, how would they work?

Honestly the things people do.

Sagerian · 13-10-2005, 11:28 AM

Hmm, I've got a bottle of exit mold at home, will that work?

*muffled giggles*

Don't know if this has been mentioned, but generally if your car is not designed to run a high octane of fuel, your performance won't increase even if you magically manage to add moth balls, spinich and battery acid into some sort of super jet fuel.

4.9 EF Futura · 13-10-2005, 11:37 AM

Some of the comments are a little cynical - at the end of the day it was a proven fact that napthalene used to increase the octane of the fuel. I agree that there is little benefit in upping the octane of the fuel unless the car is tuned for it - but having said this, many cars are able to 'test' the octane of the fuel with advanced spark maps and knock sensors.

Good on davway for having a red hot go. It's much easier to sit around and criticise though, isnt it lads?

Kryton · 13-10-2005, 03:26 PM

well regardless of what my car is designed to run on or what should and shouldnt be put in a petrol tank, the fact is im doing this to personally put a myth to the test, instead of sitting around being a keyboard warrior and claiming to know first hand about something when i dont.
this is just an experiment, its not a "wow my XFs fully sick now with the napthalene! pulling burnouts everytime i put it into drive" type of test, but more too see what really does or doesnt happen.
you can be as cynical as you like because im in no way claiming at all that it is going to enhance performance. the myth is whats claiming it.
at the end of the tank i will be pulling the plugs and having a look at a few other things in to see what adverse or positive effects it has had.

jcxr · 13-10-2005, 03:41 PM

What are you going to do with all the ball less moths?

turbo00007 · 13-10-2005, 03:57 PM

First i heard it on myth busters
but i aint going to try it

jmc-007 · 13-10-2005, 05:23 PM

this is like the ajax thred

Aussie_Geo · 13-10-2005, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcxr

What are you going to do with all the ball less moths?

I am sure I saw them all doing a fleet discount deal on a batch of white Camry's

Peter

Kryton · 13-10-2005, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcxr

What are you going to do with all the ball less moths?

really goes to show who doesnt read past the title doesnt it.
if you bothered to read anything you would know that there were no moth balls used, but infact Napthalene Flakes.
none-the-less nice try though.

RED_EL_XR8 · 13-10-2005, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davway

well regardless of what my car is designed to run on or what should and shouldnt be put in a petrol tank, the fact is im doing this to personally put a myth to the test, instead of sitting around being a keyboard warrior and claiming to know first hand about something when i dont................................

Steady tiger!!! but as for experiments I don't need to experiment to know its a tad dumb poke a taipan with a pencil, or run 90psi boost in a TX3 Turbo. There isn't that much that is new or that hasn't been tried 1000 times.
Experiment by for youyr own satisfaction by all means, but I see little point in running an tried & true experiment where the results are already documented.
Keyboard warriordom can in some circumstances be the simplest way to an answer..