Will Mothballs in Gas Destroy an Engine? Let's Find Out!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ต.ค. 2024
- I added mothballs to gas to find out what it would do to an engine. Let's find out what happens!
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We would really have understood better what's going on if you hadn't dumped all the mothball sludge into the fuel tank. Would have been a lot easier to strain it or just pour off the clear and then run it, like what you would have had on a car where any particles would have been stopped by the fuel filter.
Great point! Thanks for the constructive feedback.
RedfishCarolina
I was hoping he was gonna do that but maybe in a next video
RedfishCarolina EXACTLY
Well I think he was going for was like if you just plopped some mothballs in your fuel tank. You can't strain it out once u put it into ur tank
Try coolant to see if it will clean the valves and piston
lol DUDE!?!?!?. You put way too many moth balls in the gas. we used to put maybe a hand full in a car tank not a hand full in less than a quart
Mike, LOL! I agree. Thank you for the constructive feedback.
Project Farm love your vids. the only real way to test it would be on a dyno. but it did give me a chuckle watching this one. found myself screaming at my phone telling you you were putting too many in the gas... LMAO
Mike, LOL! It was a lot of fun to do this video. Thanks again!
I don't think people who harvest moth balls have much of a career to look forward to, considering the size of the moth needed to grow them.
(sorry. my bad).
rayford21 LMAO
When I was a kid we would put one mothball in the tank in our go kart and it did improve performance and would make the exhaust pipe glow at night
All those castrated moths. :(
LOL! Thanks for commenting!
They couldn't fly with balls that heavy anyhow.
neutered is removing the balls. castrating is cutting off the dick.
InfernosReaper u are very wrong look up the definition of castrating
@@InfernosReaper You're thinking of Emasculation.
You are the Mythbusters of small engines!
John, LOL! Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
John Possum
Yes, he really has a fun program going, real world stuff that most of can relate too. We both enjoy his channel..
Project Farm
funny. there is a muthbusters episode where they test mothballs. they did get a hp boost. maybe revisit this after looking it up. And not dumping sludge in the tank. lol
MAGGOT VOMIT
He knows that now!!! And If you read thru the comments, he is planning on doing this again with a clear, filtered tank of mothball treated gas.
I've used the same brand of mothballs and they completely dissolved in gasoline over an hour. This experiment is very misleading. All it shows is to not run sludge through your engine.
FWIW: Hot Rod Mag. "The most commonly cited gas/Naphthalene blend for street use was said to be 1 mothball for every 4 or 5 gallons of gas. Best results were achieved by premixing in 1-gallon containers and-to remove impurities and any residual solids-straining the brew into the gas tank through funnel-shaped paper filters typically used when mixing automotive paint."
Yeah that was way too many mothballs lol.
I think it is awesome that we have you to do all these wacky things to an engine to answer questions many of us were too afraid to find out for ourselves. But on this test, the amount of mothballs in relation to the little amount of gas isn't what one would have been doing to make their (wild?) claims. A full tank of gas in an auto is many gallons as opposed to just 20oz you used, and the amount of moth balls may be equal to or less than what you used. I would have found this more telling if you 'creeped' up on it, starting first with just a little and working your way up. Because what you did is likened to pouring bags and bags into an auto tank which I doubt anyone would do.
Can you please do it again but this time 'creep up' on it with the mothballs? Also, strain the undissolved particles.
RixCanDoit, This is a great suggestion! I agree that I added too many mothballs. I will probably repeat the test in the future. Thanks again!
RixCanDoit I thought the same thing when I seen it poor into the funnel.
Project Farm
please do repeat!!!
..."when you SAW it POUR into the funnel? Geez!
I flinched when I saw him pour.
That was so overdone, I'm not even a car guy and can see thats a bad idea. Oversaturated far beyond the point of precipitation. You should try it again, except filter it first.
You do realize that clogging the fuel filter with mothball residue is not better than clogging the carburetor or fuel injectors with the same residue, right? They will both cause restriction in fuel flow and require replacement of parts to fix.
@@deusexaethera according to comments here people put in about 5 moth balls for ~10+ gallons, not 10 mothballs in a quart. If done right I imagine it dissolves a ton easier
I'd love to see this one revisited with completely dissolved naphthalene, considering it's a common ingredient used in alot of fuel system cleaners I've noticed
Thanks for the suggestion.
Yeah, when I did this I crushed about a cup worth of balls into a powder then dissolved the powder in a gallon of gas, then added the gallon to my field cars gas tank, which was around a 1/4 tank full. The car ran fine and I had quite an improvement in power.
Can you run the test with much fewer mothballs. Curious to see if it does help performance.
Greg, I've been running and recommending Naphthalene for about 45 years now. Never a problem. But I recommend one per gallon of capacity to CLEAN the system (thoroughly) and then one per every 2-3 gals you add for additional performance.
But what do I know, I'm just a hillbilly that's served over 4,000 clients in the last 10 years.
Yeah I thought the same, he should have tried with just a few mothballs
@@thegadgetmangroove6304 My testing showed 4-6 per 20 gallons of gas was optimum. The difficulty is maintaining a consistent ratio. Who runs their vehicle completely out of gas before refuel? I found the benefit to be slight and irregular. Stopped using it when it killed my catalytic convertor.
@@x-man5056 There's no way pure naphthalene could have killed your cat, my friend, as the solids all turn to liquid, and cannot turn back into a solid again, as it is flammable and is completely consumed in the combustion process. As far as running your tank completely out of fuel, that can't happen either, as there is always some fuel left below the level the fuel pump sits in the tank. Any remaining naphthalene is diluted when you fill again.
I have never recommended using it in every tank, if only because I am a cautious man when it comes to what I put in an engine. But this summer I developed a new additive I call "100% Pure Snake Oil" and I am GLAD I tossed caution into the wind with THIS one! Check out what my customers are saying ALREADY!!! th-cam.com/video/JkozopCiB8c/w-d-xo.html
Didn't Mythbusters test this?
You need to fully dissolve the mothballs in the fuel to create a true poor mans race fuel. You cant dump in half dissolved mothballs in a fuel syetem the outcome was predictable. I have run it and it works awesome!
Great constructive feedback--thank you! I'll probably repeat the test and ensure they fully dissolve. Thanks again!
Take three mothballs and break them in to smaller pieces and add to 1 gallon of gas and shake till dissolved or sit for 24 hours shaking every few hours then use on a higher compression engine or an old v8. You will notice a change..
Thanks for this recommendation! I'll try it on the old Ford Ranger.
your right on, we used them in the 50s Flathead v8 the good ole days
Playinwithhorsepower does moth balls kill a car engine If so how many u need and is it detectable
At most one pellet per gallon was the rumored ratio. Word on the street was that it helped prevent old style gas from forming lacquer. Considering that Sea Foam is mostly Naphtha, that seems to make sense.
I definitely overdid the mothballs! Thanks for commenting!
I wish you would give this a retry.
Naphtha and naphthalene are not the same thing, though related. Closest thing chemically would be benzene, which is toxic and hard to get. You might try toluene and/or xylene. A typical racing fuel formulation is 50% gasoline, 25% toluene, 25% xylene.
Bump the compression on the mower up to about 13:1 and you'll be a mowin' maniac!
Do you think that "filtering" the mix, or at least keeping the white residue out of the engine would have worked better? I'd imagine that in some way or form, the mothballs mixed with the gasoline, and that the residue was just some kind of excess that gasoline couldn't absorb?
I believe you are right. I still believe that there would be a lot of carbon build up and black smoke, but it would have ran better. Thanks for commenting!
Project Farm you also mentioned people did this in the 60s. I wonder if the higher lead content in the fuel back then would alter results.
Nicholas, This is a great point! Thanks for commenting!
You can try it with some av100ll gas. I've started using it in my small engines without a problem. Regular fuel started turning black over the winter, and causing problems, so I had to waste a lot of it. I kept it on hard for the generator.
snoopdogie187 Isn't av100ll "avgas" or aviation gasoline? I've heard that running that fuel in anything except an airplane engine is illegal; do you know if that is true?
You're actually supposed to filter out all of the undissolved naphthalene using regular paper filters before you pour the gasoline back into the tank.
It would be awesome to see how it works after doing that. How about it??
Brian, I agree. I will likely repeat this study in the near future. Thanks!
To many moth balls. 3 or 4 in 18 gallons was all you needed .
3-4 mothballs in 18 gallons of gasoline would have no significant effect on the octane of the fuel.
Also, needed to fully dissolve.
octane booster
3 or 4 if them older moth balls would work not this regulated crap of the day. Because we have pod eaters among us. And the government knows best what we need.
@@chrisadam8103 u maybe
The 99.95% Naphthalene will run fine (lighter fluid) It's the 0.05% "other ingredients" that plugged it up. Probably wood cellulose, gypsum, talcum, and binders. FROM WIKIPEDIA- Composition[edit]Older mothballs consisted primarily of naphthalene, but due to naphthalene's flammability, many modern mothball formulations instead use 1,4-dichlorobenzene. The latter formulation may be somewhat less flammable, although both chemicals have the same NFPA 704 rating for flammability. The latter chemical is also variously labeled as para-dichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, pDCB, or PDB, making it harder to identify unless all these synonyms are known to a potential purchaser. Both of these formulations have the strong, pungent, sickly-sweet odor often associated with mothballs. Both naphthalene and 1,4-dichlorobenzene undergo sublimation, meaning that they evaporate from a solid state directly into a gas; this gas is toxic to moths and moth larvae.Naphthalene and 1,4-dichlorobenzene should not be used together because the mixture may cause damage to items being preserved.[1]Due to the health risks of 1,4-dichlorobenzene, and flammability of naphthalene, other substances like camphor are sometimes used (though camphor has its own toxicity issues).Uses[edit]In addition to repelling or killing insects such as moths and silverfish, mothballs have been suggested as a repellent to keep away mice, snakes, or other pests, however this is false. Mothballs do not repel snakes or mice. Small farmers have been passing on the ideology of mothballs acting as a repellent for snakes however this has been scientifically debunked numerous times. Mothballs not only do not keep snakes away but when used outdoors prove to be an enormous hazard including but not limited to poisoning of household pets, livestock, children, water and other aquatic animals. Recent issues with imported and unregulated mothballs from China have also become a huge concern as there is no way to know what chemicals were used during the process. Mothballs are to be used for storing clothing in a sealed container.[2] Older-formula mothballs have also been used by drag racers to enhance the octane rating of fuel, by dissolving the mothballs in some of the fuel and filtering out the remains with a filter paper. So- maybe if you filtered the mixture?
Great point! I should have filtered the fuel and used far less mothballs. Thanks for taking the time to research this and post the findings.
HUBBABUBBA DOOPYDOOP awesome knowledge you have ,and most humans think that some of US is full of useless information.
No "awesome knowledge" here- just look it up, copy & paste the findings. Thanks anyway!
This comment is based on information that was wrong. Read it if you want.
Napthalene is definitely less flammable and less volatile then gasoline. It should definitely increase the octane. The gunk is definitely what did the engine in. A engine could easily run on pure napthalene, once it heated up, if the engine was fuel injected. I wonder if that would have a cleaning effect in and of itself, because it's actually a somewhat decent solvent.
YES! You are correct. Isn't "Naphthalene" STERNO? (canned heat) Charcoal lighter fluid, Ronson, Zippo, etc. say "Petroleum Naphtha" as ingredient. Aren't the "lenes" like Vaseline, etc.? (BTW the '70s music group Canned Heat got there name- from the derelict bum hichhikers they'd pick up going on tour, and they'd DRINK their Sterno to get high.)
I ran mothballs in my 1981 shovelhead for several years while on long trips but I only used two to three in each side worked great. The lawnmower liked one ball per gallon and the snowmobile ran a little to hot so I stopped that. I did have a gain in power using mothballs.
Ya only a few I was told .. 3-4 a tank in car
"Hey I don't know WHAT the truth is... but what I DO know is that we have a small engine, and we have some mothballs."
Can't argue with his logic!!!😂
Thanks!
Really liked the editing in this video! If you're interested in doing a follow up video to this one, I think we're all curious what would've happened if you had dumped the undissolved mothballs into the tank. I do wonder how much of the damage was caused by undissolved particulate vs the mothball material in solution. Or perhaps just try adding napthalene itself to the fuel?
Cyanide Cloud, Thank you very much for the positive comment. I wish I would have filtered out all of the solids. I might accomplish a follow-up video using only a few mothballs and filtering out the solids. Thanks again!
Project Farm looking forward to it :)
Cars have filters so use a coffee filter and pore The gas in leave a like if you agree
My first thought when I heard. I'll just dump it right in... LOL!
Right? For a guy as intelligent and thorough as him, he really misses some obvious things sometimes. Like, seriously, why wouldn't you filter it? At least through a fine screen if not a coffee filter. Dude knows damn well filters exist and that cars have them. Idk if he just has a brain fart sometimes or what the deal is.
No big need to filter when used in correct ratio. It dissolves in gas quickly when you don't overload the mix.
You do realize that clogging the fuel filter with mothball residue is not better than clogging the carburetor or fuel injectors with the same residue, right? They will both cause restriction in fuel flow and require replacement of parts to fix.
@@deusexaethera Used moth balls for over a year and no issues with clogged injectors or fuel filters. They seem to completely dissolve in gas and remain homogeneous. They did cause catalytic converters to melt and clog though at a much lower ratio than this guy was using.
When I was a youngster(many eons ago...), I was informed adding mothballs to a gas tank would be explosively disastrous. Never was tempted to try but after watching this, I now know that information was incorrect. Very interesting video, as always.
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!
"I don't think the moths will be attacking this engine any time soon..." ROTFL! :)
William, LOL! That mower really does smell like moth balls. Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
You should do a Carb cleaner test to find out which cleaner is the most effective. Personally I use a B12 as well and think its great. Would like to see how it compares.
Great suggestion. Yes, I did use B-12 in the 2nd part of the video and it did a terrific job! Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
B12 Chemtool is a great product. I would never use much else of anything to clean Carburetors, engine heads, etc.
As an Older Mechanic myself, I got my start in lawn mower engines, I think you are doing a fantastic job. keep up the good work!
Thank you very much!
Reckon this test ought to be redone, it cannot be verified that the homogenous mothball caused any damage on account of the suspended mothball
When I was young, and racing stock cars, we put moth balls in the fuel, it did boost the octane, and made a noticeable difference in performance, the problem was that it would dissolve the diafram in the fuel pump. That will cause problems.
Great Point. Thank you
U put to much .only one moth ball put five letter u can get best proforment
I'm recommending the research you do on your channel to my Heavy duty Trades institute teacher. Although this video doesn't have the most relavence to my trade a lot of the testing you do take part in is something me and my classmates already enjoy learning from. I'd like to thank you for the content you create and I truely do wish you the best with your future content. Adam Savage from Mythbusters said the difference between messing around and science is recording what you find out. Much thanks and appreciation from your northern Canadian neighbor.
Thank you very much for the positive comment and for sharing the video with others!
I ran the moth balls in a couple of cars in the early 70's but I never tried to saturate the fuel with so many it couldn't dissolve them. I would only add a small handful to 15 -20 gallons. Kind of looked like maybe you added gas to moth balls rather than moth balls to gas. At the ratio you used I would have needed a 5 gallon bucket full. Still a good video.
Jeff, I agree. I added way too many mothballs. Thank you very much for the constructive feedback.
Jeff Womack
And any any 'advantage' you experienced would have purely been a placebo effect.
Iam 65 and I heard people doing that but never did. I wasn't in to racing my hot water 6. Love your videos.
Thanks so much!
In 1968 a Porsche mechanic advised me to always add B12 Chemtool to the fuel, and his words weren't lost, that product has done well by me.
All of this is predictable if you understand the chemistry.
Napthelene is both melts and boils at a high temperature because it is a much larger molecule with much stronger inter molecular forces. This will raise the boiling point of the fuel raising the octane rating (essentially a measure of how hard it is the fuel evaporates). The fact that naphthalene has two aromatic rings, 5 double bonds, also puts it in a lower energy state, making it harder to burn, and making it much more likely to produce PAH's. polyaromatic hydrocarbons which are the compounds at the bases of much of carbon build up.
Finally, inside the carburetor there is a lot of evaporation. Most of the naphthalene is not going to evaporate, but instead deposit there.
Its good that you didn't try the dichorobenzene. You are absolutely right, burning it will tend to produce dangerous compounds, for example, phosgene and dioxin.
Another fun and exciting video! Right on man! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
Thank you!
I've been an engine builder and hot rodder for 50+ years, and what we used to do back in the day, is add 5 balls per 10 gallons of fuel plus 2.5 ounces of acetone for every 10 gallons. This was back in the fully leaded fuel days when our best fuel was leaded 100 octane from Clark. Adding the acetone and naphthalene in the amounts I just explained used to allow us to run 15:1 static compression on our engines. Even with proper heads and cam timing, we were only able to run 13.5 or MAYBE 14:1 on 100 octane. The naphthalene and acetone allowed us to bump a little more compression and ignition timing and squeeze just a bit more power out of those animals! Of course today, with the exotic aluminum head and combustion chamber designs this is no longer an issue. We're now able to run 11:1 and add boost, which in most cases is equivelant to 17:1 or even 18:1 static. Progress? Nah, not for this old timer. I'll take the sound of a nasty rat motor any day!
Thanks for sharing.
Never thought of using moth balls, but I really like the b12 chemtool. It's always my go to for carburetor repair
Thanks for the feedback.
@@ProjectFarm what about the best methods for removing rust like electrolysis, vinegar, chemical removers etc? I'm working on a Kawasaki mule that I recently acquired, and I need to remove rust from the gas tank.
2-3 moth-balls per gallon in an expandable vessel overnight (8-12hrs) before testing. We want a rematch!
the maximum dose is 0.10/0.12 grams per litre
I've been wondering about things like this most of my life. I grew up turning wrenches on motorcycles. I've had real discussions about this very topic as well "sugar in the gas" and "sand in the oil". It's so cool to see these old engine myths put to the test. This could easily be a segment on one of those car shows on TV. It's every bit as interesting as watching someone put high performance parts in an engine and seeing how much HP they made, and there have been several shows about that.
Thank you for commenting on this.
yeah it works...i remember this trick...we added it to some old station wagon that basically wouldn't rev over 4000 rpm and after it would do burnouts and just scream at about 5500 rpm...just a fun thing to do...high octane is no good for small engines like these ... and we added like 5 or 10 to a 20 gallon tank
Phil, Great point. I added too many to the tank. Thank you very much for commenting!
I always enjoy watching your videos but I don't agree with the amount of moth balls you used for such a small amount of fuel. My understanding of this concept is that you add no more than 2 moth balls to a full tank in a car. My wife asked me to mention that her dad used this method on all their vehicles and they ran great. Maybe more is not better.
Great point! I agree that I added too many. Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
I've watched many of your videos and I enjoy your honest and thorough way of making videos. For myself, I appreciate comments that help keep things as honest as possible, thought you deserve the same.
Thanks again!
Yes
You only need 2 moth balls for a full tank of gas in a car.
My late friend, Art R. used to say, "If a little is good, more is better, and too much is just right". Of course, he was being facetious.
I grew up in the 50's and 60's and heard the mothball urban legend many times. Luckily, I guess, I never had the nerve to try it. Great experiment. Thanks. It was fun as always to watch.
I did it in a small block chevy. It did boost the speed and people could smell I had something in it .
"H-Have you heard of the God who destroys?" The engines mutter amongst themselves.
"His Name is Project farm!!! Behave yourselves!"
All of the engines repented of their sins.
Seafoam giveth and Project farm taketh away........
I was wondering if running ethanol like e85 in your mower would clean out the fuel system and combustion chamber and valves.
Leon, This is a great project suggestion--thank you!
It won't; not without setting up the engine for it.
Ethanol will corrode the carburetor and destroy the seals. Regular car gas with 10% e will do it too.
He says, "i dunno whats going to happen, but what i do know is we've got an engine and some mothballs ..." Lol! That's awesome!
Thanks for watching.
I'm not sure where you would get jet fuel but it might be cool to see it in a lawn mower. Or it might need a higher compression to ignite. Only one way to find out.
Jimmy, Seems like a great project idea to find out! Thanks for the suggestion!
Jet fuel is basically highly refined and pure kerosene (or Paraffin here in the UK), and you can run a small engine off it but you have to start on petrol first to heat up the engine, and then either mix the kero in so it's like TVO, or just swap the feed from one to the other... :)
twocvbloke, This is great information. Thanks you!
Project Farm try it In a diesel if a gas engine doesent work
james edwards jet fuel is very hard to get to burn. It will even put out a match held at its surface in a bowl.
Any chance you'd be willing to do this again but with a sane ratio of mothballs to gas (another commenter who actually did this back in the day said handful of mothballs to a full tank of gas) and running through a coffee filter first? I'd be interested to see the results.
I definitely need to do this one again. Thank you!
Agree!!!!!!!
" I know we've got a small engine and some mothballs!" man I love this Chanel. Always learn something!
Glad to hear it!
Please try this again but filter the moth ball sludge. I want to see if there could be any performance boost at all.
Thank you for this recommendation.
Do an experiment on "Do water wetter's like royal purple ice work"? In liquid cooled engines.
The Man, Thank you for the project idea!
Back in the 1960s I heard that was the thing to do, I remember putting a whole box of mothballs in my fuel tank, no difference what so ever. Your videos are GREAT!!!!
Thank you
You used wayyyyy too many mothballs
Love the video!! Would you be willing to try running an engine on 100% acetone? Will it clean it up, damage it, run terribly, etc?
Thank you for the video idea!
Urban legend I heard as a kid was if you put mothballs in gas chemical reaction BOOM!!!
Glad you made it out alive.
Wow! Thank you
I was around during those sixties and seventies you were talking about.
Brother, it is four to six mothballs for fourteen to eighteen gallons!!!
Lmao
On a side note...
Wasn't acetone banned by the military because it's a carcinogen?
It was while I was in.
That's was a terrible test ..I used 8 mothballs to a full tank of fuel..and it fixed a clattering problem. We need you to do it right ..1 mothball to that size of a tank and desolve it overnight...
Thanks for the feedback.
I used to travel in Mexico a lot on my motorcycle and would occasionally get some really crappy gasoline. When I heard about stock car drivers putting mothballs in their gas tank to cheat and up the octane I though it would be a “fix” for getting crappy gas.
I took naphelene mothballs with me on my next trip to Mexico. I was riding a BMW R80GS. When I was Chiapas I got some lousy gas and the bike “pinged” a lot going up steep hills so I used a ratio of 5 mothballs per gallon of gas. I first crushed them before adding to the tank. Sloshed the gas around to dislike and off I went. Octane must have boosted a bit as pinging was greatly reduced and bike did run better. No problems at all with clogging, eating rubber parts or diaphrams. I only did this when it was really required….and it worked with no problems at all.
They way this test was done, no wonder he had problems. Kinda dumb the way he did it.
Run 2 stroke gas in a 4 stroke engine
Won't do much except provide extra lube and maybe burn a bit dirty. I used to use up 2 cycle gas in the snowblower come winter time. No problems.
Zach, Great suggestion--thanks!
At worst it will smoke a lot, eventually likely cause carbon deposits, and on a vehicle it might clog the catalyst
Zach Bower depends on the oil. I can attest as a certified Stihl mechanic , that a quality two cycle oil will leave minimal deposits . if you use marine oil , it will degrade certain components as it has ammonia blended in it. I use synthetic oil on the break in because that extra oil in the fuel helps lubricate the upper end. I've ran 50-50 drain oil in a lawnmower for a summer and it still chooches
I have used 2stroke fuel in my 4 stroke mowers for years... It doesnt hurt them and it doesnt smoke... The extra lube it gives wont hurt nothing neither
Too many mothball in little quantity of gas. Only dissolved mothball gas should have been used. Alsi pieces of mothball were put in the fuel tank which was wrong. After sieving the with dissolved mothballs wouldn't have spoilt the engine much.
Thank you
Good warning to those who might be tempted to try this. Clogged injectors could be an expensive repair.
Great point and thanks for commenting.
Good evening may I bring you some refreshments?
I will have premium with a Naptha twist
and
For my lady she will have a B12, with a shot of Sea Foam!
Funny!
You should try to run a engine on 100% Break cleaner
Thank you for this recommendation.
Brake cleaner is water-soluble and does not burn
During the 1970's, many engines suffered from pre-ignition ping. It was said that Naphthalene would mitigate the pinging. The formula back then was no more than 6 moth balls to a full tank of fuel. At that concentration, it would work and the engine performance did not suffer and pinging was greatly reduced. The car I used it in was sold in the early 90's with the original engine with north of 300K miles. I will admit that later in it's life I discontinued the naphthalene and just simply purchased a higher octane, at the time Exxon still sold a 98 octane premium fuel. In the lawn mower given the small volume of fuel, one ball would probably have been overkill.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep mothballs out of lawnmower engine.
Noted.
LOL! Thanks for commenting!
I mean my truck (semi) ran great maybe cause fuel injection instead of carburetor
That makes sense. I did an "extreme" test and added more mothballs than I should have. Thanks for commenting!
No a car or truck/semi has a fuel filter
My wife's grandfather worked for Chris Craft Boats in the 1930's he said they added moth balls to boost engine performance. You must remember gas then had a higher octane and was leaded. I can remember in the 80's regular gas was 91 octane and Super was 101. Thanks to him working there my wife is related to the owner Chris Smith.
Thank you for the feedback
Firstly, you make great videos but if you didnt intentionally clog the system...I believe the test would be slightly more accurate
I need to redo this test. Thank you.
I don't think that way fair, I would have strained it first, just saying lol
I'm glad you used the correct type of moth balls. I was wondering if you would but I shouldn't have doubted your wisdom. I agree with a lot of the other comments here, you used an excessive amount of moth balls for the amount of gasoline that you used.
Thank you! I should repeat the test using less mothballs in the future.
come on thats not the right way
Awesome love your channel
Cory, I greatly appreciate the positive comment--thank you!
Cory Henry .....Its rubbish
After 4 years and the people want you to redo this test with much less mothballs like 1 per gallon i read somewhere. hope to see it soon
Thanks for the suggestion.
This means it is really work perfectly and enhances the fuel octan number, because you are cheating. You have poured all the mothballs in the tank and clogged the carbonator in purpose.
Thank you!
Um use only 2 mothballs per 16 gallons WILL raise octane and that much will crystallize obviously what u being bribed by some perf additives co so people dont us cheap way... if ur gonna knock something and try to prove wrong do it right and properly investigate before you put to test durr and ill still use them to give me a + 2 greater octane rating
Dean, Thanks for the constructive feedback. I'll probably repeat the test using my old Ford Ranger. This time, only using 2-3 mothballs for 15 gallons. Thanks!
dean axtell
Care to explain how it works and how anything but an ultra modern flex fuel enabled engine would be able to take advantage of it?
Good luck answering that one...
You're quickly becoming one of my favorite channels
Thank you!
Run diesel in a gas engine
Thank you for the project recommendation!
Project Farm I've heard that if you mix gasoline with diesel in a gasoline engine (ratio 10:2) you get more horse power.
rc explore already exist
PingasTheFourth no diesel fuel has to have a hotter spark or high combustion before it will ignite,it will not run in a two-stroke engine. Diesel engines don't have spark plugs,but does have glow plugs for really cold starts.
Jeff garrett you cannot compress a liquid. If you could, be wouldn't have hydraulic brakes, etc. What you mean is igniting diesel in compressed air.
For real preformance two mothballs on a gallon gas.without engine damage.you over killed and never realy tested power.might as well mixed dirt with the gas .proved nothing.
Hell yeah someone finally did it!!!! My hats off to people like this guy i love these videos
Thanks for the positive comment!
Shouldn't have put the solids in the test!👎👎👎
I'll have to do this one over. Thank you
@@ProjectFarm Please do. I have a Mazdaspeed 3 and the cam-driven pump setup can have problems, so you disassemble the spill valve and fill with lighter fluid aka naphtha. The varnish vanishes and you're back up and running.
That's an expensive spark plug
Brian, LOL! I doubt it's any better than a standard one. Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
waste of money E3
In the Netherlands I have used the mothballs with dichlorbenzene and used one ball per half a gallon for a mixture, but would end up mixing that mixture into a gas tank with about 7 gallons of gas (Euro95). I did this for about 60000 miles and the performance was actually improving. Although stationary it wouldn't run that fluent, but when throttling it would really make a difference in accelerating.
Thank you
@@ProjectFarm but at least thanks for the videos, they are fun to watch :) Warm regards from the Netherlands
Greetings and thanks again!
Why did you intentionally sabotage this test. Dumping all that undisolved crap in the tank will plug up the carb. Duh. Maybe try just a few balls totally dissolved. I can see you trashed this test on purpose. You have your reasons though I'll bet.
Right when I think I have came up with a good idea... you already have done it!!
lol. Thank you
So my Dad suggested this when I was a kid lol. He claimed it worked. My Suzuki 86 LT230 ran just fine with mothballs mixed into the gas. It was used in very little moderation tho. Not a shit load of mothballs mixed in a small amount of fuel. A small amount of mothballs, with a decent quantity of gas.
Now did it do anything or increase power…I’ll never know lol. It used to be a hell of a placebo tho 🤣
1 ball per 3 liters gasoline. Crush the mothballs then add to some gas and give it a good shake till it all dissolves. Then add some 5w30 or 5w40 fully synthetic oil to the mix abt 30ml eng oil per 45liters of gasoline , adjust to the amt of gas u have in the tank. Then add it all to ur gas tank. Should run good n fast, n smooth.
Great comedic video. Everyone knows you have to make sure they are dissolved completely.
Thank you!
Naphthalene is actually used in injector cleaners. I tried this a few years back and made my own injector cleaner, can’t remember the other chemicals I used. But the base liquid for example Naphtha had to be heated in order to dissolve the moth balls. After that, the concentrate was added to a tank of fuel.
Thank you for the feedback!
You added too many mothballs (in my opinion). The gas jets, etc., got clogged because of too many Mothballs not fully dissolved. I would recommend using ONLY ONE mothball per tank...but only do the 1 mothball + gas mix occasionally. There is a significant performance advantage...how I know this, a guy I know did this to his snowmobiles. I would be more than happy to see a new video using some of the footage from this one in a new one, except with the test with only ONE mothball per tank! Thank you for considering this! By the way, keep up the great work!
I agree. I over did it for sure and need to redo this test. Thank you very much for the positive feedback.
I tried this many years ago in an 85 Honda Accord when it was running rough. After putting a few mothballs it actually starting running better and much smother so it worked for me. That car also had a carburetor btw.
Thanks for sharing.
I am an ASE L1 and L2 master automotive and diesel technician, keep up the great videos man, they are great 👍🏻
Thanks, will do!
Yeh that's a LOT of mothballs. Would've assumed this would be more thought out, esp since this method has been around a long time. I don't think this is as unbiased as other PF videos. I'd like to see suggestions in the comments taken seriously and the video re-done with much fewer moth balls, straining, etc.
My grandfather had a Buick straight eight that he fed mothballs. When my father's home birth went bad, he rushed my grandma to the hospital in that car. Their friend who was following said there was a 2 foot flame shooting out the tailpipe on the highway.
lol What a sight!
You are a lifesaver. Now I dont have to neuter a bunch of moths myself to find out what happens.
Thanks!
I love how these videos go:
"People said 'do A with B'. I don't know, but I do know I have 'B' and a small engine so let's see what happens"
Aperture Science-tier research you got going there, mister. Subbed for good measure.
Thank you!
You are right ON! Naphthelene is C10H8, and it looks like two benzene rings fused together. Benzene makes a very smoky dirty fire when burned.
Thank you for the feedback!
The key ingredient in moth balls is Naptha, it's a white gas like Coleman fuel, and it's flammability is higher than Octane itself.
The bad stuff in mothballs is WAX, mixed with Naptha, and an insecticide, Naptha is the evaporate, so wax is not good, but the naptha is. When i'm feeling frisky, i mix VM&P Naptha & caster oil, and put it in my 2016 Challenger's full tank of gas to up the octane a few points. The Naptha will make it run hot, so adding Caster oil is to prevent burning a hole in my piston, as a top end lube, and also make the exhaust smells good (like racing fuel). This is an old 50's-60's trick. Running straight Naptha will over heat the engine, possably warping the valves... Good video, I knew what was gonna happen ahead of time...
This is great information. Thanks for commenting!
Good thing you replied, i forgot to thumbs up the 1st time round :)
I have a suggestion for a project idea. This one is also a 1960-70s fairy tale, I could never get a strait answer on it. The story is, during the car engines of the era, it was common to see valve stems filled with sodium powder. The hollow valve stem, with the sodium powder, would dissipate heat from the valve, and reduce carbon buildup. The story goes, if you cut open the valve stem (I guess cut off the tip with a hack saw) and dump the sodium in a cup of water, the sodium would explode. Sodium filled valves are still around in auto applications, and piston aviation engines. I'm wondering if one of your junk yard engines may have sodium filled valves. The last time I had one in hand, it was from a 1955-1985 Small Block Chevy with perimeter bolt (non Vortech) heads. If you held the valve up to ear and shook it, you could hear the sodium rattling around. It sounded like a salt shaker. Do you have any scrap valves sitting around, that make the "salt shaker noise"? Wanna potentially blow something up for likes? Lol. The videos I've seen are really sketchy and don't show definitive [sodium from valve] used. There are plenty of laboratory grade sodium explosions on the net...but, those vids lack the grit and spirit of Project Farm.
Thanks for the recommendation!
During the 2nd World war 1 mothball per gallon of fuel was used to help increase the octane rating of substandard petrol.
It also permitted the use of any old mineral oil mixed with petrol in 2 stroke engines.
Please revisit this test and let test containers set 24, 48,72 etc for up to a week then filter the test content before the burn so to speak. My grandfather would soak in 8 to 10 oz of WD-40 for 3 days, then added to 10 gallons of fuel for his 396 hemi in his 1956 Chrysler 300 and it did seem to "come alive" as he would say. Really enjoy your channel ! Look forward to the next subject you test.
Thanks! Thanks for the suggestion.
Sorry to post on such dated material, but this was excellent. Learned two things.
Thanks! Glad you learned!
Chrysopolitan
Congratulations for your shows and for your honest and sensible method of testing. About the mothballs in the gasoline, I remember that some decades ago a fuel additive STP was containing a substance with the consistency and the look as naphthalene. STP additives are still on sale with a different formula - i guess. It is incredible how such products that are depicted like miracle drugs for engines still meet such a number of strong believers notwithstanding the gap between the cost of raw ingredients and price. The cost of development too is not believed to be so heavy; sponsorships, commercials and distribution through selective channels should be the big players. Efficacy? depends on the faith of the individual consumer
Thank you!
As a retired mechanic I approve of your excellent videos sir!
Thank you!
A mechanic who used this regularly and recommended a certain number of mothballs per gallon of fuel. From what I remember it was something like 10 mothballs per tank of gas put in when filling the tank.
Thanks for the feedback.