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Texas Todd
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
14:56:00

Subject: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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A friend at work said that she used to put some mothballs in her gas tank at the track, and somehow it helped. How? Anyone ever heard of such a thing?



Art
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
15:36:17

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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LOL,thats an old tale,ya you can stick in naphtalen mothballs in your tank,the theroy is that its supposed to raise the octane rating of your fuel.Does it work I got no idea,you could also use a little ATF mixed with your gas to do the same thing.I have heard of mothballs made out of some other chemicle that when mixed with gas makes hydrachloric acid and thats not good for your fuel system.



Texas Todd
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
15:53:19

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Art,

I never EVEN considered doing it, just wondered if anyone else had heard of it. Thanks for your reply, others?

01 QC 4.7 5spd HO Cams Homebrew intake ported TB



moxley
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
16:02:02

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Man i havent been here for awhile, lots of crap going on!
TX Todd,
Art is on the wright track, Mothballs are not pure naphthalene and some of the additives in mothballs might do more harm than good. Some of the additives and imitation moth balls will form hydrochloric acid upon combustion in the engine. I think you can guess what hydrochloric acid will do to an engine. You also have to know how much to add
Adding naphthalene to your gas will increase your octane rating in your gasoline, but the effects are minimal and not worth the risk.

Hope that helps?



Dr.Dakota
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
16:14:47

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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As a biochemist, you guys are both partially right. The napthalene in the moth balls will be released when they dissolve in an organic solvent such as gasoline, but does not increase the octane..octane is an 8 carbon chain hydrocarbon, napthalene is not. napthalene is also combustible but a few mothballs in 20 gallons of gas would not do much. Other chemicals used in the 'ball' fomation include vinyls, polycarbonate and other 'plastics', thus you may just clog your fuel system. As for hydrochloric acid production, I find this hard to beleive, hydrochloric acid is nothing very complex its just hydrogen and chloride (HCl), the degradation of the plastic components may give you some hydrogen in solution and maybe the vinyls may give you some chloride ions, but who cars if there is HCl in your gas? As long as its not water!



Texas Todd
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
16:38:45

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Thanks,

As I said, I wasn't even considering it in my QC!

Todd Bouton

If you want a better time at the track, and you put mothballs in your gas tank ........................., you MIGHT be a redneck!



moxley
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
16:57:33

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Now im just confused??

Dr.Dakota, Im no chemist, It’s what i could remember from a discussion i had with my brother awhile back. Hes one of those phd inorganic chemist types to. So believe what you want?



BruinFan
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
17:40:36

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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I agree with the doc, HCI isn't gonna form, and if it did it would just give you a pretty good cleaning if it came out quick...
little back round in hazmat



Duke
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
18:49:24

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Texas moths got some potent balls!!!!!!!



Dr. D
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
19:01:22

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Do Moths have Balls ??

Dr. D






dakotamaxx
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
21:41:50

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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its great we have a biochemist at or web site!and its really hard to get a moth to spread there tiny legs to check for balls,LOL



slick
Dodge Dakota
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11/08/2002
21:53:33

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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OK they don't work in the gas tank -- how about throwing some in the air filter box. I bet I could sell them on ebay. HMMMMMMM



v8dakota
Dodge Dakota
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11/09/2002
00:04:25

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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The other chemical that moth balls are made of is Paradichlorobenzine. The same thing that "Bowl Fresh" is made of(the little smelly cake that hangs on the toilet rim). Also used as an insecticide. Also works great to keep scorpions away. I'm no biochemist, but I used to work for the largest moth ball producer. We made the naptha ones as well, caveman stlye. The chemicals are heated, then sprayed onto some burlap material. When the stuff cooled, you would hit the burlap with a broomstick and all the naptha would fall to the floor. Then you just shovel it up into a berrel, dump it in the pill press, and "viola", naptha mothballs.



Duke
Dodge Dakota
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11/09/2002
14:14:45

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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Performance from a piss mint...Who knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!



afi360
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11/09/2002
15:35:43

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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hahahaha he called it a piss mint!!!!!



sandman
Dodge Dakota
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11/10/2002
00:16:51

RE: Mothballs? In the gas tank?
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On a positive note I have had great luck with moth balls as a pest preventer. I did not know wich type of moth balls would be deadlier so I bought one box of each. I opened the boxes and just dumped them into a Geo Metro I wanted to store. I let that thing sit for year on a working farm and never had one mouse or rat in the thing. The few insects I found inside were dead. I would go out to the car once ever 4 weeks and fire it up and let it run. Even with 20-40MPH++++ winds dureing our Michigan winters you could smell the moth balls in the car about 6 feet away. I would open the door for a few minuts before I would hop in to start it. The side of the packages saw not to be used for pest/varmint control but they do work!!!



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