Posted on 05/14/2004 12:27:30 PM PDT by flying Elvis
(KGMB 9 News) Honolulu : On the mainland, the average price for a gallon of gas is $1.80. But that's cheap compared to Hawaii's pumped up prices.
Now a local mechanic says he'll let you in on a secret that could possibly save you a lot.
George Nitta's been working on cars for more than 40 years. In that time, he's fallen in love with a simple, and according to him, effective way to improve gas mileage.
George Nitta, Nitta's Auto Repair: "Moth balls definitely will give every car better performance."
That's right. Moth balls.
George Nitta, Nitta's Auto Repair: "It all depends on the car. Every car different. It goes everywhere from like a mile to two miles per gallon of gas to almost double."
Nitta suggests you put the moth balls in your tank before filling up. And it's important to know how many to use.
He says you should put in five moth balls for every gallon of gas. Once the balls are in, you can load up on gas.
Or you can avoid the hassle of counting moth balls and stuffing them in your tank by getting Samurai - moth balls in a liquid form.
Dale Payson, Automobile enthusiast: "And it dissolves instantly in your gas tank."
Automobile enthusiast Dale Payson has used moth balls in his car.
Dale Payson, Automobile enthusiast: "I got better gas mileage. You know, I would get four miles to a gallon better mileage than without them."
Payson's heard some mechanics say moth balls are bad for your engine, but both he and Nitta say that's nonsense.
George Nitta, Nitta's Auto Repair: "Mechanics tell them don't do it because it will clog the injectors, it'll mess up the fuel pump. It'll do this, that, everything else and it doesn't, because it dissolves completely and it doesn't mess anything up."
You must, however, make sure you use the right kind of moth balls. Nitta says do no use moth balls made from something called paradichlorobenzene. Instead use what are commonly referred to as old moth balls. The active ingredient in them is naphthalene. By adding moth balls with naphthalene, Nitta says you'll not only get more miles per gallon, but added power too.
Oh man, I shoulda read the whole article before I stuffed all those urinal cakes into my gas tank. . .
:)
Yes! It will work, but will ruin your engine!
The pistons will have holes melted in their tops over time.
Moth balls are naptha, I believe, very flammable and full of energy. Like NITRO PILLS........
And how much wear and tear does this have on the engine? Are you increasing or decreasing the life of the car? Are simple fixes of 1 or 2 parts suddenly requiring 3 or 5 parts?
And how much do the the moth balls cost per gallon? Five per gallon. 15 gallon tank. 115 balls per fill up.
What does this then equal in dollars per mile?
What does this do to the catalytic converter? Exhaust emissions?
I don't think so.
Interesting! Has any freeper tried this?
Here's a JOKE to play on someone:
ASK: DO YOU KNOW WHAT MOTH BALLS SMELL LIKE?
VICTIM: UH, YEAH, I DO......
PUNCHLINE: THEN TELL ME, HOW DID YOU GET HIS LITTLE LEGS APART?......
Moth balls? You know how difficult it is to catch and castrate those suckers? From the standpoint of labor alone this is not cost effective.
snip
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.
Perhaps a chemist can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe napthalene is simply a higher-order hydrocarbon. As such, I would expect it to burn much like any other, provided it didn't clog up the engine. That having been said, I would not expect modern engine control systems to take kindly to 'unusual' fuels.
When I was a teenager everybody did it at least a few times. Nobody's engine got ruined and no one paid attention to figure out if there was actually any better performance, although everyone swore there was.
This is going to take a LOT of moths.
Interesting.
What affects does this have on an engine with a carburator?
I have a dodge 318 V8 in my truck with a single barrel carb.
I get 8 MPG city and at most 12 MPG highway. Although, I did get 15 MPG once after having all the wheels and bearings replaced, but only for the first 900 miles.
Q: Why do mice have such small balls?
A: Because very few of them know how to dance.
Subject: May 19
It has been calculated that if everyone in the United States did not purchase a drop of gasoline for one day and all at the same time, the Oil Companies would choke on their stockpiles.
At the same time it would hit the entire industry with a net loss of over 4.6 billion dollars which affects the bottom lines of the oil companies.
Therefore may 19th has been formally declared "stick it to them" day and the people of this nation should not buy a single drop of gasoline that day.
The only way this can be done is if you forward this e-mail to as many people as you can and as quickly as you can to get the word out.
Waiting on this admiinstration to step in and control the prices is not going to happen. What happened to the reduction and control in prices that the arab nations promised two weeks ago?
Remember one thing, not only is the price of gasoline going up but at the same time airlines are forced to raise their prices, trucking companies are forced to raise their prices which effects prices on everything that is shipped. Things like food, clothing, building materials, medical supplies etc. Who pays in the end? We do! We can make a difference. If they don't get the message after one day, we will do it again and again.
So do your part and spread the word. Forward this email to everyone you know. Mark your calendars and make may 19th a day that the citizens of the United States say "enough is enough"
The likelihood of any of these proposals making any meaningful difference is essentially nil. Even if the gasoline sales did drop noticeably, the increase in sales the surrounding days would more than make up for it.
BTW, for the first time in many years I saw a large queue of vehicles at a gas station. The station happened to have a posted price that was 30 cents cheaper than the one across the street ($1.749 vs. $2.049), and I would have been tempted to fill up, but I decided to drive back later (same price, but no queue).
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