Hello gents, I have a question for all you Optimus experts. i have 2 8R's which I have never had a problem with. On a campout last weekend, a new freind was having trouble with his. The flame was surging and spitting. turn the key back to clean. no change. no consistant flow? It was supposedly new coleman fuel. If it was a coleman I would replace the generator, but it's not. Any Ideas on how to correct this? I use mine frequently and never have any problems - but then I used a Coleman 400 for 23 years and never had problem one until someone dropped it! KIDS!! at least it was an easy fix. Ron
Not to my knowledge. He said it was a stove he used as a kid. that this was the first time it had been out in 12 -15 years. He is a new Scoutmaste, just getting back into the camping scene. \\ rw
I'm no expert on 8Rs but from my limited experience I'd suggest a wick change and giving the tank a good rinse out with clean Coleman for starters.
Trivia time. Anyone remember the length of the wick. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to remember the mention of a cotton mop head for new wick material. And watch the size that you wind the copper wire so as to get it back in. Scouteron, you could pull your wick out (don't mention what your doing in polite company or with Parents present) and very that his is the same. Iain
Scouteron, Go checkout the Fettling Forum under Wick Length. Someone had described replacing one in a fare bit of detail. Iain
I had a similar problem sometime ago. In my case, the string packing was very deteriorated and some of the packing residue had gotten into the area around the needle valve seat. The tank and wick assembly were removed ( use the correct wrench -- a wrench designed for tubing, if you possibly can ), along with the valve stem. I cleaned all the packing crud out of the valve seat and then flushed it all with very hot water. This was followed by an alcohol rinse and the unit was re-assembled using Teflon packing. Stove worked fine after this. Before I did all this though, I would recommend cleaning the tank with hot water and drying it our with Alcohol followed by new fuel and try it again. Ken H.
One other thing to try. Sometimes the gasket in the fuel cap gets old and leaks the pressure out which causes the stove to perform poorly. Replace the gasket or the whole cap and maybe that will fix it. I replaced the gasket with a suitable O ring. Cost of repair was maybe 10 cents. This was on my 8R that I bought in 1968. it is still working good as new several years after my repair. Good Luck, Jim Henderson
Jim Fuel cap gasket is the first thing I would check out. Jim is' correct as it is very easy to check and replace if necessary. Ken H.
