Originally Posted by
staehpj1
I can attest to the fact that a well worn 1965 chevy van will in an emergency start and run very poorly on coleman fuel. It will knock and ping and rattle for at least a week after it is filled with real gasoline. Also it will throw a rod tight through the side of the block within a year if my experience is typical. Yes I know that from first hand experience.
Yep. Octane rating of about 50. The 100 “octane” of the octane rating isn’t a straight C8 hydrocarbon but is instead 2,2,4-trimethylpentane which is also known as iso-octane. It has 8 carbons but is highly branched which makes it burn smoother. n-Octane, which is a straight chain C8 hydrocarbon, has an “octane” rating of -20. n-Heptane has an octane rating of 0. Both are present in fairly high quantities in Coleman fuel. Coleman fuel also has a fairly high benzene content which raises the octane rating to the paltry 50 octane. No wonder you threw a rod.
People often say that “white gas” is “pure gas” but, as you found out, it isn’t. It’s not even that closely related to gasoline. Given the high proportion of straight hydrocarbon, “white gas” would make an okay diesel substitute because it has a cetane number of about 60 which is the same as diesel fuel. But diesel engines are far more robust and less sensitive to fuels than gasoline engines.