The Coleman 2-mantle dual fuel (Coleman fuel or unleaded gasoline) lantern I purchased is a dickens to get lit. Once lit, it never achieves great brightness, and gradually over about 20 minutes, it progressively gets dimmer and goes out altogether. After that, I cannot relight it for the life of me. My questions: 1) Although I think I'm following the pumping instructions correctly, could this be poor pumping technique, or is the pump bad? 2) Would using unleaded gas yield better results than the Coleman fuel I use. 3) Could it simply be "old" fuel that was sitting on the Wal Mart shelf for too long? Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -Tim

 

I doubt that your problem is fuel related.
I have used literally twenty year old fuel with no change in performance.
I also believe you would be better off to use the lantern fuel over unleaded gas.

Is this a new lantern?

If new the leather in the pump may not be broken in and you are not getting enough fuel pressure.
It is possible that the generator (the tube that runs clost to the mantle) is plugged but not if you start out with a good flame.

You could try to remove the pump and carefully flare out the leather slightly then put one drop of oil in the cylinder before you reinstall it.
Be carefull when you replace it.
Another trick to getting the pump to operate is to put one drop of oil in the oil hole and operate the pump in a very fast pumping motion to get it to seal.

I'm not sure under what circumstances you will be using your lantern but if in sub-zero temps you can get a cold weather pump that stays soft when cold.
I bought one for mine but have not had a chance to try it.

Try this and let us know how it goes.

 

Does anyone know if I can run unleaded fuel in older lanterns that use coleman fuel.
Thanks

 

No you can not...............it could catch fire because they were not designed for it.