Mothball in fuel tank?

[>$3<]

Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but has anyone ever put a mothball in their fuel tank?
A mechanical engineer that i was talking to the other was telling me how between every 3 full tanks he chucks in a naftaline ball into his tank to get a boost of octane cheaply.
Has anyone ever tried this, im just really really curious.

[WhoNew]

I once heard on a radio show that a guy put a handfull in his tank to get rid of moisture.

I guess it worked, cuz his question was the same as yours.
He said that after some guy put the mothballs in the tank, it started right up.

Now I don't know about you, but i'm not putting anything but approved liquids in my own car.

[woodbronks]

I have a friend who has a race car and on weekends he'd put mothballs in the tanks and it worked after they desolve he says the car would just fly

[325ic a beer]

I've been hearing the "urban Legend" since 1974.
Mythbusters should do a show on this one.:thumbup:

[ChipB]

Take a look at this - adding moth balls to the gas doesn't help, and if they're the wrong type may actually hurt the engine:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/1997/February/09.html

[Gryz]

I've been hearing the "urban Legend" since 1974.
Mythbusters should do a show on this one.:thumbup:

I think they did actually...don't remember the outcome though.

[mrfraser89]

Yeah Mythbusters already did it :P

Can't remember now what the result was.

[E36 Phantom]

Don't do it.

[Nick_R_23]

Mothballs in the gas tank is a trick that non sponsored ATV racers liked to use back in the day, since race gas back then was still expensive to their standards. It doesnt boost your octane, what it does is makes the gas less easier to ignite. Higher octane gases are also harder to ignite, the higher the octane the harder it is.

High compression engines (generally racing engines) are usually higher compression then standard engines. If too low octane is run in these engines, it can ignite before its supposed to, pushing back on the piston before it reaches TDC, and creating a 'knock' sound. This is overcome by using a higher octane gas, since the gas is harder to ignite, it will wait until the piston is ready before it will ignite, and the engine runs right.

This is also why on BMWs that when you put lower octane gas in your car, it will still run ok with out knocking. It adjusts the timing to fire slightly later (IIRC) so that the gas doesnt ignite to early and create a knocking noise.

Mothballs are basicly just a cheap way of making your gas 'higher octane'.

-Nick

[woodbronks]

i've heard this like i said but im not to rush out to put mothballs in my tank