Shell Petrol Can Puzzle

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

You could try it in a lawnmower or sniff it, probably wouldn’t do any harm if you top up the car tank that has plenty in it or just use it to clean stuff though best used in a well ventilated area without any naked flames.

Mike

[Former MemberParticipant @formermember19781]

[This posting has been removed]

[David Davies 8Participant @daviddavies8]

I wouldn't put the suspected leaded petrol in the car tank unless the car is designed to run on leaded. Google revealed the following:-

"The addition of even a small quantity of tetraethyl lead to your tank will contaminate your catalytic converter, and reduce or destroy its ability to minimize pollutants."

 

Keep it for the lawnmower.

 

Dave

Edit to remove ''unleaded''

 

 

Edited By David Davies 8 on 25/09/2019 15:25:56

[martin perman 1Participant @martinperman1]

Posted by Georgineer on 25/09/2019 13:31:29:

Posted by martin perman on 23/09/2019 08:48:44:

Posted by Georgineer on 22/09/2019 23:42:16:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 22/09/2019 19:05:24:

I looked for a date code on the rusty bottom of my can, but it's pretty ugly under there. Rather than having to scrape the whole thing, can anybody suggest where I should look first? The panel is corrugated rather than flat.

George

The date code will be two digits roughly in the middle of the base.

Martin P

Thanks Martin. I scratched around the middle and found a circular stamping with 'SM Co' at the top, 'London' at the bottom, '1' on the left and '32' on the right, which I interpret as January 1932.

I also investigated another can I inherited and found the date code for September 1934. All I need to do now is work out what to do with a gallon of petrol of indeterminate age, probably leaded, which it contains.

Another question – the seals in the brass caps look like leather. Would that be right?

George

The lid seals from memory were leather but I now use cork sheet cut into the appropriate circle.

Martin P

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Posted by David Davies 8 on 25/09/2019 15:24:25:

I wouldn't put the suspected leaded petrol in the car tank unless the car is designed to run on leaded. Google revealed the following:-

"The addition of even a small quantity of tetraethyl lead to your tank will contaminate your catalytic converter, and reduce or destroy its ability to minimize pollutants."

Keep it for the lawnmower.

Dave

Edit to remove ''unleaded''

Edited By David Davies 8 on 25/09/2019 15:25:56

A good point Dave, definitely don’t put put in an engine with a cat, the damage could be much more than the £6 saved.

Mike

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

Back in the sixties I had an Ariel Leader two stroke, I used to mix my own fuel, didn’t trust garage dispensers, I used Filtrate two stroke oil which contained colloidal graphite and the recommendation was to halve the oil content of the mixture which I did and the bike ran very successfully on this product, much less oil smoke generated.

Dave W

[Author]

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