Zippo Tuning?

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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I bought a new zippo a few months ago after a long period of being without one. I think I lost the other one. Anyway, I noticed this one isn't as reliable as the one I had 10-12 years ago. Are there any tips out there on making it more reliable or just making it run as best as it can? I access the internet at work during my down time so no vids please.
 
A lighter is such a simple thing. I can't imagine what would be causing it to be unreliable. Is the wick long enough? Is it not sparking correctly? It is an ol' fashioned regular Zippo and not one of dem new fangled butane ones—right?
 
yep it's the old style. It'll spark but it takes a bit for the wick to catch. Definitely not the one spark and you got flame like my old one.
 
Have you tried unravelling the wick a bit so to catch the sparks better?
 
Mine was having the same problem. I had to draw the wick back in a bit as it was too long for the frayed ends to catch a spark. Lights up on first strike now.
 
Yup. Trim or otherwise adjust the wick height to be right about the middle of the wheel and fray just a bit. If the wick's too long, you'll have too much fuel for the spark to ignite, too little and all sorts of things go wonky.
 
hatchetjack said:
Mine was having the same problem. I had to draw the wick back in a bit as it was too long for the frayed ends to catch a spark. Lights up on first strike now.
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Holmesmade said:
Yup. Trim or otherwise adjust the wick height to be right about the middle of the wheel and fray just a bit. If the wick's too long, you'll have too much fuel for the spark to ignite, too little and all sorts of things go wonky.
Click to expand...
I'll try that. It's also losing fuel faster then I remember and a long wick is probably the cause of that as well. Thanks.
 
Interesting..quit smoking 8/22/70 BUT my Zippo was bulletproof..probably need to achieve a balance of wick length, use good flints..and maybe some seasoning with use [ get a little honest dirt from use on wick, packing and base pad]..not unlike seasoning a cast-iron skillet ..hey, I'm making that up. Used Ronsonol lighter fluid, seem to recall that's all there was.

Bulletproof in use...honest.
 
Disagree with hatchetjack, use high quality fuel in your Zippo. Low quality will work, you can even use gasoline if you have to, but Ronsonol or Zippo brand fluid are the best, most of the others burn dirty and will gunk up your lighter. Other than that, trim the wick and fray the end and you should be fine.
 
Pulled the wick down to the middle of the wheel and now it works perfectly. Thanks for the advice.
 
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