Coleman 200A Won't Pump Up

[Jon St]

Hello guys,
I was thrilled to find a Coleman 200A at a flea market a few days ago, as I never had one before, and wanted one. However, I didn't know how to check the pump at the time. When I got it home I discovered it doesn't pump up. When you do the pump test (as recommended by Coleman on the side of the lamp), it fails. So, I'm assuming the leather either needs to be oiled or replaced.

First I figured I'd try oiling it. However, I don't know how to take it apart. Also, what oil should I use to oil it? Anything else I should know to check out before I fire this up? It's made in 6-1976 according to the numbers on the bottom, and overall is in pretty good shape. It does have a little light surface rust up top underneath the ventilator, but not too bad. Should I take a little 000 steel wool to it, to clean it up? Otherwise it seems to be in good shape as far as I can tell. It still had old gas in it, so I poured that out. My parents always had Colemans for when we went camping, so I grew up with these. I'm pretty sure they still have their dual-mantle. I was happy to find mantles at Wal-mart, of all places! I got 4 #21 tie downs and some Coleman fuel, so I'm looking forward to getting this guy going.

Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
-Jon

[Jon St]

I got the pump out and oiled it; turns out it's Neoprene on this one, not leather. It's holding pressure fine now. Fueled it up and tied on a mantle. When I went to fire it up, I could hear the gas running, and smell it, but it wouldn't light. I found a website detailing how to clean the generator, so I did that, and now it's totally dead! No gas rushing, nothing. It holds pressure, but the generator doesn't do anything. I noticed the metal tube that slips over the generator is bent, and has a slight kink in it. Is it possible to replace this tube? I'm planning on replacing the generator, but wanted to know if I could get the tube also.

-Jon

[Neil McRae]

This is a quite typical and common fault with old Instant-Lite lamps that have not been used for a while. The problem is much more likely to be in the fuel and air pick up tube inside the fount. These lamps have a spring loaded valve in the fuel tube that allows air and fuel to the generator when you open the valve part way for lighting. When you open the valve fully it closes off the air feed and gives gasoline only. However it is common for the gasoline feed to gum up and not pass any fuel. What you get then is air from the top of the tank but no gas so it will not light. You may hear the generator hissing though so can be fooled to believe all is well with the feed. I suspect you will have to take out the valve and clean the fuel tube system to make the gasoline flow again. If you have a look at the Old Town Yucca site you will find directions on how to do this. ::Neil::