Hello im new to this game so please dont get offended if i ask something daft. I have recently found my dads old fishing lantern a colmans cl2, it needs 2 new mantels? fabric part at top also a new glass. Is it worth repairing? Where can I get parts and anyting else I need to bear in mind before buying parts. Thankyou for your time
Hello Alun and welcome aboard! If you could post a photo or 2 that would help, if the photos are to large, then you can use the free image optimiser which is located via it's name tab near the top of the page. There are no daft questions! Jeff.
Hello Alun, this is a fairly modern Coleman lantern, it's missing it's glass, but I'm sure that it could be made to work. Some of the Coleman collectors will be able to advise you in more detail, Jeff.
I am not a great fan of these later Coleman lanterns but they generally run OK with very little fettling required. You need Coleman #21 mantles which can be bought at any Walmart in the US and from some camping suppliers here in the UK. I suggest though that you try Mike at Base Camp because he will almost certainly have the mantles and possibly a globe as well. Mind you try the lamp first it will work just fine with no globe. CL2 is a white gasoline lantern that really wants Coleman fuel or some similar naphtha fuel. They will run on unleaded but the generator will clog after around ten hours burning. Have a hunt round local suppliers of car paints and see if you can find a can of Panel Wipe. Not cheap at around £12 to £15 for 5 litres but that is a tad better than Coleman fuel at around £45 a gallon. This lamp will NOT run on kero. Check the valve works and then close up and at full pressure dump the whole thing in water to find any leaks. If you have no leaks and you get air blowing out of the generato tip then you have a working lamp. Add fuel and with a low pressure fire it up without mantles. You will need to keep a small blow lamp flame running across the ends of the mantle tubes and the generator but if you get two nice blue flames then add mantles and you are good to go. ::Neil::
hi. i'm new to this site and appreciate being able to be user of it, thank you. i decided to join because i had come across this site whilst looking up info on a coleman cl2. i've recently aquired one of these lanterns dated 1984. it's in vgc i think, some marks etc. recieved some number 21 mantles after learning from a prior post in this thread that they are the correct ones to get, thank you. so today i've swilled some fresh coleman fuel around the tank and drain it. there does appear to be a reddish stain/possibly corrosion? around where you fill the tank, not really sure if its like it through out the tank. the rest of lantern has clean up well. filled it with some fresh coleman fuel for now and i'm about to install the mantles. hope it all goes well! i'm not sure where i read this but i understand that you can replace a component on this lantern so that it runs fine with uleaded petrol, is that correct? does anyone know the correct part/part number i'd need? best regards, cheers.
If you use unleaded petrol with this lantern, what you will need to replace is the generator, because, sooner or later, it will clog up due to the additives in the fuel. Then you'll need to replace it again. ...and again; ...and again; ...and again etc. See Neil's advice above - use Coleman fuel (if you can afford it) or Panel Wipe from your local friendly motor factor. Make sure you get the full fat, industrial strength, high VOC naphtha-based panel wipe and not the water-based stuff! I know it's obvious but it wouldn't be the first time! I could be wrong but I'm not aware of any part you can exchange to allow the successful, continued use of unleaded petrol. I'm sure I've got one of these CL2 lanterns somewhere - must have a look...
hi, thanks for that helpful info. ok, 2 new but now broken mantles later.. no joy with getting this lantern to light. the pump is working fine and doing its job properly, everything appears to be ok. theres obviously something causing a problem and i dont really have a clue what at the moment. it seems the fuel control may not be letting the fuel through, something could be blocked? any help on my now new project much appreciated. regards, cheers.
there does seem to be fuel leaking around the fuel controls brass area. a peice of (paper/plastic?) pipe (through centre of lantern; goes around thin wire with very thin tip at top) is damaged/seperated from rest of itself that continues down into brass area. everything else seeems fine but this lantern does not work yet, hopefully any parts wont be hard to find although i dont exactly know what part is what just yet. edit: i've used coleman fuel with this lantern at the moment. regards, cheers.
CL2 is an Instant lighting lantern which requires understanding to run right. Not so sure about these later types but I think with this one you open the control half way to start and then all the way to run. Been around 15 years since I last used one of these so memory might be faulty here. What I do know is like all Instant-Lite Coleman product if the fuel and air feed tubes are dirty of partially clogged with old fuel residue it will not function well. I will have to go get mine to have a look and see how they light. CL2 is model 288 and I don't seem to have the instructions for it. More digging in the paper I fear because I feel sure I should have them. It may be possible to fit the generator from an unleaded lantern but I am not sure and I don't recall hearing of this being done. Anyway I don't like playing around with the original design much. If you want to use unleaded then buy an unleaded lantern. A fuel leak around the control wheel gland is a problem. Tighten the gland nut until it stops leaking. These lanterns are funny in that a leaky gland will actually affect the burn. We are not sure why but it seems to alter the mixture somehow so that gland has to be a good seal or your lamnp will not work right. Damn I hate doing this at long distance. Hands on is so much easier. I wouldn't mind betting I could have it working an an hour if it was here. ::Neil::
good morning. i think fuels going in right direction but can leak around that problem area. the 5/6mm round paper/plastic? tube seated around very thin 6" central wire 'thing' is broken(?) at its visible base. i believe the fuel control is working and opening/closing. i'm not sure if somewhere gets blocked at intervals when pumping (or maybe its fully pressurised?), i have removed and clean the small square screw type tip thing that has a extremely thin hole (on top of pipe). i had read that ''a 285 generator tube will fit the cl2 model with no modification and make it duel fuel and you could use a 214 generator to convert it to kerosene''. i have no idea if thats true or not. for now i'll see if i can mend leak and try and get the lantern going. pump/pressure seems good, only things that stand out is the (temperamental) leaky area and small'ish broken paper/plastic tube thing. i am not sure if anything is clogged up, i cant get in an properly see all the main/primary fuel flow control bits (main brass body bits). to properly identify problems and sort out this lantern is where i need help/advice thats much appreciated, thank you. cheers.
CL2s, CL1s, and CLXs are the first ones to use plastic eccentrics and without a heat shield that piece can melt. If the hole in the eccentric where the pricker rod is supposed to hook into is melted through then you will need a new valve. you will also need to get a heat shield too. inside the generator (the brass tube) there should be the pricker rod (hook on bottom end needle on the other) and a spring with cardboard tube around its base. it will also leak at the jamb nut if a. it is not tight enough or b. the generator has a crack in the base or c. the jamb nut has a crack in it. it can leak around the packing nut if the nut is not tight enough or the packing needs to be replaced. Edit: it also looks like it has been apart before. the valve may not be screwed all of the way into the tank...
thanks for all your helpful info there, cheers. now, for the meantime my CL2 is left to one side, i will start to tackle that again very soon. i will try to sort some pictures and place them here in this thread. i would like to get the CL2 lantern running nice and proper myself but with help ofcourse from you guys. for the moment i'm cleaning/renewing a 300x bialaddin to keep me busy. cheers.
Ah, now that being engineered as opposed to merely chucked together, you should have far less bother...
ok so i went back to the coleman and was confident i had tweaked things enough to get it working.. but like a silly t**t i broke the fine pin at the top of the thin wire thing. anyhow the paper/plastic tube thing was brittle and damaged as to is the area around where the thin wire joins the brass work. so i now definitly need some spare parts for this lantern. can anyone help me identify the correct parts i need, possibly even link me to where i can buy them? ..so back to the bialaddin for now i guess! also, just wonering does anyone have any original spares available for the 300x reg'd no 839212, such as glass globe/(green) hood in fine condition? cheers.
ok so the cleaning wire tip is broken, i think i have found a replacement one of those but may not be able to get it because its abroad (u.s. delivery only, cant contact seller). the plastic/paper tube thing is now destroyed so i need one of those aswell. as for the brass working which the thin cleaning wire joins to, i'm not sure if i need new brass work there or not? the cleaning wire is still joined to the brass work but looks messy (base of plastic tube melted?). i'm finding it difficult to source the parts i need, i somehow have a feeling that the damage caused is perhaps irrepairable and spare parts arent readily/easily available.. can anyone please tell me is it worth repairing this lantern, or should i get rid/just sell for spares? cheers.
You can not replace the cardboard tube, or the tip cleaner, they are part of the generator, a new generator will come with those parts, also you will need a heat shield. The CL2 valve assembly contains a couple of plastic pieces ( excentric block) that most likely have been deformed or melted by the heat ( due to not using a heat shield) You can get those parts at Old Coleman parts Heat shield: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/product.php?productid=221&cat=0&page=2 Valve block: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/product.php?productid=233&cat=0&page=3 Escentric block: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/product.php?productid=235&cat=0&page=3 Generator: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/product.php?productid=229&cat=0&page=3 Glass globe: http://www.oldcolemanparts.com/product.php?productid=76 Total cost should be about 35 dollars plus shipping, not bad, and you end up with a lantern that can last another ten to twenty years before more maintenance is needed.
