Maintenance & Repair for MSR WhisperLite™ International Stove

This post was originally been published in March 2011 and has been updated and republished in September 2019.

My buddy Ron handed me his old backpacking stove and mentioned that it leaks white gas, adding he’d never use it again. I took it off his hands, figuring, what did I have to lose? Maybe it’s something simple to fix, or if not, I could always toss it in the trash and move on.

Original Instruction booklet. 

At first, I had no idea what Ron had handed me. But once I got home and unpacked the stuff sack, I realized he’d given me an MSR stove. After a bit of research, I found out it was an MSR WhisperLite™ International stove —a multi-fuel backpacking stove. There were four things I instantly liked about it: proven reliability, the ability to be rebuilt in the field, its multi-fuel capability, and the fact that it’s made in the USA. MSR WhisperLite™ International

 Who would have guessed that a U.S.-made backpacking stove would be so versatile? About 53% of MSR products are manufactured in the United States, and they can either be repaired by the user in the field or sent to their repair shop in downtown Seattle.

Back to one of the things I loved about the stove: it’s rebuildable! If I can rebuild it, I should be able to stop the leak and get it working again. There are two service kits available for the stove: the  Annual Maintenance Kit, and the Expedition Service Kit. Since I wasn’t sure how old the stove was or when it was last serviced, I opted for the Expedition kit. It has everything you need—and then some—for about $29.

The MSR WhisperLite ™ stove comes with a fuel pump, windscreen, heat reflector, small parts, an instruction manual, and a stuff sack. I had all the original parts, plus two fuel bottles. First, I emptied the old white gas from the bottle—no telling how long it had been sitting there. Then, I checked the bottle for any damage, but luckily, there was none. The MSR bottles Ron gave me came with an Expedition Fuel Bottle Cap. The service kit includes two O-rings to replace the one on the bottle cap. No more white gas leaks! That’s one issue taken care of.

Hand-drawn pictures of the stove are just classic.

The following pictures highlight some of the steps involved in rebuilding the stove, as well as the parts included in the Expedition Service Kit.

Fuel Pump (left) and Stove (right)

Whisperlte Expedition Service Kit.

Step #1: Disassemble and clean the fuel pump.

Disassembly of the fuel pump.

Step #2: Reassemble the fuel pump using the new replacement parts from the service kit. 

The original fuel pump was reassembled with new replacement parts. 

 
Step #3: Fill the fuel bottle with new fuel (white gas).

Step #4: Insert the fuel pump into the fuel bottle.

Step #5: Attach the stove to the fuel pump.

NOTE: Make sure you do not have any leaks before lighting the stove. Do this outside!

We have ignition!

There you have it! A stove that was almost thrown out was brought back to life with a simple repair kit. It’s a straightforward process, and the instructions are easy to follow. But if you don’t have the time or the skills, you can always send it to the MSR repair shop for a fee, and they’ll have it up and running again.

Now It's Your Turn-

I invite you to leave a comment. Did this post save your stove from the trash? What was the first meal that you cooked on your stove? 

Navigate over to our other post on converting a Camping Gaz Bivouac 270 Lantern to threaded fuel canisters. Or our previous post Camping Gaz Turbo 270 Conversion for Threaded Fuel Canisters.