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 gave me his old backpacking stove and told me that it leaks white gas and that he was never going to use it again. I took the stove figuring out what I had to lose! It might be something simple to fix, or worse I just throw it in the trash and call it a day.
I really didn't know what Ron had given me at first, but after getting home and taking everything out of the stuff sack, I saw that he had given me an MSR stove. After doing a little research, I discovered he gave me an MSR WhisperLite™ International stove, a multi-fuel backpacking stove. Four things I liked about the stove right away, proven reliability, rebuildability in the field, multi-fuel, and made in the USA.
Who would have figured a U.S.-made backpacking stove, a fair amount of MSR products, about 53% are made in the United States and can either be repaired by the user in the field or sent to their downtown Seattle repair shop.
Okay, back to one of the four things I liked about the stove, it's rebuildable! If it's rebuildable, I should prevent the stove from leaking and working again. Two service kits are available for the stove, the Annual Maintenance Kit, and the Expedition Service Kit. Since I didn't know how old the stove was and the last time it had been in service, I selected the expedition kit since it has everything you need and then some. The kit runs about $29.
The MSR WhisperLite ™ stove comes with a fuel pump, windscreen, heat reflector, small parts, instructions book, and stuff sack. I had all the original parts, plus two fuel bottles. I first dumped the old white gas out of the fuel bottle. No idea how long it had been in there. Next, I inspected the bottle for damage but none was found. The MSR bottles that Ron gave me came with Expedition Fuel Bottle Cap. The service kit comes with two O-rings that are used to replace the O-ring on the bottle cap. No more leaking white gas! That's one issue taken care of.
The following pictures show some of the steps, of rebuilding the stove and the parts that you get with the Expedition Service Kit.
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!
My buddy Ron gave me his old backpacking stove and told me that it leaks white gas and that he was never going to use it again. I took the stove figuring out what I had to lose! It might be something simple to fix, or worse I just throw it in the trash and call it a day.
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| Original Instruction booklet. |
I really didn't know what Ron had given me at first, but after getting home and taking everything out of the stuff sack, I saw that he had given me an MSR stove. After doing a little research, I discovered he gave me an MSR WhisperLite™ International stove, a multi-fuel backpacking stove. Four things I liked about the stove right away, proven reliability, rebuildability in the field, multi-fuel, and made in the USA.
Who would have figured a U.S.-made backpacking stove, a fair amount of MSR products, about 53% are made in the United States and can either be repaired by the user in the field or sent to their downtown Seattle repair shop.
Okay, back to one of the four things I liked about the stove, it's rebuildable! If it's rebuildable, I should prevent the stove from leaking and working again. Two service kits are available for the stove, the Annual Maintenance Kit, and the Expedition Service Kit. Since I didn't know how old the stove was and the last time it had been in service, I selected the expedition kit since it has everything you need and then some. The kit runs about $29.
The MSR WhisperLite ™ stove comes with a fuel pump, windscreen, heat reflector, small parts, instructions book, and stuff sack. I had all the original parts, plus two fuel bottles. I first dumped the old white gas out of the fuel bottle. No idea how long it had been in there. Next, I inspected the bottle for damage but none was found. The MSR bottles that Ron gave me came with Expedition Fuel Bottle Cap. The service kit comes with two O-rings that are used to replace the O-ring on the bottle cap. No more leaking white gas! That's one issue taken care of.
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| Hand-drawn pictures of the stove are just classic. |
The following pictures show some of the steps, of rebuilding the stove and the parts that you get with the Expedition Service Kit.
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| Fuel Pump (left) and Stove (right) |
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| Whisperlte Expedition Service Kit. |
Step #1: Disassemble and clean the fuel pump.
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| Disassembly of the fuel pump. |
Step #2: Reassemble the fuel pump using the new replacement parts from the service kit.
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| 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!
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| We have ignition! |
There you have it! A stove that was going to be thrown out was able to be saved with a repair kit. It's easy to do, and the instructions are easy to follow. But if you don't have the skill or time you can send it to the MSR repair shop for a fee, and they will get you going 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.
Comments
On your earlier post about cycling clothes made in the USA. My son is now racing for a team, whose main sponsor does that just that - make cycling and other clothes here in the US: http://www.jlvelo.com/
Cool, eh?