Repair Burner Leak in Ronson Varaflame Lighter

Ronson Varaflame Premier lighters were first produced in the 1950`s. You can buy vintage Premier today on eBay for about 40$ and up, depending on the condition. Most often acquired lighter will leak because the rubber in the burner ages and looses it sealing quality. This guide is about fixing the leak from the tiny seal on the bottom of the pin in the burner.

Please note that Varaflame Premier contains butane, highly flammable gas, so do not attempt any repairs if the lighter has gas inside. Properly purge the lighter of any remaining gas. Perform the repair in a well ventilated area, away from heat, sparks, and flame, do not smoke or ignite the lighter.

1. First remove the flint cover on the bottom of the lighter, remove flint spring and the flint.
2. Remove the screw that holds the pin in the center of the flint wheel. Carefully remove the pin. Now you can remove the cover that houses the flint wheel. Remember how everything was positioned.
3. Now to the burner, see first picture. Remove the C ring (1) that holds the chrome flame adjuster (2) to the burner. Unscrew the top burner part (3) counter clockwise. My burner does not have tiny springs in the area where the pin is located, but watch out, since you may have a different model. Carefully remove the tiny chrome pin. Pin should have the rubber seal attached to the bottom.
4. It is hard to replace this tiny seal. We will use a disposable lighter to produce the new pin that is similar to the original Ronson pin. Disposable lighter pin has the rubber seal attached in a more secure way without the need for glue. You can take out the pin from the disposable lighter burner, see picture 2.
5. Compare the Ronson pin on the right to disposable pin on the left in picture 3. We will need to file down the brass pin in length to match the original (I left it a bit longer to ensure that the cover presses the pin harder down). Also take out some brass on the top of the pin to match the diameter of the thin part on the original pin, same goes for the lower part. Brass is easy to file so this should not take much time.
6. See the result after filing in picture 4. Make sure the brass pin is round and goes to the top burner part without problems and also that it reaches the bottom properly, if not file down some more.
7. Assemble everything back. Fill lighter with small amount of butane and test for leaks in well ventilated area using all necessary precautions.
8. You new pin will now feed the gas through the holes in the top part of the burner as well as through the hole in the pin itself. If you prefer that the lighter operates as originally intended, you must plug the hole in the new pin. I left it open; see the result in picture 5.

Ronson History:
http://www.ronson.nl/pages_fr/ronsonhistory_en/historytekst_engelstalig_lite.html