How to Maintain a Zippo Lighter

Clean the inside unit. To remove the case, open the flip top and pull the case off. To pull the case off of the unit, hold the inside unit with one hand and the case with the other. Pull the case away from the inside unit by pulling in a downward motion. Wipe the inside unit with a soft cloth, or gently blow on the unit, to remove any small pieces of debris. Keeping your lighter clean will help reduce malfunctions.

Add fuel to your Zippo. Remove the lighter's case (as described in Step 1). Peel back a corner of the felt padding on the bottom of the unit to expose the fuel chamber. You will see a small hole in the fuel chamber; insert the small tip of the lighter fluid container into the hole and slowly press down on the container to begin refilling the chamber. Stop filling the lighter when you are able to see the fuel is close to the top. You do not want to overfill the fuel chamber as this may cause it to leak. Wipe the lighter off and insert it back into the case by sliding the case back over the unit.

Change the flint. Carefully unscrew the flint spring, which is located at the top of the unit. Use a tiny eyeglass screwdriver to unscrew the flint spring. Tap the unit on a hard surface to knock out any remnants of the old flint. Place a new flint into the tube and replace the flint spring. Screw the spring back into place.

Replace the wick. Remove the lighter's case (as described in Step 1) and gently pull the old wick out of the top of the chimney with tweezers. Pull all of the packing away from the fuel chamber by using tweezers. Slide the new wick down into place from the top of the chimney. Replace the packing around the wick. Cut the wick down to match the length of the chimney.