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Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:08 pm

Here is my recommendation to all Sambans doing electrical maintenance or repairs.
use dielectric grease in all the connectors

my brake lights were not working and i dropped the front pan to check the connections at the brake master cylinder
they were heavily corroded with a thick green patina
I cleaned the spades with a wire brush and reamed the females with a spare male terminal to get them clean
pushed and pulled a few times and greased everything with dielectric and reassembled
the brake lights are bright and shiny now

Aloha
tp

Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:53 pm

It is a good recomendation. Dielectric grease was expensive back then because about the only place one found it was on the distributor rotor tip.

Sun Feb 28, 2010 11:29 pm

yep, good stuff. I use NYK brand on all connections, mainly because thats what I find at work..... 8)
Also useful for connections between dissimilar metals to prevent corrosion, which is why we use it at work.
Gee, I guess my job is paying off after all! :lol:

Mon Mar 01, 2010 4:32 am

reamed the females with a spare male :shock:

Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:45 am

You guys need to bear in mind....that "dielectric grease"...is a non-conductor. Its whole purpose is to keep moisture out of connector plugs by creating a waterproof barrier.

It actually should not be packed into the connectors themeselves. There is no end to the amount of times I have had to correct this screw up on fuel injection harnesses on systems I have worked on.
In cold weather...with only a few grams of spring pressure on the connecting leaves of the fuel injection female terminals themselves....the grease becomes solid enough to prevent connection when position changes during vibration.

Likewise...the usage of dielectric on spark plugs should be limited to the boots to prevent both arc-over to block and incursion of water.....not smeared on the actual plug connnector. Those who do this with modern vehicles risk a no start situatuion ....just like the PO of the 2006 Jetta I have.
These systems use millivolt sensing many times per second to constantly adjust spark . The contamination of dielectric grease between the plug end and the plug electrode screws this up. The cars runs like crap....intermittantly....because as it heast up the grease flows changing position and connectivity. Sometimes it improves it...sometimes not.

You can get away with it on some basic chassis connectors like your brake wires....but its not necessary or healthy for the connection. The lights work better because you cleaned the wires.....the grease has nothing to do with that new found level of connectivity....because its a non-conductor.
But it will have a lot to do with keeping moisture out and keeping the connector clean.
The proper thing to do is to seal the outside of the plug with a boot and grease the rubber where its contacts plastic so its moisture proof. Ray

Mon Mar 01, 2010 6:53 am

Thanks for clearing that up Ray. I was wondering if it actually helped with the connection.

Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:39 am

what ray said. also, use it on ground connections where you get a lot of dissimalrmetal corrosion. the pressure of screwing it iin place will force out all the grease that would get in the way, and really help it last longer.. good grounds=happy bussing.

Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:53 am

thanks for the information Ray

my consideration for using the dielectric grease was to use it for simple connectors which have no boots to cover them
I'm aware that the improvement in conductivity was due to the cleaning, not the grease
The grease is to prevent the recurrence of the corrosion

I assume that antisieze could be used to improve conductivity, but could be a problem waiting to happen in most applications. I might consider antisieze when fastening a ground strap, but anywhere else it could introduce alternate paths for current flow.

I use a bit of antisieze on the threads of sparkplugs, but am very careful not to get it or even fingerprints on the insulator. And I don't use a spark plug socket with a rubber insert for installation because I don't want its fingerprint on the insulation.

I had no idea of the problems dielectric grease could cause in a modern car.
We are here to share our knowledge.
Thank you for yours

Aloha
tp

Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:01 am

I have tried to find a good conductive isloation grease, like anti-seize, and have yet to meet success. anti-seize only seems to be conductive under pressure, adn then intermitantly, the metal content isn't high enough.

Mon Mar 01, 2010 9:18 am

I assumed that antisieze was a good conductor because it is graphite and grease and would conduct electricity similar to a line drawn with a pencil.

There are antisieze compounds that also contain copper and might have better conductivity than the simple graphite and grease.

Perhaps we will spur some scientific minds or home experimenters to post their results and/or opinions.

it seems that knowledge begets knowledge, but then again I am assuming

Aloha
tp

Mon Mar 01, 2010 10:19 am

Tom Powell wrote: thanks for the information Ray

my consideration for using the dielectric grease was to use it for simple connectors which have no boots to cover them
I'm aware that the improvement in conductivity was due to the cleaning, not the grease
The grease is to prevent the recurrence of the corrosion

I assume that antisieze could be used to improve conductivity, but could be a problem waiting to happen in most applications. I might consider antisieze when fastening a ground strap, but anywhere else it could introduce alternate paths for current flow.

I use a bit of antisieze on the threads of sparkplugs, but am very careful not to get it or even fingerprints on the insulator. And I don't use a spark plug socket with a rubber insert for installation because I don't want its fingerprint on the insulation.

I had no idea of the problems dielectric grease could cause in a modern car.
We are here to share our knowledge.
Thank you for yours

Aloha
tp

No! Please don't use anti-sieze. There are over 50 major brands on the market...so i can't say I know what all of the ingredients are...but I know the composition of the most popular.
For insatnce C5-A contains silica (an insulator) aluminum and copper powder. That would be a most.. um....screwy connection.

If you are looking for something to HELP connectivity....there are numerous products. In fact The best I have found is teh two part pro-gold treatment.
It is absoluetly superb on camera eauipment and fuel injection equipment and batteries. http://store.caig.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.292/.f

I use this stuff on ALL fuel injection I work with. It cuts odd rrunning due to connectivity issues down in D-jet injection by an easy 50%...even without going to late model L-jet connectors.
Its a two part.
(1) Use the cleaner/prep...which has a formula that literally disolves green corrosion and removes tarnish from copper and silver connectors. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes.
On heavily corroded connectors...I then use a standard fast drying contact cleaner to remove residue (not necessary on cleaner terminals).
(2) Apply the "electrolyte". This is the proper term for this. Its an anerobic electrolyte that drys between the male and female terminal after application...and shrinks up. Wet both male and female connectors then plug them together. After plugging in fuel injection componets...I would then apply a thin smear of dielectric to teh outside and slide the boot on.
This stuff works super super super. Read up on it. Ray

Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:48 pm

the Caig product has improved wonky ground issues for me. While no double blind study I've had good results not taking anything apart and using the pen oiler everywhere.

the mere "exercising" of the connectors removal/reinstall influences results.
so to clarify- with no disassembly the Caig snake oil has improved connectivity with these old connections.

my $.02

Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:48 am

All righty, then- good information here. I have used a type of silicone dielectric on some connections- how does that stuff compare with regular, NYK- type grease? It is used inside spark plug boots and such.
I will strive to use grease only over the top of freshly cleaned connections from now on. I promise. :?

Tue Mar 02, 2010 6:29 am

boxxcar wrote: the Caig product has improved wonky ground issues for me. While no double blind study I've had good results not taking anything apart and using the pen oiler everywhere.

the mere "exercising" of the connectors removal/reinstall influences results.
so to clarify- with no disassembly the Caig snake oil has improved connectivity with these old connections.

my $.02

Spot on. I have been harping on this for years. On standard male/female spade terminals...and on molex style round pin, unsprung terminals, a combination of heat cycling, tarnish and vibration cause variations in connectivity. AMP and Bosch found this out long ago.....which is why after D-jet....no one on this planet has ever made an EFI system using unsprung/uncantilevered terminals (except maybe GM).

In cantilevered terminals (L-jet and beyond), they do not have this repositioning issue....unless they actually have corrosion or surface metal tarnish (like on copper). Ray

Tue Mar 02, 2010 12:36 pm

I've used De-Ox it that comes in a felt tip marker like dispenser. Can be found at Radio shack.

Tue Mar 02, 2010 2:40 pm

Yes, i believe the de-ox it was formerly Pro gold. I like the "marker" applicator with the push tip like you are talking about because i can simply push it onto teh male pins and it totally coats them Very good stuff. Thanks for mentioning it. Ray