Dielectric grease

DYE electrical grease. Should this be used in every electrical contact connection??? Are there any situations where I DO NOT want to use it? Getting ready to replace a couple of snesors and lights.

Re: DYE Electric grease

Dielectric grease is a silcone-based non-conductive lube. Use it where the electrical contacts may corrode due to exposure to the elements. Good example is where your headlights plug into the wiring harness.

Re: DYE Electric grease

Use it VERY sparingly. Another good example is to use a little dab in spark plug boots to make the boot easier to remove later. Keep in mind it is non-conductive, so the idea is to keep dirt and corrosion out of connections and to lube the rubber or plastic connectors.

Re: DYE Electric grease

I usually use it on everything that is gonna get wet or muddy... if you go through al ot of that stuff Id do all of the plugs.

Re: DYE Electric grease

Sand-Dog said:

Use it VERY sparingly. Another good example is to use a little dab in spark plug boots to make the boot easier to remove later. Keep in mind it is non-conductive, so the idea is to keep dirt and corrosion out of connections and to lube the rubber or plastic connectors.

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So NOT when splicing wires under the hood like underneath heat shrink crimped connection or electrical tape???

Re: DYE Electric grease

bugout said:

So NOT when splicing wires under the hood like underneath heat shrink crimped connection or electrical tape???

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Since it's crimped, no reason not to use it. Although I've never done it, it's hard to say what the effects of the heat will be when heat-shrinking the connection.

I know you can buy crimp connecters with a silicone based water repellent already a part of the connector. Ask any phone tech...

At the very least do it somewhere with lots of ventilation.

As far as electrical tape, it will keep the tape from sticking to anything.

Re: DYE Electric grease

You can buy crimp connectors that have heat shrink ends. It provides a strong splice and seals the splice. No need for dielectric lube.

Re: DYE Electric grease

Where can I get them? Auto parts store or strictly a phone/electronics thing?????

Re: DYE Electric grease

Believe it or not I get my splicing connectors from home depot. I use a soldering/heat shrink butt connector and then I buy their heavy duty heat shrinks which has a glue/sealant that I put over my connectors for extra protection/sealing.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tyco-Ele...-Clam-CPGI-CWT-9003-12/202204351#.UdLLEzvVB2A

Re: DYE Electric grease

All of the parts stores should carry stuff like this. I buy them at Autozone; "Dorman Weatherproof" on the package. I use dielectric grease on some sensor connections, lights, plug wires, but anything that gets heat-shrinking is dry. No problems doing it that way so far.

I fixed the spelling in the title. Hopefully that will make it easier for the thread to be found during a search.

@ Bryan, Thanks!
@USMCGunrock, how exactly to the solder/heatshrink butt connectors work, I've never seen them before?

Not specifically for Tyco, but I believe this is a good enough explanation of that style. (Never ordered from DelCity, but they had several helpful videos explaining the basics of various types of connections/terminals, as well as a huge assortment of parts.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d83XuNDnHLI

I don't really like the solder/heatshrink terminals, I'm suspicious they'll either make a cold solder joint or have flux inclusion issues. I'm more a fan of the crimp/heatshrink terminals. In fact I've gone through a few hundred doing custom harness work and modifications in the last year and a half. They're much cheaper in bulk on amazon (the 140 piece 3M kit is good) than they are at the parts store or HD, down to around 30c/ea.

Using a proper ratchet or hydro crimper is critical when doing crimps - if you use the crappy flat punched sheetmetal "mash em smash em" style crimpers, it will only be a matter of time before any crimp terminal comes loose or corrodes, the cheaper the terminal, the faster it'll fall apart generally. HF terminals and others that are extremely thin and not brazed or welded into a sleeve can basically be pulled off by hand in my experience. You can turn out a solid crimp with a cheap crimper, but it takes being careful and inspecting the crimp after, with a ratchet crimper you can generally just squeeze till it releases and move on to the next.

As for dielectric grease, any plugin connection is fair game, though ones with rubber gland seals on a late model XJ should be fine. Weatherpaks are a definite, they don't seal as well as they should.

hubs97xj said:

(Never ordered from DelCity, but they had several helpful videos explaining the basics of various types of connections/terminals, as well as a huge assortment of parts.)

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I order from delcity quite a bit, good stuff and good prices especially if you are ordering in bulk. they have just about every connector you can imagine and will send you a free massive catalog.

The grease also makes it easier to disconnect plug-type connectors, especially headlights. I also use it on bases of tail light and other bulbs.

bugout said:

@ Bryan, Thanks!
@USMCGunrock, how exactly to the solder/heatshrink butt connectors work, I've never seen them before?

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it's a heat shrink with solder in the middle..when heatshrinking (torch, lighter, heat gun) you put more heat on the solder and it will melt it and connect the wires and heat shrink the connection. Pretty cool really, you solder and heat shrink at the same time! I found it by mistake when looking for heavy duty heatshrink for when I was making battery cables out of 1g wires to seal the terminal connection.

I've used dialectric grease on any connection (plug or electrical nut) that I take apart and put back together.

Use electrical connection cleaner, let dry, and then reassemble for connectors.

For nut and "O" connections (like on your alternator), take the "O" down to bare metal, coat with dialectric and reassemble. It'll keep the corrosion out and keep parts from seizing together.

I've done this on:
-Alternator connnections
-Batter connections
-Hitch connections
-Spark plug and coil wires
-Headlight plugs
-Injector harnesses
etc, etc

Thanks a lot! I freshened up all of my ground contact points yesterday. I took the dremel with a wire brush head and went to town on EVERY contact point I know of, even the screws. Got everything down to fresh bare metal. I then cleaned with electrical cleaner, coated everything with dielectric grease and reassembled. I feel like everything runs a little better now. Lights are a little brighter. Voltage doesn't plummet as far with all of the accessories on.

Question 1 Are there any other grounds other than the following....
B- to alternator
B- to fender well
Engine strap to firewall
after market stereo amp to metal crossmember that the rear seat rests on
two wires that come out of the loom on the drivers side and screw into the fender well almost exactly opposite of the B- to fenderwell.

Question 2 Will doing the same to all of my positive terminal connections provide the same benefit?

I know upgrading the wires will help but, I'm really tight and trying to make the most of every FREE option I have.

bugout said:

DYE electrical grease. Should this be used in every electrical contact connection??? Are there any situations where I DO NOT want to use it? Getting ready to replace a couple of snesors and lights.

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A dielectric is an insulator, and will inhibit your connections. It's meant to be used to lubricate electrical connections that can be difficult to take apart - like spark plug wire boots.

Go to the hardware store and get some "corrosion inhibitor" from the electrical section - this is precisely the job it is meant for (preserving conduction between attached dissimilar metals under electrical current.)

Dielectric grease is a bit better than WD-40, but still far from the best tool for the job.