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Cleaning Electrical Connections

I have to admit I have got better results sinking terminals on natural acids such as lemon or vinegar than with those fancy cleaning products. Then rinse with a backing soda solution to neutralize acids and done.

Of course, thats for oxidized and sulfated terminals. For grease, just a good degreaser, brush ( teeth brush ) and done.
 
Second vote for White Vinegar (little brushing with toothbrush) then rinse in baking soda. Easy, simple, safe.

I will admit that if I am lazy I use the CRC noted:

image_505600_1_20411_1_550194.jpg


RGAZ
 
bm02tj said:
dielectric grease is to protect and has to be non conductive
It keeps air and moisture away from connection
Click to expand...
Doesn't that defeat the purpose of trying to keep all connections as "conductive" as possible? There's a lot of draw on the system, especially for 55 year old cars.
 
It keeps the mechanical connection clean which is better than conductive grease that could short or bleed of power
 
I have used dielectric grease and NoOX grease (conductive and sometimes called light bulb base grease) and never noticed much difference - but I do now rely on NoOX since I have a good supply of it. My theory is that brass contacts form a slightly deformed mechanical connection under pressure so that when in good condition and non-corroded, neither dielectric or conductive grease can enter the contact zone and interrupt connectivity. Both greases will cut off moisture and air contact that can start corrosion. Probably where you would not want to use dielectric grease would be in a proximity contact like a knife switch, some sort of a magnetic pull-in switch, possibly bullet and pin connections and the like.

That’s my theory but I’m a civil engineer and not electrical - in fact I’m pretty dumb electrically and hate fooling with it.
 
As some have posted, I've had nice results using vinegar or baking soda mix and Q-tips. Depends on where your working on the car. I bought some needle-point sanding sticks and smaller head Q-tips at Hobby Lobby for a few projects. My last one was replacing the BH and was able to do this above rather than under the dash (glad I could). Was pleasantly surprised to see how nice the connectors were behind the BH just needing cleaning. A few connectors seemed a bit loose and used a mule spade to gently make them snugger with a small needle nose pliers.
 
There's all sorts of stuff we elect, with or without any ceremony lol, to be a sacrificial part to use...in this case simply a spade connector for inserting repeatedly to check and use for firming up the female connectors. Another ex: When I was restoring my tranny pushbuttons, I had a few old buttons (mules) to try out various ways to restore them not being worried about ruining them. Glad I did cuz...ahh I did a great job ruining one with a restore tryout NOT to use. Heard the word somewhere and just stuck in my head whether it's the app word or not...did I say lol?
 
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