starter motor and die electric grease

[Warren Lake]

Was having some hard starts so starter motor out. Original 21 years old saturn Ion 2.2 motor. Starter in and rebuilt new brushes and new Brazil Solenoid. When I took this apart I found the battery cable nut was loose and now see the old solenoid small wire that contact corroded baddly as well doesnt matter has a new one just studying old parts for messages

I pulled out what i thought was Grote Die electric grease and its not, is says encapsulating grease which is different saying put it all around the contact point and it keeps moistuer and corrosion away. If had die electric I think put it on before wires go on tight the nuts then coat it all again

Starter case in good shape as i soak the car each year in rust proof only negative there was lots of junk in the starter so either ie leached down from above or got in the weeping hole bottom as im over enthusastic with the rust proof. The than said I can scrape the mass of road dirt and junk over 1/16 thick and its factory black paint below. I always soak inside the frame tubes as well.

What do you guys do on contact points are you using die electric grease before you assemble. Then again once the nuts are tightened to sort of encapsulate?

Past have a friend who unhooks all the electrical connectors he can once a year and uses a contact cleaner and swears his car is better after that. another story but I have past unfastened and seen corrision on them these being older cars.

[Jim Koepke]

Past have a friend who unhooks all the electrical connectors he can once a year and uses a contact cleaner and swears his car is better after that.

Sometimes I think there is a placebo effect from doing vehicle maintenance. It may be the satisfaction from having done the work.

I've lightly coated cable connections with regular grease to keep out moisture.

It is also a good thing to wipe the battery to clean off any dirt. If you have a good multimeter, place a quarter near each cable connection then place the meter's probes on the quarters. If you get an OL or no reading, things are good. If the battery has dirt or grim on it, you will likely get a voltage reading. That is a drain on the battery.

jtk

[Bill Howatt]

A dielectric grease is an insulator which is why it is called dielectric. Theoretically, it you made a connection of any kind that the grease totally covered the connection it would not conduct electricity. In practical use, mating the electrical parts such as pushing a connector together wipes some grease off and a metal to metal contact is made. The good thing here is that the grease (assuming it is nicely distributed) will keep the moisture out of the connector/connection. Moisture especially when combined with some types of dirt can cause electrical leakage and this is where the dielectric properties come in handy for sensitive things. The amount of leakage off a dirty 12V starter terminal compared to the large number of amps applied when starting is negligible.
I don't fool with cars much anymore but if I took apart a connector that had grease in it then I'd say it should be greased. If you see corrosion on a connection then it could be a candidate for grease but my thought is that if there is some other reason for corrosion like dissimilar metals then grease isn't going to solve it although it may prevent moisture from aiding the corrosion.
I tend to follow the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" rule so I wouldn't be running around fooling with connectors. In fact, I might guess that needless disassembly- reassembly might do more harm than good since we usually aren't talking MIL-spec connectors.
On 12V systems, I'd say just about any old grease is sufficiently dielectric but a reason for using the dielectric stuff is that it likely won't rot rubber but that would need to be confirmed before using.

[Warren Lake]

thanks to both. No fun getting the top bolt in as its burried and you have to go fishing for a while. I put duc seal lin the socket and that held the bolt in but thats only part of the adventure. The hoist is not set up so on Jacks and not high enough to stretch arms out have to be a contortionist and its raining laying in snow same time

I had found originally the nut holding the power cable on was loose, so not ideal then it was loose enough that the metal on the end of that cable was green and fuzzy. not good. the looking at the old solenoid I see the smallest wire that nut on the solenoid was heavily corroded. that tells me that my years of rust proofing doesnt get in there or maybe its so warm there that it burns off.

He rebuilt starter, old school guy close to retire. No comparison sounds like it spins twice as fast. He did brushes its whole unit and put the new solenoid on. Bench tested, no bearings said it had sleeves and they were fine but filthy inside. I should likely accept some blame from the heavy rust proofing, then 21 years before failure, cant argue with that.

I can understand about not wanting to do car repairs., I started at one point when the right mechanic around here retired. Old school and very honest. Have different friend mechanics one surgeon level, Dont think he would have time or even want to work on my Rubbermaid car. There were 7 porsches in there last time I stopped by.

I dont need the grief but I also have to be mechanical and car stuff has taught me lots that helps in the shop. Over lap in many crafts. There is a sandblaster and welders and dials and tools that came first for car stuff, then many help for a shop.