The old plastic compatible grease question?

[scot850]

I am in the process of re-building (possibly wasting my time) re-building a Volvo electric antenna mask. Someone has been in prior as it is full of crusty what looks like graphite grease (dark gray).

As usual I spent 30 minutes cleaning all the crud off everything including the internal tube of the mast as everything was caked in the stuff.
(UPDATE: Naturally went to the basement to get my plastic glue from a storage container where I keep all the glues and I found a small plastic resealable bag and inside it was a small puck of plumbers silicon grease! Yahoo)!

I then was ready to re-assemble but as usual spent over an hour trying to find my silicon grease. It is no where to be found currently.

So I went on line and it looks like I will have to buy more plumbers silicon in the tiny quantities it comes in if I can find some. Seems to be hard to find these days, especially here in Calgary.

I know I have asked the question on this previously in my thread on door actuator motors, however I did not get a clear answer. I have spent a couple of hours on google trying to find answers but all I get is 180 degree replies even from a manufaturer in one case!

Anyone know of a reasonably priced source of a reasonable amount of silicon grease? Anything I have found is stupid expensive (I am talking >$50 for 3 oz!) and even those places seem to all ship from China with delivery date in mid-March.

Amazon.ca has absolutely nonsense in terms of prices and again most are from overseas partners arriving maybe in my lifetime.

I will probably have to make do with Permatex if I can find the little tubes or plumbers stuff, but I have read that stuff from Home Depot which claims to be silicon grease has lithium in it which is a no-no on nylon/plastic gears.

Liquid Moly seem to sell silicon grease except in Canada!

What are synthetic greases made from? They seem more readily available but it does not seem to be clear even on manufacturers websites if they are safe with plastics.

Appreciate the help.

Neil.

[MoVolvos]

*
Super Lube 92016 Silicone Grease with Syncolon (PTFE), Translucent White
Price: $22.32 ($1.58 / Ounce)
Item Weight 1 Pounds

(www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-92016-Silicon ... 90&sr=8-17)

*

[abscate]

We can send you some from the lower 53 Provinces. We ship everywhere except to the Island with Prince Edward on it

[hausmeister]

I'd guess it doesn't matter much what you use. What I pulled out from the wiper motors looked like standard litihium or axle grease, and they are also plastic.
The antenna will get stuck again anyways been there, done that.

[scot850]

I had an electric antenna for years without issue. Cleaned it from time to time with a cloth and some WD-40 to remove the dirt, but then cleaned it off so as to not leave it damp with WD-40. That can pick up dust and that is what usually kills these units.

Actually I just saw a on-line ad for a company selling off on clearance aftermarket electric antennas for $8 each!

The gears in these motors and wiper motors are often nylon rather than plastic. In theory nylon is naturally lubricating, but I have used my silicon grease on the shafts of the gears and the steel worm drive on the motor shaft.

Motor now runs beautifully and quietly. Hardest part as usual was undoing someone elses' 'bodges'. Cleaning the old dried gray grease residue took the longest.

I did think about using the lithium grease, but decided to play safe and use the small amount of silicon grease I have.

Mo Volvos, thanks for the link. In Canada good old rip off Amazon sell that for $90 CDN which is close to $67 US!! As it is sold on Amazon.ca we can't purchase it on Amazon.com.

I ended up buying the same brand but synthetic grease which was about $25 CDN. That sells for about the same in US$ on Amazon.com??

What I bought was this:

https://www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-Synth ... 143&sr=8-2

But not in a cartridge. For some reason this does not show on Amazon.com when I try to find it from Canada. Just comes up with an error message. This is usually to stop us buying it for cheaper from the US. Lol!

Neil.

[MrAl]

Hi Neil,

You may have already solved this but there are other names too not sure if you are aware of that or not.

It can also be called Dielectric Grease and Bulb Grease.
One that i have is from the company CRC and they call it Dielectric Grease. I think i got that one from AutoZone but other auto parts stores may have that and similar.

Just to note, your link or picture does not show up maybe you can post an actual photo.

[scot850]

Strange as the picture showed up when I posted it. Anyway I will post the picture later as it has arrived now.

I think I actually have some dielectric grease and it may actually be CRC or Permatex. Can't recall. Thanks for the info,

Neil,

[MoVolvos]

I had an electric antenna for years without issue. Cleaned it from time to time with a cloth and some WD-40 to remove the dirt, but then cleaned it off so as to not leave it damp with WD-40. That can pick up dust and that is what usually kills these units.

Actually I just saw a on-line ad for a company selling off on clearance aftermarket electric antennas for $8 each!

The gears in these motors and wiper motors are often nylon rather than plastic. In theory nylon is naturally lubricating, but I have used my silicon grease on the shafts of the gears and the steel worm drive on the motor shaft.

Motor now runs beautifully and quietly. Hardest part as usual was undoing someone elses' 'bodges'. Cleaning the old dried gray grease residue took the longest.

I did think about using the lithium grease, but decided to play safe and use the small amount of silicon grease I have.

Mo Volvos, thanks for the link. In Canada good old rip off Amazon sell that for $90 CDN which is close to $67 US!! As it is sold on Amazon.ca we can't purchase it on Amazon.com.

I ended up buying the same brand but synthetic grease which was about $25 CDN. That sells for about the same in US$ on Amazon.com??

What I bought was this:

(www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-Synthetic-Tra ... 143&sr=8-2)

But not in a cartridge. For some reason this does not show on Amazon.com when I try to find it from Canada. Just comes up with an error message. This is usually to stop us buying it for cheaper from the US. Lol!

Neil.

In order for an Amazon link to show up on MVS you need to put a bracket on both ends of the link. Also need to loop off the "http" and just start the "www". So I did this when replying and it looks like it worked again.

So it looks like the sythetic grease is the same thing as silicone grease, plumbers grease, dielectric... All are food grade.

(www.amazon.com/Super-Lube-41160-Synthet ... r=8-3&th=1)

.

[scot850]

Thanks again Mo for adding the link in usable form.

Here for Al's entertainment is a few pictures that may also be of help to others:

Silicon and Synthetic greases

PXL_20230224_230944585.jpg (413.95 KiB) Viewed 860 times

The smaller blue 'puck' is Plumbshop silicon grease which is what I used on the power antenna this time

Synthetic grease uses

PXL_20230224_231039628.jpg (477.24 KiB) Viewed 860 times

This may give some idea of the potential uses for the synthetic grease. Note it is also good to +450C!

Qty in packs

PXL_20230224_231156937.jpg (332.64 KiB) Viewed 860 times

Look at the differences in weight of each grease. Silicon grease cost about $10 from a hardware store for 14 gms. Synthetic grease cost about $25 on Prime from Amazon.ca for 400gms!!

I haven't as yet checked the consistency of the synthetic grease. The silicon grease is a bit like margarine from the fridge.

Neil.

[MrAl]

Thanks again Mo for adding the link in usable form.

Here for Al's entertainment is a few pictures that may also be of help to others:

PXL_20230224_230944585.jpg

The smaller blue 'puck' is Plumbshop silicon grease which is what I used on the power antenna this time

PXL_20230224_231039628.jpg

This may give some idea of the potential uses for the synthetic grease. Note it is also good to +450C!

PXL_20230224_231156937.jpg

Look at the differences in weight of each grease. Silicon grease cost about $10 from a hardware store for 14 gms. Synthetic grease cost about $25 on Prime from Amazon.ca for 400gms!!

I haven't as yet checked the consistency of the synthetic grease. The silicon grease is a bit like margarine from the fridge.

Neil.

Hi Neil,

Now THAT"S entertainment at it's best!

Syncolon, really ... seriously? Who comes up with these names these days.
Isn't that what they use for a colonoscopy?
Or is that part of the At-Home kit ?