MK I electrical corrosion Deoxit AKA CaiLube

[peter at thescirocco.com (Peter)]

-----Original Message Bounced-----


Someone posted the Caig link, and it's great stuff!

A friend of mine, BFDEIHL hooked me up with a 226g jar, over 5 years ago,
and it's still almost full. A little bit goes a long way, and for the 1st
few years, I was using what was stuck to the lid seal.

I use the Caig product CaiLube M260Cp and it works great, and lasts longer
than the sprays, and there's less chance of getting the conductive lubricant
where you don't want it. Causing another route to ground, or to +12, you
probably don't want to spray a fuse panel with conductive grease, because it
can cause shorts, since it contains copper particles.

It's now called Deoxit grease M260.
DeoxITR Grease Type M260 - Mineral-based preparation. 
Excellent lubrication, good wear resistance, excellent oxidation (galvanic
corrosion) protection and good dripping-point characteristics. 
Operating temperatures: -40C to 260C

With the M260 grease you can coat each fuse finger with a Q tip, as well as
the ends of the fuses, and then put the fuses back in. Replacing the fuses
with new ones, is the best way to go, because it's practivally a permanent
fix, as long as the fuse fingers aren't too bad.

It's thick enough, that it won't spill off, even if it gets hot.

I use dialectric grease where I want it to seal it, but not conduct
electricity, like on spark plug wire boots.
Deoxit is like a conductive anti-seize compound, and works great for keeping
the steel sparkplug threads and the aluminum head threads from corroding. I
think CaiLube was originally used for in-compatible metal electrical
connections, at least that's what electricians use it for.  

My Rabbit GTI has rusted out windshield frame corners, which leaked water
onto the fuse panel. Instead of swapping in a new fuse panel, I replaced the
fuses with new ones, and coated them with Cailube, and it fixed all the
intermittent connections.

I also used it on my '81 S, after I noticed that rotating the fuse, made the
turn signal flash, and it's still fine after 2 years.  

Peter


-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Bubb [mailto:jdbubb@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 8:12 AM
To: Scirocco List
Subject: MK I electrical corrosion

I've run across a situation where the fuses in an 81 MK I will corrode over
time and loose continuity. Twisting them restores the connection, but it's
temporary.
Happens on MK II light sockets also.

I imagine there is some sort of electrical grease out there that will
prevent exposure to the elements and the corrosion but don't know where to
find it.

Anybody have a product name and likely place to buy it?
Thanks
Dan