17
votes
Accepted
Avoiding the grease, dirt and oil from getting onto the skin and under the nails?
Gloves.
Do not use latex gloves, they break easily. Use nitrile gloves instead, they are mechanically much more resistant.
Even better: Use nitrile gloves under ordinary work gloves. The ordinary ...
- 7,828
10
votes
Avoiding the grease, dirt and oil from getting onto the skin and under the nails?
If you don't like gloves, I recommend GOJO:
GOJO contains pumice, which is ground up volcanic rock. It also contains a natural degreaser. When you combine the two, you have a cleaner that can remove ...
- 201
10
votes
Accepted
Are there different greases for inner and outer CV joints?
True for some axles. Given the different bearing designs between the inner and out CV joint. The CV joints will include the required grease when purchased. The color depends more on the manufacturer ...
- 3,363
6
votes
Accepted
What do you do with dielectric grease on spark plugs?
tl dr: You've hurt nothing by putting more than a little bit of grease in the boot ... don't worry about it.
Dielectric grease serves two purposes:
Prevent electrical leakage
Keep the boot from ...
- 140k
6
votes
Are silicone and dielectric greases interchangeable?
Brakes become hot. Very hot. 300°C (600°F) and more is easily achieved at the disks after a hard braking from high speed.
Most greases become quite thin at a higher temperature, and start to creep ...
- 6,997
6
votes
Accepted
Which grease should I use on wiper mechanisms?
Use the lithium or silicone grease!
Copper grease is primarily used to prevent the seizing of parts which become extremely hot, like the exhaust system. But it is not a lubricant in first place. The ...
- 6,997
6
votes
How do I apply dielectric grease to my battery?
Dielectric grease does not conduct electricity. Proper application is important! Do NOT get grease between the terminals! This will inhibit good connection and shorten battery life. Vaseline was used ...
- 61
5
votes
Accepted
How important is bulb grease when changing low-beam or high-beam headlights?
It depends.
What you are referring to is dielectric grease. It doesn't conduct electricity so it is safe to use on electrical connectors.
Modern vehicle assembly lines don't grease bulbs because the ...
- 1,551
5
votes
How important is bulb grease when changing low-beam or high-beam headlights?
No, you don't "really need" it. However, the purpose of the grease is to keep out moisture that can degrade the connection and the bulb's performance. So if you see any signs of corrosion when you ...
- 14.3k
5
votes
Avoiding the grease, dirt and oil from getting onto the skin and under the nails?
My grandad run a automotive and truck repair shop for 50years, he told me when I was a kid to use Vaseline on my hands before work starts (this was before all the modern cleaners of today).
Thin layer ...
- 1,518
5
votes
Accepted
2007 Escalade - grease on front axle
It looks as though the boot has split and is spewing grease all over the place. If there isn't a lot of dirt let into the boot, you should be able to just replace the boot (yes, this is a chore, but a ...
- 140k
4
votes
Is Anti-Seize a lubricant, abrasive, or both?
Too many either overthink the problem at hand, or have a perverse tendency to distrust "the man," i.e. whoever is determining the current paradigm. Hence, any variety of satisfactory answers are ...
- 41
4
votes
Accepted
Can finger prints on disc brake rotor cause problems
I've never considered fingerprints to be a massive problem in a "I drive a family wagon to the shops" context but if this is on your Porsche just before tomorrow's track day you might feel differently....
- 1,125
3
votes
Do good shocks have any oil below the top half?
A shock absorber is supposed to be dry on the outside, leaking fluid (I suppose you mean that by grease?) is a sign of damage. The more hydraulic fluid a shock absorber looses the worse is it's ...
- 7,828
3
votes
Accepted
Should I apply grease to my trailer hook?
besides the fact that the grease will be messy and get all over everything, the only reason I have seen is that sometimes grease or anti-seize can interfere with a ground connection if there isn't a ...
- 552
3
votes
Accepted
Should starter pinion be greased?
Basically the answer is "no". You should leave both the ring gear on the flywheel (standard shift tranny) or flexplate (automatic tranny) and the gear on the Bendix dry. As @elmerfud stated, as long ...
- 140k
3
votes
Is there such a thing as a biodegradable (boat propeller shaft) grease?
A good research clue would be "OSPAR compliant stern tube lubricant"
I found also that Klüber has a good range for marine products.
- 7,828
2
votes
Serpentine belt area has insane amount of gunk
More than likely the problem is a leaky valve cover gasket. It's just something which happens over time. The old one becomes hard and cracks, thus oil starts dripping. Over time, this collects on the ...
- 140k
2
votes
How to stiffen up a loose ball & socket joint for a motorcycle mirror?
Very low tech solution - I had a bicycle mirror with a loose ball and socket joint. Pulled the ball out, put it in a plastic-wrap baggie, and pushed it back in. Trimmed off excess baggie... Mirror ...
- 21
2
votes
How to stiffen up a loose ball & socket joint for a motorcycle mirror?
Apply a thin layer of solder/alloy weld to either the ball or socket to increase/decrease the relative diameter of the joint contact area and in effect create (closer to) the correct tolerances for ...
- 21
2
votes
Hub bearing grease: regular or for cv joint?
If the bearing didn't come with grease, or a recommendation for grease, I'd be inclined to use high temperature wheel bearing grease.
- 8,612
2
votes
Avoiding the grease, dirt and oil from getting onto the skin and under the nails?
I use a product called Invisible Glove, which protects your skin from getting grease-stained in the first place.
You put it on your hands before you start the messy job. It goes on like hand cream; ...
- 121
2
votes
Do you need to grease wheel hubs
It depends on the bearings, if they have rubber seals on each side (ie sealed for life...) then no, but if they are "open" then you need to have grease there.
- 34.4k
2
votes
Can finger prints on disc brake rotor cause problems
You should clean the rotors with brake cleaner.
If it was just normal skin oils you wouldn't have a problem, but your hands were contaminated with all manner of lubricants which are designed to stay ...
- 14.5k
2
votes
Accepted
Grease gun for preventative maintenance
I depends on the specific car. But in some cases there are multiple grease fittings that should be greased periodically. In addition to your tie rod ends there are upper and lower ball joints, wheel ...
- 8,829
1
vote
Avoiding the grease, dirt and oil from getting onto the skin and under the nails?
No need to repeat @Myself's recommendations.
I will add that the toughest grime to get rid of will be the crud that finds its way under your fingernails. One way to get rid of most of the crud there ...
- 39k
1
vote
Are silicone and dielectric greases interchangeable?
So I cant say for sure I'm no expert and I actually made this "mistake" already I thought they were the same when I did my breaks last. Well that was about a year ago and my wheel bearing went bad ...
- 19
1
vote
Accepted
Installing Moog stabilizer / sway bar links on 2002 Ford Focus
It is unlikely you tightened them to the point of causing some damage. The paperwork that comes with the parts should have a reference to torque specs. An on line reference I found gives a value of ...
- 19.7k
1
vote
Wheel bearing grease quantity
Packing the free space in the hub will do very little, if any good. In normal operation the grease doesn't flow, so the extra grease never gets anywhere near the bearings. The grease you need and want ...
- 14.3k
1
vote
Wheel bearing grease quantity
I would not recommend packing either the cap or the space between the bearings. The external cap is only a dust cap and is not meant to hold back grease, just keep the dust out. The story is very ...
- 15.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible