Gunk in taillight sockets

[454cid]

I love it. Here in rusty wonderland I spray Krown T40 into my electrical connectors and then liberally apply dielectric grease as well. No issues with corrosion in the treated sockets after that ever.

Where do you get Krown? Do you have to drive to Canada to get it?

 

[DerekTheGreat]

Yep!
I'm about 45 minutes (including border harassment) from Windsor and there's a shop there, Santing's OK Tire Store which offers the service and they retail all the stuff. We just had our trucks done and I always buy two cans per vehicle to touch up areas they don't hit very well and for random stuff like treating electrical sockets and such.

EDIT: Forgot to include that going to Canada won't be necessary any more. My girlfriend found a place that's less than an hour north that is a licensed Krown applicator, I think in Kensington. So we'll start having our stuff done there from now on.

 

[454cid]

I love it as well, and of course, I live in the rust belt as well, sadly. Sockets with dielectric are almost a must in the rust belt.

I usually add dielectric grease to any connector I take apart. If it's dirty, I'll remove the rubber seal and spray it all down with brake cleaner, then apply dielectric grease to the conductors and the seal.

The only place I've eve had problems was when I put dielectric grease on my positive battery connection... cable wouldn't stay tight which caused more problems.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

Yeah, I am one of the few who seem to like side post connectors but unfortunately, I leave those dry for the same reasons. I just went and cleaned everything up though for PM and peace of mind during the winter. Hope we get a lot of snow..

 

[Urambo Tauro]

That terminal grease was from the factory, right? Or would it have been added later? I found the same clay-like stuff on my truck, and had to pick the bulk of it out before using any kind of cleaner. At the time, I didn't think to use a heat gun to soften it.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

Yes, that stuff is factory. I've seen the same stuff in my Ford vehicles too. It can get nasty & hard but considering the alternative...

 

[df2x4]

That terminal grease was from the factory, right? Or would it have been added later? I found the same clay-like stuff on my truck, and had to pick the bulk of it out before using any kind of cleaner. At the time, I didn't think to use a heat gun to soften it.

Yes, that stuff is factory. I've seen the same stuff in my Ford vehicles too. It can get nasty & hard but considering the alternative...

I don't believe it is factory... At least not on these trucks. Both of my '97s have been in the family since new and neither of them had anything that nasty in any of the factory sockets. Granted all the assemblies have been replaced now but I remember the condition of the factory tail light boards. Still have them in a box somewhere.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

Might not have been used after a certain point. What is a 1997? (LoL, lots of sarcasm. been a minute since I've owned anything newer than 1991)

All the late 80's and early 90's stuff I have had has had that schmoo in it. I wanted to even find some. My '88 Town Car was a one owner car that had never been molested, had the schmoo in the front sockets for parking & turn signal lenses as well as the ditch lights. Taillights were bare. Now, I've had to replace the circuit board for my '89 K1500's taillights due to the poor design of the early boards. I believe I sourced two boards from a '98 or so and can't remember if they had the schmoo in them or not, I want to say no. But, they've been treated with T40 and dielectric and I even went so far as to spray the entire circuit board in T40 to prevent further corrosion which seems to wreak havoc on those things. I refuse to buy an aftermarket board.

 

[454cid]

I refuse to buy an aftermarket board.

I have tried many boards, and the one that has worked the best for me is the Dorman I got at Oreilly.

 

[DerekTheGreat]

A Dorman part that worked? Wow. I've had good luck with the stockers I find at yards. I just look for the cleanest GMT400 based vehicle and pirate those, use my multimeter to test them and then buy the best set.