Electrical Contact Cleaning

-
dibbons

dibbons

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
5,742
Reaction score
3,822
Location
La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
That contact spray stuff does practically nothing for me on brass contacts (seems like brake cleaner to me). Looking for something more efficient. One presenter below recommends disassembly of the plastic cover/connectors (I hope that is not mandatory, don't have the patience to disassemble all the wiring harness connections).





 
If you don't have the time to take them apart you might as well not. It doesn't take very long once you learn how. A connector that bad was never meant to be cleaned by "contact cleaner." Incidently, contact cleaner is not what it used to be. "Back in the day" CRC had several products that all had essentially the same cleaning agent, Brakecleen, electromotive cleaner, contact cleaner and possibly one or two others. ALL these products at the time contained what is now banned (at least in consumer aerosols)---because it is a hydroflourocarbon refrigerant and allegedly damages the ionosphere. This was Trichloroethylene.

At the time I was in the US Navy in the 70's (I was electronics tech) we literally damn near BATHED in this stuff. In fact the Navy nicknamed it "safety solvent" because it will not burn. It is suspected to cause nervous system damage and cancer. It was a VERY effective cleaner BUT IT STILL WILL NOT CLEAN the kind of grunge you showed in your post.

Along with other methods go to a welding shop and get some of those toothbrush sized stainless steel brushes.

Many connector terminals on Mopars are "Packard" terminals and can be replaced.
 
Doing old test sets I run into all types of corrosion. CLR works great on say batter acid damage, lemon to brighten. Many ways to skin a cat.
 
Get a few big erasors and slice them into thin strips so you can reach into tight areas. We used to clean our slotcar tracks and armatures with them .
 
mbaird said:
Get a few big erasors and slice them into thin strips so you can reach into tight areas. We used to clean our slotcar tracks and armatures with them .
Click to expand...

used them in the military to clean PC card contacts all the time.
 
I have been known to blast connectors with baking soda. Portable sandblaster. Shake and blast. Messy though. Then brake cleaner.
 
Which erasers, the pink ones or the gray ones? Belgian's call them "rubbers" (spelled "gom" in Dutch).
 
Last edited:
I am probably crazy, but where possible I bead blast the brass connectors to look shinny new. Then I lightly coat them with dielectric grease.
 
Cuda416 said:
like the swiffer... we used a stinking t-shirt wrapped around a dust mop....
Click to expand...
We took a Private in boot camp and he held a deck towel between his arms and we'd grab his feet and 2 would drag him down the squadbay by his feet to swab the deck. We'd have races. We found it was faster than running alone on all fours with a deck towel. We could do the entire squad bay in about a minute with 15 guys side by side.
 
Murray said:
I am probably crazy, but where possible I bead blast the brass connectors to look shinny new. Then I lightly coat them with dielectric grease.
Click to expand...
That's what I like to do too when possible. If you use lemon juice or vinegar (both acids) make sure you use baking soda or similar to neutralize the acid afterward.
 
What I did with my headlight connector when I replaced the plastic part, was soak the terminal ends in vinegar, then baking soda water.

I tightened up each terminal then inserted them in the replacement plastic.

I don't see any reason you couldn't soak the entire connector, plastic and all, in vinegar, use some bottle brushes in the terminals. Then rinse in baking soda water. If you can tighten up the terminals all the better.

I would blow out the connector with compressed air when done.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top