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Apologies if the question is lame and illiterate. Would this work on spark plug boots as a dielectric grease? Thanks
Would this work in spark plug boots?
- Thread starter The Artillerist
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Probably. I use DC4
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Spark plug boot
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I'd use it
Almost any grease will insulate well enough at low voltages, but if there's one application where you want a proper dielectric grease, it's spark plug boots. Peak voltages in the ignition system will be in the tens of thousands of volts. Your mystery grease could work fine, but I'd use dielectric grease.
Sil-Glyde is pretty much identical in composition to the dielectric grease found in auto parts stores. Here is a previous BITOG thread on the subject:
Silicone Grease vs. Dielectric Grease
Silicone Grease vs. Dielectric Grease
Then why does it smell so different? I have both of those greases and I trust my nose. I use Permatex dielectric for boots .
At the thickness that this is applied at it will be woefully inadequate to prevent any sort of dielectric breakdown at ignition voltages. At these thicknesses it’s a dielectric but only in the sense that it’s not a conductor. All you’re doing here is trying to prevent the boot from sticking to the ceramic and to prevent moisture ingress.
It is not pretty much identical. You are referencing a topic about silicone grease vs dielectric (which usually IS silicone grease), while Sil-Glyde is NOT silicone grease. It is castor oil based grease with some silicone in it. Big difference.
They use very deceptive marketing to sell a cheaper to make, inferior product for most uses except certain brake seal rubber which is not compatible with real silicone grease. Check out the material safety data sheet page 2 and notice "castor oil" 30-60%. https://media.napaonline.com/is/content/GenuinePartsCompany/175470532pdf
Only silicone grease should be used on (in) spark plug boots.
That’s fine. syl-glyde is closer to Toyota’s rubber grease, a glycol-based grease. Syl-Glyde is castor oil grease that’s rubber safe.
I use Dow 111. Food-safe, rubber/plastic-safe, scuba-safe(as long as you don’t use it with nitrox which is compressed air with more than 21% of oxygen).
I use Dow 111. Food-safe, rubber/plastic-safe, scuba-safe(as long as you don’t use it with nitrox which is compressed air with more than 21% of oxygen).
That's what I used on my battery terminals and it got too dielectical and wouldn't crank.
That darned dialectical.
Assuming you mean "dielectric"al, then that isn't an issue. Clamping the terminal connection forces out the grease where there is metal-to-metal contact, and any grease in other areas is irrelevant for conduction since air (another dielectric) would have filled that space anyway. Nye Grease has extensively tested this and written about it, there is no difference in conduction in a proper battery connection that has a dielectric grease applied to the terminals. If your car would not start then either the connection was faulty or there was another problem.
Nye points out the benefit of a dielectric grease in preventing water from entering between the connection and causing corrosion which will cause conduction problems.
If it interfered with conduction then there was a problem with your terminal clamp. It wasn't making metal-to-metal contact, if the grease kept it apart then it was far too weak.
Beyond that, Dow Corning 111 is not "self leveling". It's a heavy grease that is designed to not sag. RTVs are self leveling when you wish for them to sink into a joint before curing.
Does Grease Affect Conductivity? | Nye Lubricants
Connector grease does not interfere with conductivity. Our test tutorials demonstrate the conductive and insulating properties of NyoGel® 760G.
