If you mean for the bit the key goes into, yes. I thought it was accepted practice not to use a conventional oil as dirt would stick to it and gum it up. As regards the lock mechanism (that the key doesn't touch) they're usually greased.
Sorry, quite agree.
Have some lock work this weekend - installing an electric release! As it happens, there are strict instructions NEVER to lubricate it.
So I guess WD40 is OK (ducks)!
My parents still have one in the cupboard...
and a solvent and a perfume.
The only time you want all these together is to get a sleeve bearing working again for another 24 hours without bothering to dissassemble it, whilst you wait for a replacement motor.
In some other situations the solvent can be handy and the lubricant is harmless as you are wiping it all off.
I "inherited" one when we cleared my MIL's house.
The only good thing about WD40 is that it's easy to get - most supermarkets will have it. I did use to carry a small one around as a location sound recordist - ideal for that squeaking garden gate. But I only needed it to work for a day. ;-)
It's actually not too bad as a switch cleaner.
Its ineffective. The white spirit just evaporates. Its all money for them, and no harm done
really its not
NT
I used to carry a can in the car. One particular one could be temperamental on a damp morning. Lifting the bonnet and administering a dose of WD40 usually did the trick.
However, I am not entirely convinced it was really necessary. I have a feeling that had I simply gone through the motions and muttered the magic incantation "WD40" the flooded carb might have sorted itself. I never did have time to carry out a controlled trial.
Chris
It's pretty well the same stuff as those 'damp start' silicone sprays, isn't it?
I can vouch for them. Driving an ancient Land Rover from Dover to Canterbury on a dark and stormy night, and it just died somewhere nera Lydden. Pretty sure it was damp, so we all huddled round the open bonnet to block the wind while I sprayed the leads. Instant success.
Next person along uses WD and the mix sets like concrete.
If we're talking about the Holts sprays then I think 'Wet Start' was the WD one and 'Damp Start' was the completely useless varnish type spray coating that was intended to seal an already dry HT set. Useless as it cracked in no time short as the rubberised leads and fixings moved.
The original Minis had their distributor just behind the grille and inevita bly they got wet, The quick and dirty answer was to break the fuel feed lin e to the carb, soak some rag or even paper in petrol, and wipe down the spa rk leads and distributor cap with that.
Yes, I remember that. It was a design decision made bcause originally they tried the engine the 'other way round' and the carburettor tended to ice up!
They didn't like putting the distributor at the front as it meant power loss in the idler gear used to change the engine output direction to compensate.
In fact the one I used would have been the one from Esso service stations as I worked in one at the time. So it would have been unlikely to be the preventative one.
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I once went to the local chappie with my Toyota Corolla that had developed over quite some time a rather funny kind of constant noise under the bonnet that i just couldn't guess what it was .
He went away and came back with a can of wd40 and sprayed the drive-belt to the alternator. This straight away horrified me as i believed it was a lubricant.
The noise disappeared immediately and never came back. What exactly was going on there?
In the days when alternators were driven by cloth reinforced single "V" belts, (rather than toothed belts or "multi V") wear on the pulley/belt could cause the belt to drop too far down in the pulley, there was then a very characteristic noise as the belt was pulled up out of the groove as it comes off the pulley. A local mechanic to me used to use just a smear of oil off the dipstick - enough to stop the noise but not cause slipping. The real solution was a new belt - but this was a temporary (and cheap) fix
I suspect yours was a variation of this.
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