Old Duckhams LB10 grease - still good?

[Jack X]

I found an old 500g tin of Duckhams L.B.10 grease in my garage.

(1) Would my old LB10 have deteriorated over its 20 years? Perhaps there's been some internal breakdown or water is absorbed?

(2) I use the LB10 as a general purpose grease around the car and around the house. Have better all-round general-purpose greases become available which effectively replaces LB10? Maybe I should get some of that, if so.

(3) For household use, would Vaseline be just as good if I can't lay my hands on the tin of LB10 at the moment I'm looking for some lube? (I get the vague impression that vaseline would get squeezed out from between 2 surfaces much more easily than LB10.)

[R]

If it's lid is intact why would it "absorb" water?

If it stil lubricates what you need it to then it's fine surely?

KY................YKIMS

;-)

[Mrcheerful]

Old grease loses some of its fluid properties and goes nearer to candle wax in consistency. For something non important it will be fine (greasing towballs and the like), but buy a new tin for anything important like grease nipples and wheel bearings. All oil and grease has gained quite a few improvements over the last few years as well.

[John]

Ah! Memories of taking the grease gun on holiday with me to grease the king pins of my old Beetle. First job after the drive from Midlands to Cornwall was to jack it up and grease it.

[Tim S]

Jack X coughed up some electrons that declared:

I use plain old LM grease for misc jobs.

[Chris J Dixon]

Indeed! Mine was, apparently, originally made in South Africa in

1971, and was a bit behind the European model changes. IIRC the greasing interval was 1500 miles.

Another fun job was changing the spark plugs - on the 1500 engine you needed a plug spanner that would take the tommy bar at 45 degrees.

Then there was the heater designed so that, if it was going to stick, it would do so fully on.

My only success was once getting an exhaust fitted free - they took all day and had to change a stud.

Chris