OT -- car door locks need lubrication

It was first recommended to me by a very well respected locksmith WAY

Sadly, my experience has been otherwise. That was back in the late 1980s, and they may have changed the formula since then.

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

On automotive locks?

I'd be down at RadioShack buying a couple of neodymium magnets and a tube of epoxy. Probably just need one if the door is steel.

I have used MMO for stubborn locks. I have also used the DuraLube zip oil - to get them working. For use out in the cold - like the padlocks on the storage container and locks on the hangar gates I wash all the oil out with brake cleaner and shoot in the LockEase (after making sure they are working smoothly while oiled) A rubber flap over the lock to keep water out goes a long way towards keeping padlocks working in the winter. Keyed knobs that are used infrequently can be weatherproofed with an old rubber glove stretched over them.

Mixtures of different lubricants quite often cause problems with gelling or forming solid "gunk". WD 40 ALWAYS ends up going sticky - and so does a lot of 3 in 1 oil.

Yes. I worked in the automotive service business for half my life, and sticking locks were always an issue. I always had a bottle of Lock-ease in my tool box, and usually another in my glove compartment to look after locks when I wasn't at the shop. That was one of the many services I as a service manager offered without writing out a workorder, which drove the dealer principal nuts. He thought I should charge for everything - he reluctantly agreed when I showed him a workorder, from printing, through writing up, through to final processing cost him twenty five bucks, so even a fifteen dollar work order was costing him ten bucks.

I believe WD-40 used to be Stoddard Solvent, mostly. Maybe they changed the formula, or maybe the now describe Stoddard Solvent with a list of chemical names.

I've got a couple of 4-ounce squeeze cans of Lock-Ease. I've probably had them since the 1960s. They say "Protects against sticking ? rust - freezing."

Because I've rarely had lock trouble, when it happens, I don't stop to remember those cans.

One day at a gas station, it took several tries to turn my ignition lock. I figured a tumbler was sticky, from lubricant or dirt. I figured a shot of contact cleaner would flush out dirt and lubricant. It worked.

I began having trouble with my trunk lock. If one day I couldn't get it to work, I figured I'd have a problem because the cable for the remote release is broken. I removed the lock and couldn't get it to work consistently with contact cleaner. I figured it had corrosion. WD-40 fixed it. I had the same experience with my gas-door lock.

Based on your recommendation, I think I'll pop those locks off and add a shot of Lock-Ease. I think I'll leave the ignition lock alone. For one thing, I don't know if it has tumblers on top. If it does, I don't know how my Lock-Ease would get them because I can't remove the lock to turn it over.

My car has had trouble with the ignition-switch contacts as long as I can remember. I couldn't remove the switch to see the contacts. Many years ago, the key would sometimes to get quite warm; so I knew there was resistance in the ON contacts. A shot of contact cleaner fixed it.

It would sometimes take more than one try to energize the starter solenoid. Contact cleaner would fix it temporarily. I hesitated to squirt WD-40 into a switch I couldn't remove in case it went wrong. Last year, I finally took the chance. It worked. No trouble since.

If you have trouble down the road, contact cleaner should flush out that nasty WD-40. (So far, WD-40 hasn't been nasty to me.)

One of these on the sheet metal,

Or if the body is steel.(glue it to the cap)

I use Brake Kleen to wash out lacks - and contact cleaner on electrical devices.

I see CRC Brakleen has naphtha, propanol, and acetone. I used to like CRC's version of WD-40. It seemed to provide better rust protection.

You mean 556? or which CRC product?

Yeah, 5-56! I think I once bought a gallon and used my own squirt bottle.

When the CRC556 came out WAY back in the '70s it was a "liquid miracle" There may be better products today, but I don't know what all is out there competing today.

A clerk at an auto parts store recommended it. I tried an aerosol can, then bought more.

Well, yeah. You get rid of the latch and make it a magnetic latch just like a cabinet door.

I generally have a few cans of brake cleaner around. Sometimes I even use it on brakes. It's one of the few things they haven't dumbed down to the point where they don't work anymore.

I've got to rig one of those. Those 'weatherproof' locks from the hardware store with the plastic overcase mostly seem to retain any water. I've learned to keep the propane torch in the house so I can thaw out the shed lock to get to whatever else I need.

The first can I got was a free sample. Can't remember where and when but it was before I got my mechanics licence in Dec 1971 - Likely at a Texaco sponsored service station training meeting. For years the stuff was not readily available on Canadian shelves. Haven't bought a can for YEARS..

"Ed's Red" is a pretty good mix 1 part Dexron

It was originally a "bore cleaner" for guns but makes a pretty good penetrating fluid.