gremlins or bad additude?

Dielectric grease is an insulator used for heat transfer not electron transfer. Clean the post and connector again and don't put anything on it.

 

If it would crank, you had a good electrical connection at the battery. Dielectric grease may not be the best choice, but will do a fine job of helping with corrosion suppression. Most of the stores sell one shot use packets of the correct stuff these days (looks like a catsup package from a fast food place). Its pretty cheap, buy a few next time and just throw them in your toolbox.

With limited information.... Sounds like you may have a funky set of contacts in your starter switch or a loose ground somewhere.

Your initial thoughts might have been in the right direction. You may also be fighting an intermittent fuel pump issue from the sounds of your description. That could be the pump itself or the relay... not sure how you "checked" those. FWIW, when I disassembled mine the wire was only connected to the + connection on the pump with about 3 strands of the original wire. Do some more looking. Do some more cleaning. It can only help.

Rick

 

Dunno. Did you piss off any other vehicle that you own that day?

Absolutely true story:

About 6 years ago, my 1992 Harley Dyna stopped charging. I checked the stator with a VOM and it was OK,and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on it having diagnostics done at a repair shop so I simply made sure I hooked up a battery tender every day to charge the battery,as I never took the bike on any longer drives than the battery would handle just from a full charge.

Now, that Harley was always parked directly behind my 308, which had been sitting, unloved, for 14 years.

The VERY SAME day that I started bring my 308 back to life, the Harley charging circuit started working again and has worked since.

Beats me.

Anyway, check and clean all connections, check grounds. It is possible to crank and not have enuf juice for spark on vehicles with points if points/plugs are dirty, or connections are not just right.

Doug

 

The Gospel of Paul 3:08

Hence "Dielectric"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric

 

Your use of dielectric grease is correct and it is the proper thing to use for any electrical circuit to prevent corrosion/oxidation. You do NOT want it to be able to conduct electricity. Should be used on light bulbs/sockets as well.

THe whole point of it is to "insulate" the connection from moisture/dirt, etc. You put it on the connections BEFORE you make the connection. Putting it on afterward is much less effective.

If you look at connectors on virtually any wiring harness in a modern vehicle, they are filled with dielectric grease. Connections should opened, treated with some sort of de-oxident, then coated with dielectric grease and re-made.

Dielectric grease on old Brittbike Lucas bullet connectors is your only hope for keeping the electricity flowing for extended periods!

Obviously since the starter would spin; your maintenance on the Batt terminal had nothing to do with the failure to start - if the batt will spin a starter, it will sure as heck fire an ignition system. That problem is a different (probably electrical) issue. Treat all the appropriate connections as above and I'd bet money it will disappear.

 

This is good brand of the stuff though various brands of di-electric grease is common in any auto parts/marine supply.

http://www.permatex.com/products/Automotive/specialized_maintenance_repair/electrical_system_maintenance/auto_Permatex_Dielectric_Tune-Up_Grease.htm

The American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) recommends dielectric grease be used on all marine connections that are not sealed by some other method. Basically, if air can get to the connection, dielectric grease is used to prevent problems.

As I mentioned earlier, it should be used on every connection in your car/boat/motorcycle. cleaning the connections and then applying di-electric grease and reconnecting will virtually eliminate electrical issues caused by poor connections.

 

The only time my 308 wouldn't start on me was when the positive battery terminal was loose. The car cranked fine but wouldn't start. I had the car towed to the mechanic only to get a call from him an hour later saying your car is ready..all i did was tighten the terminal.

 

If you get an Optima battery you won't have any more problems with corrosion on the cables or rust under the battery.

 

Well, never heard of that unless there are other terminals involved - ring terminals or whatever that are also attached to the main batt terminal or a buss that the pos cable connects to that may have had a loose connection.

But I sure would like to to hear the mechanic's explanation of how the connection was good enough to provide 200 amps for a starter but not good enough to provide 2 or 3 amps to run the ignition. Or maybe there's just some weird Italian car thing going on.

Now if it was an old Brittbike or car with Lucas electrics I could understand it! Well, to be totally correct, I couldn't understand the physics but I would understand the fact that it's Lucas and they were designed in some parallel universe with slightly different physical laws.

Lucas were the only components that made electricity visible...looked like smoke!

 

I suspect when one coats conductors with dielectric grease, the parts that touch push the grease away so contact is made metal to metal. The extra grease that remains seals the connection from moisture and other contaminants. Connectors are not smooth though they feel smooth to the touch. If you magnify them many times, they only touch on their high spots. The grease gets shoved into the low spots that do not touch and seal it up. The grease does not conduct electricity.

 

Exactly right! The connection pushes the grease aside but it then seals all around the connection. The US car manufacturers went to using di-electric grease on electrical connections in the 70's. Now O-ring elec connectors are becoming widely used because they seal out moisture well enough and service time is quicker because you don't have to use the grease. They don't seal as well as the grease does/did but it's good enough.

One thing to be aware of... if the connection is physically poor, the grease has no benefit as far as actually MAKING the electrical connection. It's function is to provide lubrication and prevent oxidation/corrosion. The connection has to be mechanically sound in the first place.