List--Here's the 2nd half of my comments--
In general I firmly believe in using an oil on parts that are normally oil
lubricated and grease on parts normally grease lubricated. All my training
and experience with bearing surfaces in the engineering world (and I've had a
lot) makes me especially unwilling to use grease for assembly of oil lubed
wearing surfaces. However, on nearby static surfaces like fasteners or areas
subject to corrosion or fretting the right grease is usually appropriate for
most auto engine and chassis applications even if there's a chance of it
getting into the lube oil. I might draw the line with respect to grease here
on automatic trannies, turbos and other modern critical applications where a
little foreign material contamination in the oil may prove troublesome.
With respect to XP oils I wouldn't trust their chemical additives in my rod
and main bearings. I think straight STP is too high in viscosity to use
alone. Vaseline is a pure petroleum grease around NLGI#3 consistency with no
additives if that's what you really want. May be appropriate in some cases
where contamination from additive chemicals can't be tolerated and a grease is
called for. I've uses synthetic oil based greases (like Amsoil) in some
applications where moderately high temperatures (300-500F) might be
encountered and I didn't want the mess or contamination of the metal additives
in Neversieze.
Ed Weldon
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