My dad was a truck driver/contractor. He used to put a grease that he called
"industrial vaseline" in his light sockets. It looks to me like white lithium
grease ( just found some in a small bottle when I was working at the basement
reno ).
I think that the purpose was twofold. It served as a shock absorber for the
light bulbs so that they lasted longer on the rough roads that he drove on and
when they did go out, you could remove them easily. He checked his lights
often and replaced them asap to avoid the hastles of getting stopped by the
police and getting 24 hours to report, etc. If they did stop him, he usually
tried to fix it on the spot.
Robert D.
> From: ajhsys@comcast.net
>
> The maufacurers use white lithium grease. It doesn't wash off and they use
>it on the door hinges a seat rails, so I guess they save money by using it on
>electrical stuff as well. I doubt it has any dielectric characteristics, but
>does any grease really conduct electricity? Dielectric grease is not a
>conductor.
>
> Allen Hefner
> Norristown PA
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
>
> > up to this year i have been using the same car trailer for 25 years. over
>the
> > years i have been plagued with corrosion in connectors and in bulb sockets.
> > also i had a frequent bulb failure rate in rear lamps. i changed from
> > regular filament taillight bulbs to LED bulbs and that fixed the frequent
>bulb
> > failure. using the dilectric grease on all sockets and in the trailer plug
> > haschanged my trailer's problems from evry time i hooked up to possibly a
>once a
> > year failure and those i now write off to things actually wearing out ! the
> > set screws for the trailer wiring in the trailer plug no longer rust and
>sieze
> > now, wich is a very neat bonus as well. the dilectric grease i'm most
>familiar
> > with is crystal clear but i have seen GM vehicles with a yellowish colored
> > grease in the bulb sockets from manufacturer, not put in by a mechanic some
> > place.
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