Hiya

For months I was plagued with my nearside rear door sometimes failing to unlock (on my fabia vrs). I took it to the stealers and they found moisture on the pillar connector plugs for the door. They cleaned it up etc. and for the last 2 weeks its been spot on... until this afternoon :(

It was dark when it happened so I havn't had chance to check it, but is there anything I could use to help protect the connectors? It could be something else thats failing but it seems strange that its been working well for 2 weeks since then

silicon electrical contact grease will stop moisture getting in and protect from corrosion

silicon electrical contact grease will stop moisture getting in and protect from corrosion

I have the tube version of this stuff:

Multi Purpose Silicone Grease > Maplin

that look like the stuff?

I also have some of this spray:

Silicone Grease with PTFE > Maplin

I may have some stuff in my van, we call it black nasty, basically a tape that has a rubbery sticky backing on it. Used to waterproof antenna connections in masts and towers.

Although the silicone and spray already mentioned would probably do the trick also

Steve

this will probably be ok , Multi Purpose Silicone Grease > Maplin

I have found copper grease works well to prevent corrosion on metal contacts of connectors. If the whole connector is open to the elements ,I would try and waterproof it completely by wrapping it in electrical tape. The only snag is that it takes longer to get at the wires/pins of the connector to fault find, and the tape will thyen have to be replaced because it has lost its adhesion.All connectors benifit from being taken apart and reconnected , there is a self cleaning action when this is done. I do not recommend we do it to all of our connectors , who knows what other problems may crop up!.

Tomo 1971 mentions 'Black rubber sticky tape

- I believe he means 'Self- Amalgamating' tape. It is used by Satellite Instalation Engineers to protect the cable and plug where it connects to the LMB on the dish..The only snag I have found is damage could be caused to the original cable/ connector when you try and remove the tape after 6 months. It has done as its name says becomes 'Self-Amalgamated!). It can be brought for about £7 from Maplin,or about half this price from an Electrical Component Company ,i.e Farnell,CPC, or RadioSpares.. I believe you can still by from them ,on the Internet , even if you dont hold an Account ,

In addition to Self amalg tape is the addition of a moisture barrier on the loom prior to the connector ,then add tape .What might prove a better solution if access isever needed is to apply moisture barrier before loom ( wrap round wires and heat ) , cut large heatshrink to fit to moisture barrier and apply self amalg tape to ends .Thus gettng to connector in future would only mean taking off a small bit of tape .Have removed this stuff in past and it's no joke getting it off .

Don't forget to cover the self amalg with a layer of plastic

Just remembered in my mini days (where no thought was given to protecting HT leads against wet )-there used to be a spray for ignition leads ,which repelled moisture and covered them in a plasticy layer -might be a better solution ,and easier to get back in (if this stuff still exists)

....

Just remembered in my mini days (where no thought was given to protecting HT leads against wet )-there used to be a spray for ignition leads ,which repelled moisture and covered them in a plasticy layer -might be a better solution ,and easier to get back in (if this stuff still exists)

You didn't take a set of marigolds and poke holes in each finger then push the HT's through it and install said glove on the dizzy cap then?

Doesnt WD40 do it too?

WD40 is better than nothing ,but its consistency is to thin to stay put.It also evaporates in air to almost nothing. Its made mostly of turps,with a nice smell added. If you search in Electronic Component Suppliers ,you will fing something which is much better. They also sell 'Plastic Seal' aerosol which is the one mentioned by 'Cheezemonkai' earlier in this post. This puts a high insulation plastic coating on whatever is sprayed , which stays permanently.

I would not recommend spraying everything in sight under the bonnet . If it gets between the two conductor blades in a connector it can increase the resistance of the joint, which defeats the idea of ' trying to protect electrical connectors ' I believe the greasy formulae type is better, as it can be checked, removed , and re-applied after time if desired.

Simplest way is to coat the plugs in Silicon Grease - available from Maplins and others. Maplins do a 50gm Tube (code RE90X) for £3.99.

Use it liberally to cover both connector ans all plug 'holes'

You didn't take a set of marigolds and poke holes in each finger then push the HT's through it and install said glove on the dizzy cap then?

Not quite - found that giving the leads a good clean ,getting rid of the stupid BL plastic dizzy cap(which retained water) and spraying the lot with the plasticy spray (and fitting a spray shield) --sort of six monthly preventative maintenance schedule did the trick .And at this time I lived in the north west of Scotland -home of the "moisture wall" (and the bover boot wearing midgies:rofl:).( at that time the town had no maternity hospital .Pregnant mothers went to Inverness,where,rumour had it , that nursescould determine that newborne kids came from that town by the web feet.:eek:)