TTORA Forum banner

Dielectric grease on connections?

2K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  Upgrayedd 
#1 · (Edited)
Dielectric grease on connections? Water in Cab

I got a lot of water in my cab last night so this morning i stripped it completely to allow the carpet to dry. While i was in the water i had some electrical gremlins appear. Mainly involving the toyota security system. I had to pull the horn fuse out. Right now ive pulled apart every plastic connection i can find in the center console, under the driver seat, and down by the driver and pass feet. I sprayed them out with connection cleaner and was about to dielectric grease them all because i heard that was the thing to do. But a quick search just now revealed that dielectric grease can only be used on high energy connections because it insolates too much. Is this true? If not, how much should i apply.

One connection, the one under the driver seat, had some type of grease in it. Seemed almost like white lithium grease. Very hard to get out... not sure if i should really clean it out before putting new grease or not.

As for the security system. It still seems a bit out of whack. The red light infront of the shofter wont go off. If i disconnect the battery will it reset the system?

Thanks. Any tips at this point would be appreciated.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Disconnect the battery for a good bit, do use too much grease as it will actually cause connectivity problems. That white grease is from factory..
 
#3 ·
I did the same thing back in my stupid days. My issues were ABS being in op for about 2 weeks then it all came back. Hopefully the sec. system will dry out with time and be back to normal. I would reset the bat and let everything dry for a bit without the bat connected to avoid any shorts or whatnot.

Water is a strange bitch with truck components. Also if you were in that much water you'll need to change diff fluids as your diffs probably sucked water in. My starter also went out about 3 months later. I bought a rebuild kit from Toyota for something like $12 and had it rebuilt and back running inside of an hour and a half.

Good luck
 
#4 ·
ya, it wasn't my brightest moment to say the least. I had gone through easily twice, but then wanted a picture for the 3rd time and deviated from my line, which got me into trouble.

Does anyone hold any objection to adding dielectric grease to all my snap together plastic electrical connections? If so, speak now, or forever hold your peace. As for starters and what not, hopefully mine is fine. I bought a can of electrical component cleaner as well as electrical connection cleaner, and used the first one to spray down the alternator. But I think i should do it again while the truck is running and the alt is spinning? no?

Oh, and does anyone know where the security system stuff is for 1st gen toyotas? I pulled out all the connections in and around the 4wd comp in the lower left and the cruise control box in the lower right. Was banking of one of them being the security system.
 
#6 ·
how many miles do you think i can go before changing the diff fluid? I changed it about 20k miles ago (last summer). Im not sure under what case the diff breather sucks water in. Is it if you turn the truck off and turn it on again, because i never shut the truck off.
 
#7 ·
When air heats it expands, when it cools it becomes more dense. Hot diff into water causes the metal and air to cool so the breather must suck in to compensate for the vacuum forming inside the diff and consequently sucks in water.

I'd change it soon for cheap insurance. Its easy enough and cheap enough to do its not worth risking. If there is water in the sloshing around with the oil you can get a bunch of other issues cropping up in the future and it's not good for the longevity of the axles.

Look into diff breather extensions if you plan to make this a habit.

EDIT: Also as to the cleaning of the alternator and such. The starter is located at the bottom of the block so it took the brunt of the water. I'm not sure how you can clean that bad boy without taking it off. They are the most common thing to fail after water emersion, next most common will be the AC Idler pulley if you have a V6. The pulley is very easy to repair if it starts squeaking.

Read through this killer thread for more info on the pulley:
http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138131
 
#8 ·
My starter failed after my truck going underwater in the last flood. Before you buy a new one(if you have a problem) buy the replacement contact kit. Like 30 dollars IIRC. I bought both a new starter, and contact replacement kit, probably a waste of money. I have a spare now, but if the original lasted 140,000 miles it might not be needed.

As for dielectric grease-if it didn't have it from the factory I wouldn't use it.
 
#11 ·
Yep same here. Got it from Toyota for less than $20.

Took me about 2 hrs max to do it. The hardest part is just getting the damn starter out. There are write ups on this as well somewhere if you search.
 
#12 ·
I just dealt with this last weekend. 4" of water in the cab. The security computer and 4x4 computer are in the driver's side foot-well, on the door side. Luckily I drowned my driver's side and not my passenger: sans air intake...:rolleyes:

After removing the carpet to hang dry, I removed both those cpu's, then removed the pcm's from their housing and let them dry in the sun for two days. I aired out the main connection under the drivers seat (the one with the lithium grease) and the the airbag sensor under the passenger side.

Removed my fuse tray, aired it out; and blue RTV'd it for later derps.

Having to buy a new starter this week and polishing my connections on my old one to keep as a spare... Just bought a spare alternator for a spare to....

Derpity ditty derp.

It would of been a whole lot less time consuming to drag the grill and cooler to the beach instead of submarining my truck like a dumbass.

But after the 10 hours and $500 bucks I learned a lesson; to not go water crossing/ deep water/ river/ lake. "
for the forum searchers....

Soon I'll be replacing my wheel bearings, idle pulley and ac clutch.:D 'merica
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top