Electrical - Preventative Maintenance

[X5-D-Sport]

Some thing else worth doing now summer is coming - hopefully..

European build practice for electrical connections by manufacturers is NOT to put silicone spray on the sealing rubbers in the connectors... it saves £0.008 per wiring connector in time at manufacture..
For the North American & Russian markets it is mandatory for this silicone spray, on identical parts...  O:-)

So...
The connectors will dry out here in the summer & the corrosion in the connections will crystallize & insulate or short out the connection causing a failure - similar to the blue fur on battery terminals...

The cure is to disconnect ALL the various connections ONE AT A TIME around the vehicle... under the car, the engine bay & the rear trunk too, incl parking sensors & lambda sensors, lighting etc  and spray a squirt of switch cleaner into each side of the plug/socket, reconnect a few times, then a squirt of silicone spray on the ribbed moulded silicone seal of each plug & socket, re-assemble, then wipe dry.... job done.

There is no point in doing it in damp weather, as you just seal the moisture inside the plug connection.

Ref.... the leveling sensor devices under the vehicle, these need to be wiped clean, & a big squirt of silicone spray squirted into the output arm pivot point of the sensor. This will assist the "O" rings in sealing the sensor against moisture ingress & faulty sensing/readings.
Be sure to wipe off excess silicone from the OUTSIDE of the sensor, so it does not collect all the road grunge afterwards.

In most cases, all these electronic gizmo's on these cars are perfectly ok & will often last longer than the vehicle, until moisture gets in them & kills them with the short circuits & resulting voltage spikes that wipes them out.
eg, leveling / ride height sensors, parking sensors, control modules in the trunk that get wet, electrical stuff under the hood/bonnet.

A sunny summer afternoon tinkering could save you ££$$ Hundreds in failed modules in the winter when it is cold, wet & nasty.

Switch/Contact Cleaner - Maplins £7
Silicone Spray                - Halfords / Motor Factors £8

a can of each is enough to do several vehicles, end to end.

Regards to all.
Grant B

[Greydog]

Terrific advice and an excellent idea Grant

Now if you could just nip round and demonstrate for me ? sorry bit old and slow now so you may need to demo about 50 times or so!!

[CondorX5]

I was thinking a demo on my Xes might be a lot closer than travelling all that way.... 

[X5-D-Sport]

Yeah, Of course, I will book a helicopter this afternoon & be round for 6pm    )    :'(

[Upex]

Cracking idea, and thanks for posting.

Likely a stupid question, but anyways, do you need to let the contact cleaner dry out before reconnecting? Always wondered, and know it does not cause shorts etc (or be a stupid thing to use on ele contacts) but trapping some of it in there can only leave the contacts damp (for longer or indefinitely if a real good seal)?

Said it was stupid  :stupid:

[X5Sport]

Reasonable question, and Silicone is an insulator.

[Upex]

So don't be spraying the wrong one in the plug lol  )

[X5-D-Sport]

Electrical contact cleaner is ideally used on contacts with the circuits inactive.
the connections are best made & separated several times whilst the connectors are wet, as the cleaner allows the debris & contamination to be abraided off the terminals by the fitting action.

In the time it takes to silicone spray the outer seal of the plugs/socket the switch cleaner will have evaporated off.
either way, there are not the voltages involved that will cause issues.

The silicone lubricant will not adversely effect the connectors if any gets in the plug contacts, as the voltages & current used in the sensors etc are not going to be effected in low duty applications.... and Id be confident to soak my connectors in silicone... as the worst that could happen would be that they resist corrosion for much longer.

[X5-D-Sport]

My D-Sport regularly wades thru a ford several times a week about 26 inches deep... deeper recently with the rain, & when you can hear the water exploding in contact with the exhaust manifold you know it's deep..

Since I drenched the wiring connectors with switch cleaner & silicone last June on my 12yr old machine, she doesn't so much as throw up an error any more - unless some thing is Very wrong...
where as before the silicone application, the sensor failures were endless after a run thru the river..

Your machine.... do as you wish..
this is simply my suggestion based on proven results... and DEEP water.

[Upex]

Think it's a great idea, certainly worth a try and will be doing this during the rebuild phase soon, thanks.

[henrym3]

So, as a confirmed WD40 user for this sort of thing, am I doing more harm than good?

[X5Sport]

WD40 contains solvents that may damage the plastics.

[Horizon]

It's ok to use WD40 as a water repelant after a clean connection is already made, as it will then help prevent tracking across dampness.
Anyone who has run a n Austin Mindy will vouch for its effectiveness inside the dizzy cap
If you spray it directly into a multi plug bore connection you can experience problems.
It's better to spray contact cleaner on the contacts, then a liberal spray of WD 40 to the outer surfaces once the two parts of the plug are pushed firmly together.

[henrym3]

Thank you both, It's even possible I may change my way.

[X5-D-Sport]

WD40 is absolutely NOT suitable as a contact cleaner.
It is known to become hydroscopic shortly after application on wet surfaces.... ie it absorbs water molecules & seals them in an oily shell, until it breaks down & rots the surface it is sat on..
Additionally, the make up of WD40 is a penetrant to free rusted & seized parts - it contains all sorts of harsh chemicals & solvents... and it is great for what it is designed to do, but sealed in an electrical connector with moisture it  is capable of corroding the connector,& disintegrating the plastic shell over time & destroying the part.

WD40 will displace Moisture droplets from a distributor cap, & wiped away after is fine, but trapped under a cap or enclosure it will eat rubber seals, O-rings & munch some plastics into a brittle mulch.

At the end of the day, Switch cleaner is specifically designed to clean & protect connection surfaces, & silicone spray is specifically a water repellent & good for lubricating & sealing electrical sealing joints...
If you are unsure how or where to spray electrical contact cleaner - read the side of the can - maybe ??

I'm not sure how else to put it.... it's like suggesting that you use diesel to fuel a diesel powered car, and some bright genius then says.... ahh, but you can use cricket grease.... Why .. whats the point...
maybe we should lubricate engines with WD40 too, because we can...    :blink:

Switch cleaner is for switch contacts & connectors
Silicone spray greatly assists electrical seals.

If you want to use battery acid or axle grease or raw sewerage for all I care, or some other stuff...
or maybe use electrical contact cleaner on your teeth or armpits instead..
then Go for it..... I won't bother typing here again.

God help us all.    :'(