The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Ignition switch lube?

Started working on 51 3104 this weekend, hasn't been started for over a year. After the usual shot of seafoam and motor oil in the cylinders in case of stuck rings, cranking with plugs out, etc. etc. I was ready to start her up. My almost 5 Grandson patted her fender and said "come on old baby, fire up". When I was done laughing I put the key in and it wouldn't turn. Trip to NAPA for new switch, came back and read service manual to figure out how to remove the old one. When I pulled the cylinder out inspiration struck! Maybe I can save it. So I cleaned it up and put it back together, it worked and the "old baby" fired up eventually. But the switch is stiff and I'm thinking about pulling it back out and lubing it. White grease, lock ease, never seize, muffler bearing grease. Any suggestions? Thanks.John

Dielectric grease. It was commonly used in old TV sets for high and low amp switches. Dielectric grease is neither a conductor nor an insulator of electricity. It lubricates, protects against corrosion, and apparently gets out of the way to allow full current to pass between switch contact areas.
Use of a conducting type grease for a switch may cause a current bleed, as it contains electrical conducting compounds.

duh, I have a tube of that. Thanks Carl. John

Soak the whole thing in evaporust for a couple days
Rinse it well and blast it out with air
That stuff is like magic and works okay on aluminum oxidization too.

And it’s not a nasty chemical it’s environmentally friendly depending on the metal being cleaned because it binds to the oxide of the metal
So if you clean iron or aluminum you can dump it anywhere
If you clean lead parts then maybe not so much
-s