Hey all.
in the middle of changing my coil and shoebox calls for some heat transfer grease between the plates and such. I was wondering if Dielectric and heat transfer grease were the same.

mj

edit:subject line.

 

Yes, it's typically a clear/whitish grease.

 

Actually, I don't thnk they are the same stuff. Dielectric grease is non conductive and usually silicone based. The heat sink grease is usually a different feeling substance (kinda sticky) that is made for heat transfer. Radio Shack or a computer store should have some.

[edit] Ok, I have read that the heat transfer grease can be silicone based, too. I also found that while that some thermal greases may not be considered electrically conductive, they do not prevent conduction. Some heat transfer greases have metal particles in them.

 

yes, dielectric grease is a different compound, you will want to use heat transfer grease. It is a good idea to use dielectric grease around high voltage connections to prevent arching and leakage, but noit on the actual connection.

 

You may have some around if you ever changed out a CPU fan btw.

 

well, I ended up running down to the local chevy dealer and asking one of my friends in the service center. He told me they use dielectric grease there whenever they do coil packs.

On a side note, i'm going to be hating my car for the next week. did the driver side plugs yesterday and will be doing pass side today or tomorrow. grrrrrrr.

thanks for the replies folks.

MJ

 

Why am I not surprised to hear about such practices at a Chevy dealership? I guess to some grease is grease.

 

so what's the deal? should i take the coil back appart and get some heat transfer grease from radio shack?

when i took her for a test drive last night, she seemed strong AND my 5k rpm miss is 75% gone (hoping that with the next 4 plugs it will be totally gone).

MJ

 

yes use a heat transfer grease, and also check or replace the coil wire and maybe the coil, and that should help clear up the miss. Side note-I had a miss at about 5300 rpm, and it turned out to be my coil wire. It was toast! I replaced it, and voila! no miss!!

 

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! !! all the way up the RPM band with no/very very very little miss (I may have an arching wire on the pass side, still have to change pass side plugs and wires)...this is the first time the car has been fun to drive since i got her (well, at least this much fun). I'm pretty sure the problem was the coil/coil wire, both were in pretty bad shape once I got them out. Now onto 4.10s

 

congrats and enjoy the hell out of it!