Erm, yes and no!

Silicone grease is ideal for external applications where you want to keep out moisture and prevent electrical leakage; the best examples being on the outside of a distributor cap, HT leads and spark plugs connectors (and I stress outside). It has high temperature resistance and infinite resistance which is ideal on your plug leads. It is also good stuff for lubricating O rings and keeping rubber in good condition.

The problem with products containing silicone when used inside electrical connectors is that where even the tiniest amount of arcing occurs it will break down converting into silicon carbide, which means it isn't good on switch contacts where some arcing is inevitable. Silicone grease should never be applied to (or near to) a switch contact as the accumulation of silicon-carbide can cause the contacts to prematurely fail.

Bottom line is, silicone grease is good stuff, but only if used outside of electrical components!

Dielectric grease has completely different properties, some are indeed are silicone based, but all have additives to inhibit the reaction that produces silicon carbide. However, the best ones are hydrocarbon based. It�s a little confusing , there is silicone grease and silicone dielectric grease, each one is designed for a specific purpose.

BTW - The best dielectric grease is generally accepted to be Contralube 770, which is used in the aviation industry. Cool as well as it fluoresces blue under UV light so you can see which connectors have been treated!

Well thanks for that. You learn something every day. I'm fairly happy that I have packed as many connectors as I can with the Servisol, as all it needs to do there is keep the moisture out. I'll have another think if I get round to dismantling any switches etc where arcing is a possibility.

Contralube now on my shopping list :)