So, what is the best way to clean that nasty crud out of the electrical connectors? I sprayed a bunch of electrical contact cleaner in it and now its just leaking the nastiest brown goo. I used a small pick and cleaned as much chunks out as I could but I would really like to have it stop leaking goo.

DO NOT CLEAN IT OUT!

That's the stuff GM put in the connector to waterproof it.
It works better than anything else I've found.

BIG MISTAKE!

Now you'll have to find something else to waterproof the connection, and nothing compares to the stuff GM used.

[This message has been edited by olejoedad (edited 02-27-2025).]

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: DO NOT CLEAN IT OUT! That's the stuff GM put in the connector to waterproof it. It works better than anything else I've found. BIG MISTAKE! Now you'll have to find something else to waterproof the connection, and nothing compares to the stuff GM used.

I know its the dielectric grease they used, but its almost a solid now, its nasty and I can put new grease in. Im not worried about keeping it.

quote Originally posted by olejoedad: DO NOT CLEAN IT OUT! That's the stuff GM put in the connector to waterproof it. It works better than anything else I've found. BIG MISTAKE! Now you'll have to find something else to waterproof the connection, and nothing compares to the stuff GM used.

Do you happen to know what the original material was? Seems like no one is really sure.

quote Originally posted by IMSA GT: Do you happen to know what the original material was? Seems like no one is really sure.

I'd swear it's just butyl

quote Originally posted by Filben: So, what is the best way to clean that nasty crud out of the electrical connectors? I sprayed a bunch of electrical contact cleaner in it and now its just leaking the nastiest brown goo. I used a small pick and cleaned as much chunks out as I could but I would really like to have it stop leaking goo.

I've found that a small pick and CRC Electrical parts cleaner works extremely well. Then just apply a liberal amount of dielectric grease and you're good to go.

I've been told that it's a form of cosmoline.

I've seen it dry out on the surface, but below the surface it's still very pliable and sticky.
When I repin the C500 for swaps, I'm able to easily repack the fitting with the old material to prevent water intrusion.

quote Originally posted by Filben: I know its the dielectric grease they used, but its almost a solid now, its nasty and I can put new grease in. Im not worried about keeping it.

It is thick, yes, but it is not ordinary dielectric grease, it's special gm stuff, other commonly available greases run out, or dry up, or whatever, but the gm stuff is nasty but works the best, if you can physically plug the connector together and apart, it's fine, leave it, maybe add a small amount of lighter grease in as well to fill any voids from the old stuff coming out or drying up.

The problem with the connector compound is that if you are rewiring for a swap, it makes it very difficult to remove the pins. Its probably a good thing to have on connectors but not when you are re-pinning/re-wiring the connector maybe not. When I had to rewire, change or replace pins I just pushed the stuff out of the way with a small screwdriver.

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