just remember OB members...I'M going down this lube rabbit hole so YOU don't have to!
here's more good info:
if you want to lube something and don't like the aerosol cans or the expensive price of the small plastic bottles of machine oil, then getting something like the spring bottom oiler or even the pump oiler and use a
SAE30 non-detergent oil. cheap and easy to find and without the additives of regular motor oil, it will perform better. I have seen where Marvel Mystery oil is used, but like I said earlier...I used it and it gummed up really bad in the can after long time storage.
if you need a good penetrating oil, mix 50/50 automatic transmission fluid with acetone and that will penetrate well and really help loosen rusted nuts.
I know everyone uses WD-40 as a lube and it does work short term, but the "WD" stands for "water displacement" as it was originally used more as a solvent, getting rid of moisture in a distributor cap, etc and was used to clean parts and THEN lube the part with something like white lithium grease as
@lolzhax posted earlier. Whatever lube qualities WD-40 has, is quickly lost as the solvents evaporate and the very thin film of lube oil dissapates quickly, therefore making it useless for actual lubrication.
I read up on mineral oils and machine oil is basically a mineral oil with additives and the benefits of the different additives was interesting to read, but impractical to memorize, so the SAE30 just seems to cover all bases.
also, as I'm sure most on here already know, any petroleum base lube is not good to use on rubber or plastic. I have seen people spray down radiator hoses and other plastic/rubber engine parts with WD-40 and that will make them look shiny and nice, but is actually eating away at it. Silicone is the only lube to use on rubber and plactic. The spray silicone is a bit expensive, but good and a little goes a long way. I use the silicone tire shine for engine components. I bought bottle of it years ago, the brand was (Black Magic) and it works great. I just used it to recoat my coil boots when changing spark plugs. I bought mine quite a few years ago, so not sure if its still a 100% silicone product. It used to be and the stuff I have works great.
LUBE is not as simple as one would think...
I recently took apart my wife's 2 big KitchenAid mixers and had to clean and reapply gear grease. After going down THAT rabbit hole, I found out that there is an actual cert rating for the food grade grease that goes on gears in a mixer. I didn't know that until I almost got the wrong grease off Amazon. (don't blindly trust Amazon description OR reviews)
There is also a specific lube for use on brake calipers and slide pins. I just swapped out brakes on the wife's jeep sahara and came across the specs requiring a special grease.
I spent my high school years on a farm where EVERYTHING got lubed with either motor oil or moly grease. I pretty much kept that going until I actually started reading and found out there is an actual science to lubrication and not all lubes are created equal...
While we're on the topic of lubes...I researched a bit on different motor oils and THAT was a rabbit hole unto itself. I recommend y'all go do a little research on motor oils, because apparently some brands actually wreck motors. I use Mobile 1 across the board and that was tested to be a really good oil, but even some of the versions of Pennsoil are not good for certain engines and the Walmart brand "Super Tech" is apparently (not surprisingly) the worst and caused significant damage in the test engine using it.
AND...just when I thought it couldn't get any worse...I found THIS brand of oil...
