Cleaning old white lithium grease?

[Vikas]

How do I remove the old and crusty white lithium grease from car door hinges etc?

 

[Rand]

some type of solvent.. wd40 would be the least aggressive 100% paint safe.. moving up to something like gasoline... not sure whats between.

 

[mongo161]

Try a blast of Kroil. Let it sit then remove in a couple of hours. That's what I did before applying a fresh schemer of white lithium grease to the door hinges, hood hinges and hatch back lock.

 

[VWguy]

When I was a "dealer boy" I used the white lithium grease on my first tool box draw runners and it turned to mud! I disassembled the runners and had to use a stiff wire brush in the solvent tank to clean them up. So, I guess, anything with a "petroleum distillates" content will work. Bill

 

[mechanicx]

I just use penetrating oil to clean the hinges because it doesn't seem very harmful to paint. I don't like to use white lithium grease on door hinges anymore. It doesn't look very good when it's new all white everywhere and conspicuous and then it gets really dirty and even worse looking pretty fast. I would just use regular chassis grease but you need something that applies on thinly and gets into the hinge joint, such as a spray on grease. I found motorcyle chain lube to work well. It dries to an inconspicuous dark film like chassis grease, is very slippery and seems to hold up well and not attract quite as much dirt. It can have a little bit of a chemical odor when first applied depending on brand but that goes away when the carrier oils fully evaporate.

 

[oilboy123]

Paint thinner will work as well.

 

[oilmutt]

I have used pb blaster with great success in the past.

 

[Kestas]

Paint thinner and toothbrush. It's best if you can remove the assy from the door and clean it in a tub.

 

[Vikas]

If a penetrating oil is used to remove the old grease, can I put the new grease immediately afterwards? Or now I have to remove the penetrating oil using brake cleaner?

 

[Bionic]

Originally Posted By: oilmutt

I have used pb blaster with great success in the past.

I just used this PB BLaster, on a 17 degree day where the lithium grease I used on my door close latch "froze" open.... once the temp went above 25 it was fine... so I hit the latch with a fair amount of PB Blaster, and almost immediately the latch started catching again. I signed up here today just to help out any other poor sole that might have the same issue I had. The grease was deep in the latch and all over, no way to remove it only dissolve it... PB BLaster to the rescue.