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any decent way to remove dielectric grease?

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Joined
Oct 2, 2002
hello all,
i was wondering if and how u guys remove dielectric grease........i would like to resell my mobo and proc but it has the stuff all over it.

any suggestions?

thanks
 
I don't sell Processors/Mother Boards that I have overclocked for ethical reasons.

I guess I should say "And thats my HUGE opinion..."
 
Acetone will strip lacquer. I've never had to remove dielectric grease from any mobo of mine, but I would not want to use contact cleaner on a mobo unless you figure out what is in it. Could be worse for your lacquer coat than acetone.

IMO, everyone that buys a used cpu or mobo here can assume that it was overclocked. All sales are fair if the seller is honest about what he is selling.
 
I do it all the time using rubbing alcohol and a soft toothbrush. I just poor a good amount of the RA into a saucer and just keep scrubbing away keeping it very wet. I then hit it with canned air. Have done this on about six CPU's. For the MB's I use RA and Qtips, again no problems and many times.
 
whats the grease on? have you tried blowing a hair dryer on it? ive used this to get some out of the pins on a aa8xe fatal1ty mobo i had before and it worked pretty well. i just held the board upside down and blew the hairdryer on the pins and it kinda just dripped out for the most part then i blew it out with some compressed air.
 
I've never used it on dielectric grease, but I have found WD-40 to be one of the most versitile cleaners around. It isn't actually a solvent, it's a penetrating lube. It will break down the grease and leave nothing behind but that oh so wonderful smell (ok.. I have problems)
 
i use goof off and it works great with no ill effects. it will wash off things like magic marker from any caps and painted on letters or numbers on heatsinks.

for instance-

northbridge1_kl.jpg

it will wash the asus right off of that.

but it wont wash the letters off of the pcb at all.

if its all in the socket i will take the plastic cover off as seen here and use a soft toothbrush and rinse it and just keep going until its clean.

Picture%2520153.jpg


to clean the cpu really well i would like to get a jewelry cleaner thing that vibrates with ultrasonic vibrations. like those things ladies put their rings in and plug it in.
i dont have one so i had to be resourceful.
i took hard plastic lid from a thermos or something and filled it with goof off,
i then used an ultrasonic toothbrush pressed on the bottom of the lid to get the vibration effect i was looking for. works very well for stubborn stuff.

if you dont have a ultrasonic tooth brush maybe ask your g/f if she could come up with something that would work lol

always rinse the goof-off off with 90% or more rubbing alchohol.

goof-off will remove most things like liquid electrical tape, stock thermal pads, black seal string gunk and much more.
 
I put a bit of methanol in a cup and clean off the grease with a soft toothbrush. Electronics cleaner also works well. Some very useful supplies :)

dice-1.JPG
 
1 can of electronic parts cleaner
1 toothbrush
1 can of compressed air


= brand spanking new looking mobo and/or cpu :cool:
 
Use the stuff every day and use brake clean to remove it. You can buy break clean in any auto parts store. It's kind of like dry cleaning chemical. I don't know what it will do to a mother board. Please read the causions on the label. IT WILL BURN, INGITE, GO BOOM!
 
brake cleaner will eat the paint off a car what do you think it will do on a mother board with plactic parts on it ... my 2 cents is ele cleaner from radio shack or auto store as long as it is the quick evap stuff not the lingering liquid form
 
marscay said:
1 can of electronic parts cleaner
1 toothbrush
1 can of compressed air


= brand spanking new looking mobo and/or cpu :cool:
yep, this combo has cleaned 2x of my mobo's.

the tough part is IN the socket...(both of mine were 939)

i put "lots" of cleaner in/on the socket, let it set for a while (minute or so) then put paper towel around the base and use the can-o-air to blow down through the socket holes and out the base into the paper towel.

repeat till nothing but clean liquid comes out (3-5 times)
 
Layback Bear said:
Use the stuff every day and use brake clean to remove it. You can buy break clean in any auto parts store. It's kind of like dry cleaning chemical. I don't know what it will do to a mother board. Please read the causions on the label. IT WILL BURN, INGITE, GO BOOM!

lol :O
 
electric moter cleaner made by crown 68360, to do this take the board out and spay all over the board but you will have to do this outside for it is very toxic fumes like mentioned ps factor
 
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