Deoxit and 996s: Geritol for our Cars?

I'm just getting ready to tear into a timing belt/water pump swap on the 928 I just bought. A piece of advice I got from the 928 guys was to buy a can of Deoxit. They said it's not related to the TB/WP swap, but WYAIT, there will be several things I'll want to spay it on (ground points, etc.). Now, I had never heard of this stuff, but apparently it is revered right up there with the Dead Sea Scrolls over on the 928 board. I searched for Deoxit in the 996 forum and it was mentioned in a total of 9 threads. Same search on the 928 board came up with 306 threads. It is some sort of miracle electrical contact cleaner and protectant. My guess is that our 996s aren't old enough to need this stuff that badly. But, in the near future, they probably will be - the 928s are our ancestors by only about 20 years, so I think we'll all need to get a can of this for our tool boxes soon. Right now the biggest causes of squirrelly electrical gremlins seem to be bad ignition switches and batteries. Corrosion is likely sneaking up on us as we speak, though. Just my 2 cents worth next time you have an electrical problem - try spraying a little Deoxit in the switch or on the contacts. It may not be the miracle that WD40 is, but who knows what ills it can cure? BTW - I own no stock in the Deoxit company nor have any affiliation with the product. I have yet to even buy my first can of the stuff.

I use it a lot in our resto shop, it's good stuff. Deoxit, WD40, PB Blaster and dielectric grease are invaluable working on old cars.

Deoxit is absolutely magic! I have a 30 year old Alfa Gtv6 in which the electrics still work well as result of application in all switches, connectors and components.

I used it per the recommendation of a record player forum when I was rebuilding the electronics in my vintage turntable. The stuff is amazing, and I use it all the time. Make sure you get the Deoxit name brand; the Radio Shack in-house version is not the same.

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I have been using it for years on vintage stereos. Great stuff for cleaning the tube sockets.

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What's a "tube"? LOL Sadly, I'm old enough to remember carrying a box of tubes from the TV to the tester at the store, and plugging each one in to test it. Looks like Deoxit is on my shopping list. Thanks for the recommendation. I have already been experiencing electrical gremlins on my 996 (headlight switch, brake switch, starter-alternator cable, ...) (and more gremlins than on my three 964's....BTW) Edit: I just looked up Deoxit on Amazon, and there are 253 choices - recommendations on which variant(s) I should buy?

I've used Deoxit on voice and data cables with intermittent errors. After application, they work reliably. A little goes a long way, and the small bottles they sell may well be a lifetime supply for the casual user.

I just learned about DeOxit and have tried the DN5 version of the product which evaporates quickly and does not require flushing. There is some background to this and here's the short story. I had ordered the tiny can of DN5 to try out and first tried it on a 20+ year old stereo that had scratchy and intermittent controls and was unusable. I had tried the usual contact cleaners that did nothing. A couple of short sprays of DN5, wait a few hours, and seriously the thing is like new. I am blown away. What does this have to do with a 996? As some of you might know my engine was repaired at Flat6 and the car arrived back home with severe misfiring problems when hot that did not show before shipping back. Jake spent time and money helping out but we never got it fixed until a local mechanic (Jake's referral) found oxidized and corroded connector pins in the main X59 engine harness connector. Replacing the wires fixed this problem. I thought I was good. Not so. A few days after getting the car back it suddenly had unstable idle -- died at stop signs, threw tons of codes, CEL on.... Diagnostics led to the throttle valve wiring. On an off chance that more connector issues were the cause, I sprayed DN5 into both sides of the X59/2 connector and the 6-pin throttle valve connector. It has been about 9 days since that and the car has not had a single problem. My plan is to take every engine connector apart and spray DN5 into it. These cars are a bit older and the connectors may be partially oxidized. Disturbing the connectors may interrupt the electrical contact quality. Having them apart for a longer time (for a rebuild) may have increased the likelihood of intermittent contact. The stuff is magic, I totally agree. You can see it working: spray it on metal with oxidation and it bubbles. It is expensive but the 5-oz can is about 10-15 minutes' mechanics labor charge. I have a couple of other examples around the house where it fixed long term annoyances that nothing else did too.