Tried a new lubricant on a Leica M6 advance lever and it seized up overnight

I was working on a Leica M6 last week and decided to try that new synthetic grease everyone's been talking about, the one in the blue tube. Applied a tiny amount to the advance lever mechanism, just like the instructions said. Came back the next morning and the whole thing was completely frozen, wouldn't budge at all. Had to spend two hours carefully flushing it out with solvent and starting over with my old reliable grease. Learned that sometimes the new 'miracle' products just don't play nice with older, precise tolerances. Has anyone else had a bad reaction with that specific synthetic blend on vintage gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathankim1d ago

Feel your pain, that exact thing happened to my old Canon.

emma_rodriguez301d ago

Seriously? Sounds a bit dramatic.

stellat461d ago

That blue tube synthetic stuff is a real gamble on anything made before 1990. I had a similar thing happen with a Nikon F2's film counter, just locked it up solid. The old tolerances and metals don't always agree with the new formulas. I keep a small bottle of lighter fluid and a toothpick on the bench just for flushing out mistakes like that. Sticking with the tried and true grease is the way to go, even if it's boring.