Reel cleaning,... maintenance question?

[IAFrogger]

I need some advice... a buddy and I were fishing a couple weekends ago and it pretty much rained on us all weekend... our reels pretty much were soaked throughly.... I noticed that my Curado at the end of the weekend had a white greasy film on the base of the reel at the handle attachment.

I am guessing that the white film was the line guide worm gear grease .... since then I am noticing my reel not working nearly as smoothly. So I am anticipating the need to clean and oil & grease it.

Any advice on grease and or oil to use? I was thinking Hot Sauce, but I have heard not to use this type of oil with Shimano reels unless you are certain you have removed any of the oil & grease that comes on the reel. As supposedly the grease and oils work against one another being different base formulas, etc.

Any advice is appreciated !

Thanks....

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Man, you have come to the right place if the guys chime in. I am a general cleaner. I just break them down, and flush everything in denatured alcohol or acetone. I will dip the bearings on a pencil tip and spin them out until they are dry, reinstall, and add 1 drop of oil. I just put a very light greasing where I took grease off. But some of these guys can go a lot deeper than I can, so I will let them take over from here.

I have heard that hot sauce will void a warranty, but not too sure on it anymore. It is a pretty come oil to use.

[pro reel]

It should be completly disasembled, cleaned and lubed and reasembled. If you have the tools and the mechanical ability to do that, then I sugest that you use rocket fuel brand oil on the spool bearings and the worm gear, thats my favorite brand. After the first service, all brands recomend only oil on worm gears because grease will trap grit and wear it out before it's time, They grease them at tha factory to protect them from the user that will never have them serviced or do it themselves. You can use any good reel grease on the gear teeth and in the crank bearings, but to grease those bearings you need a bearing presure greaser. I use super lube brand teflon grease or cals universal reel grease. You can oil those bearings but the reel may fell a little loose. Wipe a thin film of grease on the insides of the reel to protect from corrosion. don't get any on the spool shaft or in the pinion gear.

[sdesi2010]

how often do you clean?

[BrownHL]

I normally strip and clean my reels once a year at the end of the summer season. During the season, I occasionally add a tiny drop of Yellow Rocket to my metal bearings and Oust Met Oil to my ceramic bearings. If anything "feels funny" during the season, I will open a reel and inspect it. This site may help you.
http://fish.shimano.com/publish/cont...2%20pages).pdf