I'll be changing out a TFI module when it shows up at the dealer. The Haynes manual says to coat the heat sink with dielectric grease. Is this good enough? The old stuff looked white and was sticky like adhesive. Seems like it would pass the heat better than dielectric grease. Do they make stuff especially for the heat sink?

 

It will probably come with a tube of the dielectric grease. Nothing will stop the heat transfer, so if you are just replacing a working unit "to be sure", keep the old one in the glove box.

 

To answer your question--YES. The white sticky grease was/is a heat conductive compound made for electrical heat sinks for power transistors and the like that are attached to a heat sink like the TFI module, the heat sink being the distributor. It is called Heat sink Compound in the electrical world and would be found in an electronics parts store or may come with the module. Dielectric grease is not heat sink compound as such. Try Radio shack or a computer store for the white heat sink compound.

 

Thanks, I'll go searching for the good stuff. I hope I didn't make a bone head move. The Ford dealer is gettin $180 for the module. At Autozone they are $51. And I think they are lifetime warranty...I hear the factory stuff is better, but at the Autozone price I coulda bought a spare for the glovebox and still had major change left over... Yea, I'm thinkin bone head move...

 

Don't forget the special wrench: $10 or so..... (you probably have one that will work in your tool box, but you'll want to keep this one in the vehicle with that spare Total Failure Imminent unit....)