Bicycle Mechanics - Did I kill my freewheel with 3-in-1 ?

Started commuting a while back on my old mountain bike and I thought it was maybe time to give it more maintenance than just a chain lube... This bike hasn't been properly serviced for several years. So I decided to lube the freewheel as described at Sheldon Brown's site (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/freewheels.html#lube). I tipped the bike over and dripped 3-in-1 into the freewheel until the sound changed. I was pretty happy with myself, a job well done.

Then I was reading the Barnetts manual, chapter 1, and it pretty much says that 3-in-1 is "specifically unsuitable for most bicycle applications". Uh oh, that doesn't sound so good :eek: I went and checked the freewheel just now and it occassionally makes a nasty grinding noise, like there's some dirt in the mechanism.

What's specifically wrong with 3-in-1 oil ? Did the 3-in-1 screw my freewheel or have I maybe just got some dirt in there along with the oil ? If I squirt some bicycle-friendly oil in there will I stand a good chance of fixing it ? :confused:

Thanks for any advice, I'm trying to get some basic maintenance skills sorted out but don't want to go around wrecking my bike.

I'm going to ride my new mountain bike in to work tomorrow so no immediate disaster :D

Cheers,

Ian.

3-in-1 is a vegetable-based oil which turns to mush after a while. You should use a mineral oil, just normal bike-oil from a bike shop.
All is not lost. You can flush out the freewheel with a solvent (something like parraffin), then drizzel oil into the mechanism. This is the recomended way of cleaning a mucky freewheel.
Beware that some better quality frewheels like Sachs are sealed mechanisms.

Thanks MichaelW, nice to know I haven't trashed anything. I don't think I need to worry too much about having a better quality freewheel :p

Would a normal degreaser that I use on the chain (say Finish Line Eco-Tech) be a decent replacement for parrafin ?

Translation for those west of the Atlantic:
parraffin - kerosene

Originally posted by roadbuzz
Translation for those west of the Atlantic:
parraffin - kerosene

hehe thanks roadbuzz, I was thinking.. how would you put wax in it? seems like that'd be sticky ;)

I didn't even reliase paraffin had a different meaning this side of the Atlantic! Ah, the joy of maintaining two parallel sets of vocabulary :beer: