How to use multi purpose grease without bursting a seal
Updated: 23 October 2026
You have a 400 g cartridge, a Comma or Carlube tube, or a grease gun that clicks and delivers air, and the fitting in front of you is a nipple on a trailer, a mower or a hinge. How to use multi purpose grease is mostly load order, a bleed, and a point where you stop. The grease in your hand should already be one of the five lithium listings on the [multi purpose grease comparison](/hub/diy-supplies/multi-purpose-grease). This page does not rank them. The steps follow UK gun guides from Darglow and Bolts, plus SKF’s replenishment factors, as read on 21 October 2026. There was no workshop trial. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
You have a 400 g cartridge, a Comma or Carlube tube, or a grease gun that clicks and delivers air, and the fitting in front of you is a nipple on a trailer, a mower or a hinge.
You have a 400 g cartridge, a Comma or Carlube tube, or a grease gun that clicks and delivers air, and the fitting in front of you is a nipple on a trailer, a mower or a hinge. How to use multi purpose grease is mostly load order, a bleed, and a point where you stop. The grease in your hand should already be one of the five lithium listings on the multi purpose grease comparison. This page does not rank them. The steps follow UK gun guides from Darglow and Bolts, plus SKF’s replenishment factors, as read on 21 October 2026. There was no workshop trial. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Pack | Container | Fill | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  Agri-Linc Agri-Linc EP2 lithium grease, box of 12 | Box of 12 | Cartridge | 400 g per cartridge | 8.7 | about £49.95 | View offer |
| Alternative |  Comma Comma GR2400 multi-purpose lithium grease, 400 g | 1 tube | Tube | 400 g | 7.0 | about £7.95 | View offer |
| Best value |  TIMCO TIMCO lithium EP2 grease, 400 g | 1 cartridge | Cartridge | 400 g | 7.8 | about £6.68 | View offer |
On this page
Cartridge or tube
Agri-Linc and Oregon are 400 g cartridges. Agri-Linc’s listing says each one suits lever and pistol-grip guns of 400–500 g. Oregon is a 400 g Euro cartridge. TIMCO is the same sort of single 400 g cartridge, so the load order below is the one you use. Comma GR2400 is a 400 g tube, not a cartridge. Reviewers take off a red cap and a plastic top and expect a mess. There is no plunger, so the last of the grease sits in the bottom and has to be scooped into the barrel. Carlube XMG070 is 70 g, for a hinge, a bike hub or a tow-ball wipe, and the wrong shape for a gun fill.
A Carlube tube that has separated is the failure retail how-to pages often skip. Reviewers split that tube at the seal by kneading or squeezing hard. If the oil has puddled, let the tube come up to workshop temperature and ease the grease together with a light massage. If the seam is already weeping, decant what you can into a clean tin and bin the split tube. Comma’s complaint is more often a leaky cap and thin grease than a split shoulder. Choosing EP2 or a non-EP tube is on EP2 grease vs non-EP.
Load the gun and bleed it
For a cartridge, follow the order Darglow and Bolts describe. Unscrew the gun head from the barrel. Lock the rod back so the plunger stays at the rear. Take the cap off the cartridge and slide it in open end first. Peel the pull-tab off the other end, screw the head on, and release the rod so the spring seats the plunger. Work the lever until grease, not air, appears at the coupler. That last step is the bleed. Skipping it is why a gun clicks and pumps nothing.
If grease still does not come, Sealey and Faithfull’s sheets point at trapped air, a loose barrel, a blocked extension, or grease that is too cold. Prime by loosening the head a turn or two and working the plunger until grease arrives, then nip the head up. Leave it half-unscrewed and the gun will not hold pressure on the way to the trailer. Cold grease in a winter van is a real cause. One gun manual suggests adding oil. That mixes a different product into the cartridge, so warm the gun instead. These steps are for a hand gun, not a compressor-powered setup.
At the nipple, then at a bearing
Wipe the nipple before you connect, because grit on the nipple goes straight into the pin. Push the coupler on square. Pump until fresh grease shows at the joint, which is Bolts’ stop for a pin or a bush, then stop. Twist the coupler off rather than yanking it, or you can pull an old nipple out of its pressing. A tow ball is a different routine: you smear a film on a wet coupling and you do not pump until grease pours.
A hitch pin, a mower axle nipple or a coupling nipple is full when clean grease appears at the edge of the joint. Mersea’s trailer notes grease the ball, the cup and the nipples on a braked coupling. They are not a licence to keep pumping a rolling bearing until grease squeezes past a seal. Over-greasing a bearing heats the grease as the rollers churn it, and it can burst a seal. SKF’s side-replenishment factor is Gp = 0.005 × D × B, with D the outside diameter and B the width, both in millimetres, and the result in grams. A 50 mm outside diameter and a 20 mm width is 5 g. Through a centre hole the factor is 0.002 × D × B, so the same dimensions are 2 g. Those sums are a round example, not a bearing in this comparison. The pack checklist is the multi purpose grease buying guide.
When to stop and get help
Stop and get a workshop when the bearing is a sealed wheel hub, when grease could reach electric-motor windings, or when a failed pivot can drop a load or defeat a guard. Comma’s listing mentions electric motor bearings and does not say whether the grease is EP. That is not a reason to open a motor on the bench. Follow the motor plate. An HSE bulletin describes a loading-arm pivot that failed after the bearing was not greased. The lesson is the missed nipple on a loaded pivot. At work, PUWER 1998 regulation 5 still requires the equipment to be maintained.
Do not put this lithium grease on disc faces, pad material or brake shoes. Gearboxes are off the list as well. Stihl’s hedge-trimmer gear grease is a different tube, a few grams through a filler plug, and it was removed from this comparison because the name multipurpose was misleading. If the plug in front of you is a gearbox filler, put the cartridge down. If the nipple is taking grease, you are finished when fresh grease shows, not when the cartridge is empty. Purging is separate, and only when the housing has a purge path. ASTM D6185 is a compatibility test, and TIMCO’s compatible-with-other-greases bullet does not name the thickener already in the hub.
Common questions
Which end of the cartridge goes in first?
The open end goes in first, after you have locked the rod back and taken the cap off. The pull-tab end faces the head and comes off before you screw the head on. Agri-Linc, TIMCO and Oregon are the 400 g cartridges this order fits. Comma and Carlube are tubes, so there is no cartridge end to seat. Release the rod only after the head is on, then bleed until grease appears at the coupler.
Why does the gun click and pump nothing?
Trapped air is the usual cause, then a loose barrel, a blocked extension, or grease that is too cold. Loosen the head a turn or two, work the plunger until grease rather than air comes out, then tighten and try the nipple again. Wipe the nipple first. If you loaded from a tube and the plunger never seated, reseat it. Warm a cold gun rather than thinning the cartridge with oil. These steps assume a hand gun.
When do I stop pumping a nipple?
Stop when fresh grease appears at the joint. That is the pin, bush, hitch nipple or mower axle telling you the old grease has moved. Twist the coupler off instead of pulling it straight, or you can extract a tired nipple. A wet tow-ball cup gets a film, not a purge. Keep going only if you are purging a housing built to purge. A half-full cartridge is not the signal to continue.
How much grease does a rolling bearing actually want?
SKF’s side replenishment is Gp = 0.005 × D × B grams, with D and B in millimetres. A 50 mm by 20 mm example is 5 g. Through a centre hole the factor is 0.002 × D × B, which is 2 g on that same example. Measure the bearing you have. The example is arithmetic, not a hub in this set, and it does not apply to a tow ball. If there is no safe replenishment point, let a workshop do that bearing.
What if the tube has split or the grease has separated?
Carlube’s 70 g tube can split at the seal if you squeeze a separated fill. Warm it gently and work it lightly. If the seam weeps, decant into a clean tin and discard the tube. Comma’s complaint is more often a leaky cap and thin grease, and contaminated grease still does not go in a bearing. A cartridge that will not pump when warm is a conversation with the seller, not a reason to thin it with oil.
Can I grease brake pads with this?
No. Lithium multi-purpose grease does not go on disc faces, pad friction material or brake shoes. If grease from a nipple can fling onto a disc, clean it before the wheel goes back on. A hedge-trimmer gearbox is the same kind of refusal: that filler wants the machine maker’s gear grease, not a 400 g chassis cartridge. Stihl’s own multipurpose grease is that gearbox product, and it is outside this comparison.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and the amazon.co.uk listings compared on this page. Listings scored 21 October 2026. Updated 23 October 2026.
- HSE, maintenance of work equipment (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE L112, PUWER (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE marine loading-arm bulletin (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- HSE, CLP (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- SKF, determining grease quantities (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Lever Engineering, lithium EP2 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Smith & Allan, lithium EP2 (retrieved 21 October 2026)
- Machinery Lubrication on ASTM D6185 (retrieved 21 October 2026)