Crwban

I have an old Zefal track pump. I'm sure it used to have a sticker on it saying to put a few drops of oil (down the shaft) occasionally. I used to use 3 in 1 oil but I'm a bit worried it might rot the rubber seal especially as the pump is quite old?

Iride01 

You are worried about the oil you already have used on it? It's probably too late if it is the wrong stuff. So just keep using it or anything until it goes bad. You sort of have to weigh the cost of buying another lubricant, with the cost of just replacing your pump.

My < $10 zefal floor pump is about 14 years old. I've never oiled it at all. I can still get zefal and other floor pumps for cheap prices.

chaadster

I’d hit it with silicone lubricating oil, which is very good for rubber conditioning. You can pull the whole thing apart, inspect the bits, and hit the barrel and seals and plunger with silicone lube. As noted replacement parts should still be available, so you can keep it going. Generally, pumps require very little maintenance, and just a squirt of lube every few years will let them run for decades.

dedhed

Are you sure it's rubber and not a leather cup?

chaadster

Me? Not at all, but using silicone lubricant, it doesn’t matter.

Pop N Wood

The oil probably isn't going to hurt anything that wasn't about to go in the first place.

I usually only oil things like that when I notice they aren't pumping as well. typically use triflow or some air tool oil.

BTW Zefal frame pumps disassemble quite easily.

easyupbug 

While familiar with Zefals I don't recognize a "track pump" but can tell you a drop or two of oil infrequently is what is recommended. The best lube would depend on the specific rubber formulation but If you are worried switch to 3 in 1 rubber conditioner oil or something similar. Zefal also has replacements rubber seals and I have never seen a leather seal on a Zefal.

3alarmer 

.
...silicone grease is also good. But you need to open up the barrel and apply it inside at the plunger seal. They sell it in plumbing supplies.

Steel Charlie

A quick squirt of silicone spray is all it needs. The Silca track pump I use is 30+ years old and works just fine.

smd4

I use Silca NFS Leather Conditioner and Pump Oil--but my Silca track pump also uses a leather cup. If your Zefal uses a rubber cup, and it wears out, see if you can retrofit a leather cup on there.

noimagination

BITD, I'd just use a few drops of Wesson oil (or whatever cooking oil was around). The washer, or button, or whatever it was called, was leather, so as long as it was not dried out it didn't really matter. I suppose I could have used 3 in 1, but the Wesson was handy the first time I needed to "condition" the leather, so I just stuck with it. It probably didn't last as long as a petroleum-based oil would have, but in my mind it was cleaner/less messy, and I thought that if any aerosol made it from the pump to the tire tube then vegetable oil wouldn't do any harm to the butyl. It never would have occurred to me to use silicone oil on leather, and it wasn't as commonly available back then anyway. (Maybe the pump was a Sachs? I know it was cheap, so whatever it was it wasn't their top of the line model.)

I've had my current floor pump for more than 20 years, and I've never had to do anything to it. I don't even know what the model is, it says "Specialized" on it, but God knows who actually made it. Maybe it's actually old enough that it WAS manufactured by Specialized.

VegasTriker

Never use cooking oil for lubricating. Lubricating oils are formulated to be stable for years. Cooking oil eventually combines with O2 in the air and forms a gummy mess. Not good for the inside of a pump.

Joe Bikerider

I put a few drops of motor oil down the shaft of the pump and exercise it. The point is to keep the leather cup loose.

wheelreason

I hate it when I bite down on a walnut and it's rancid....