As a college student, I love me a baja blast freeze from Taco Bell...unfortunately some of it got into the crevice of the passenger side climate control seat **** and now it's all sticky and won't turn. Is there anyone who knows how to clean that part or even remove the switch so that I can replace it? Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!

 

Personally I'd pry off the **** and remove it to see if the goo is between the **** and console. If not then my next step would to give it a blast of WD-40 to see if that frees things up a bit. The WD will evaporate in a short time.

 

I would use a plastics-safe electronics spray cleaner.

 

Pull it apart. Might be something in the Factory Service Manual.
Don't use WD40. Use a water based product, or water with mild soap. You need to remove what gunk is there, not add a lubricant to the gunk that is sticking it all together. You will have much more success if you can pull it apart though. Definitely recommend looking into this as much as possible first.

Here's the Manual. If you go to FWD (index) you can look around to see which manual will have what you need for other problems.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2...2016%20Maxima/

The section you might be after is IP - for Instrument Panel page 20. Talks about removing the whole center console. which might give you access to remove ANY gunk built up under there. SE - Seats also has information on the switch itself on page 9, but not on how to remove it. Might need to dig around there some more.

Hope that helps.
Good luck!

 

If you figure it out. Let us know what you did to get at it underneath. I'm expecting one day, I'll have a coffee that spills that way. Would be good to know what you ended up doing.

 

Thank you! I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

 

WD-40 will certainly remove the stickiness from spilled sugary drinks, at least enough to operate a **** or switch, whether it is water-based or not. Personally I would not use a water-based liquid around electrical switches. Use the WD-40 sparingly. This may also help in removing the ****. Once the **** is off you can just wipe it right off the offending surface. It won't hurt plastic but it may harm decals. I'm 70 years old, a car nut, and have used this product for years on more problems than you can imagine.

Not the be-all, end-all but a good choice when one is not majorly mechanically/electrically inclined.

I stand by my suggestion, but it's only one suggestion that may help you.

 

So, here's my humble opinion.

I have been an electronics engineer and avionics installation engineer for more than 20 years...and in the avionics industry for more than 30 years so, I've used a product or two for cleaning contacts.

This is what you need to use on your particular situation...

YOU don't need to buy this brand but more so, loook at the applications your contact cleaner does. It just happens that I've used CRC for the longest time and I trust it on all applications. It removes residue, it cleans the electrical contacts, and leave no residual goo. It doesn't stain plastic or harm it in any way, and when you need to clean a switch on a multi-million dollar G5, you need to make D@MN sure you leave no trace evidence.

You don;t want to use any harsh chemicals...
you don't want to use a petroleum based lubricant because it can stain or etch certain plastics...
and you DEFINITELY don't want to useany water that can seep into an electrical connection and fry something.

Just my $0.02