so the cup from my local fast food place had a bit of a leak under the lid at the seam...to make a long story short my pop managed to leak directly from the cup into the **** for the ac control. now each time i turn it it is sticky and makes noise. any suggestions on how to clean this - does the **** just pop off or should i "floss" with some kind of wet string or something? ...

 

Radio Shack used to sell a product that was called "tuner cleaner", for cleaning electrical contacts. They may still have a similar product, or maybe isopropyl alcohol.

 

i haven't removed the cvt gear shift assembly personally, but i would
pull up the trim and first study where all the grease areas are on the
assembly, then blast off using some RC motor spray to clean it. then
re-grease all areas.

 

They still have this. Works great.

 

If that doesn't work, you could put some little red ants around the ****.