AC knob barely turns after OJ spill

[frazierfreud]

My wife has a 22’ Tahoe Z71. On a recent road trip I was driving and spilled orange juice on the center console. Juice got behind some of the turn knobs for the AC. The main AC knob is extremely hard to turn. You can tell that the stickiness behind the knob is really messing with it. I thought about removing the knob and just cleaning it up. But, I don’t want to break it and I can’t find anything on this after searching the internet.

Anyone have any insight into this issue? Cleaning it somehow with the knob in place or removing knob to clean? Whole unit need to be replaced? Dealer fix the one knob? The wife is really irritated that I messed up her nice new ride. I appreciate any assistance!

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Try a small shot of WD40 behind the knob to loosen up the dried OJ residue and lube the shaft at the same time. Just keep a rag under the knob to soak up any excess WD40.

 

[Doubeleive]

couple spritz of wd40 as mentioned above wont hurt anything, just wipe up afterwards

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum. Gotta get the wifey happy asap. I would spray some alcohol, not the drinking kind, in there first because it evaporates quicker. Then maybe the WD40. Neither one should do any damage as long as it is a very sparse amount at a time.

 

[frazierfreud]

Great feedback guys. I will give it a try

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

Without knowing the composition of the dash components; I wouldn’t use WD 40. It can harm some plastics.

Does WD40 Harm Plastic? | It Depends

I recently wanted to remove a sticker from a plastic pot and wanted to use WD40 to help speed up the process. I wanted to know if it might damage the plastic so, I did

survivalfreedom.com

 

[frazierfreud]

I used the rubbing alcohol with a syringe and it worked perfectly. Knob is like new!

 

[89Suburban]

I was going to mention to use some diluted simple green. Works good for freeing up sticky AC vents.