Last night my girlfriend accidentally dumped half an apple pie into the interior gear box of my 1994 E320. Anyone know how to clean that out?
That’s a new frontier. Good luck.
??? What do you mean by ‘interior gear box’?
By ‘‘interior gear box’’ I might assume you mean the shift lever mechanism mounted in a center console ?
This will require some disassembly of the housing that surrounds it all.
For the ucky and sticky messes in my trucks ( 3 kids 6,8, & 12 ) I’ve found my wet/dry shop vacuum to be invaluable.This is a sugar based mess so hot water should be all you’ll need to clean with.
A gallon jug of very hot water poured on the gunk gets sucked right back up by the vac.
rinse and repeat.
For the center console, you’ll need to disassemble to the point of seeing the mechanism inside.
disconnect any electrical plugs like lamps and solenoids .
pour hot water and vacuum from every angle until you’re satisfied you’ve gotten it all. Pour from the top and work the lever to loosen residue trapped there.
Keep vacuuming ( no water ) over and over and it will be very near dry.
Dry out before re-plugging electrical.
Re-lubricate moving parts with white lithium grease.
OR take it to a detail shop that will do all this for you.
You will pay by clock time as this is not a book procedure.
Once it’s opened up, the "upholstery wand) from a rental “carpet steam cleaner” should work well. I’d try using straight steam (no detergent) and see how that does.
I say that you take the console apart and hand the lady a bucket of hot water and some rags… Problem solved!