thetrev68

I could use some advice. While transferring a nice cold lemonade from a drive-through window to my cupholder I squeezed too hard, the lid came off the cup, and lemonade went everywhere. This includes puddling up on my touchpad. I was able to get everything mopped up with napkins pretty quickly, then once I got home some wet wipe things took care of the residual sticky. Except for the touchpad. It still works and doesn't feel sticky, but I can't 'press' to select anymore. It's like the buttons are stuck all the way down or all the way up - I don't know which. Swipey moves are normal. Press moves work on the infotainment, but the taskpad doesn't actually click, move or press down. It feels weird.
How can I clean the sticky from underneath that thing? I don't see an easy way to get it off. I was thinking of just dumping water on it and mopping it up a few times. Is that a bad idea?

RDX-Rick

I had the same problem, at least the sticky pad (I didn't spill lemonade).

I just put a small puddle of Isopropyl alcohol on the pad, and kept attempting to operate the "click". It eventually freed itself up, and is now as good as new.

The alcohol is preferred over water because it won't corrode any contacts, and evaporates very quickly so it isn't going to travel very far from the desired location.

Just to be on the safe side, I also suggest turning the RDX to the off position to avoid accidentally shorting a live system.

I've used the same technique on laptop keyboards after spilling a full can of soft drink.

leomio2.0

It takes less than two minutes to remove it. I don't know if you can access it to clean it better from underneath, but it may be worth a shot.

I don't know how I'd feel about pouring water on an electronic to clean it up, but I'd suspect it's insulated to where it probably won't hurt anything ... if the lemonade didn't kill it, I doubt water will. But, I still would be very uneasy about it.

Honestly, I'd feel better about using something like CRC's electronics cleaner:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRC-Contact-Cleaner/999964587

I'm not sure how it will react to the pleather on the wrist pad or the piano black plastic. It says its safe on plastic, but that's not really a disclaimer for discoloration. You could painters tape around the area and put a bunch of towels around the pad and hit the cracks with some spritzes. You can usually find the stuff at auto parts stores or big-box hardware stores.

leomio2.0

That's actually a pretty good idea. A quick Google search cautions you should try and find something with >90% IPA:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/36877/as...propyl-alcohol

NooYawkuh

I've often wondered what would happen if I spilt something directly onto the touch pad, which doesn't appear to be sealed against liquid at all.

Seems the only solution is "DON'T DO THAT!!"

Madd Dog

get a loaner next time and try it out.

it is for science, man.

JB in AZ

Ugh! This just makes me think of other things that may have taken place in loaners! Not a pretty image.

NooYawkuh

What's this "science" thing I keep hearing about?

gtssenior

The only beverage that enters my vehicle is bottled water. One precaution I use to reduce a spill is to twist the cap off the water before heading out to break the seal and then screwing it back on if there is no passenger to assist while you are driving. If you try to break the seal on the cap while driving, it is very easy to squeeze the bottle too hard while twisting and the water shoots out when the seal is broken. Then you might have the same problem of water getting into the touchpad.

swttsx007

^^ Same here !

Yotrek

Have same problem today with my 2019, spill coffee on touchpad, my question it's safe using isopropyl, won't cause problems with fading the touchpad?