I got an automatic 2004 acura tl. i recently spilled a little gatorade in the shifter and now its sticky when i shift between, park, reverse, drive, etc. Has anyone ever had this happen? Is there anyway to clean it without taking apart the whole center console.

i tried cleaning it but it still isnt smooth when i shift and its getting annoying!

 

You may be screwed. I've seen several posts over the years about this and it's usually as you fear... disassembly to get the the sticky offender(s). I'm an MT so I can't speak from experience, just what I've read. If you are experienced at disassembling this type of stuff you should be fine on your own otherwise the labor at the dealer will get you on this.

Avoid the temptation to just "spray $hit in there" since you may do more damage than good depending on what you spray and what it can destroy within the center console.

This one doesn't come to a good resolution other than spending $$. See post #9 in it about disassembly and using the shop manual.
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/tl-soda-friend-%3D-disaster-626716/

 

ah this sucks