Been trying the Electronic Cleaner in my shift housing and the first couple times not much difference.
Just fyi that others have taken the shift housing apart and exposed the 2 switches inside of it and they are very well sealed switches. It is unlikely that anything sprayed into the shift paddle housing (that is what you're talking about right?) would be able to penetrate into the switches inside of it.
However, after my 2012 RS with over 17K miles on it started giving me the Check Transmission light and scrolling message in recent weeks (and after pulling the P0826 code indicating a shifter switch fault), today I decided to clean the wiring harness connectors (both the connector that leads up into the paddle shifter housing as well as the connector down near the shift solenoids). I unplugged each connector, spritzed with WD-40 then blew out any excess liquid and finally re-plugged everything. This has the effect of cleaning the connector pins which I suspect had begun to oxidize ever so slightly disrupting electrical conductivity enough for the Spyder brain to sense something was wrong.
I *was* randomly getting the Check Transmission light and scrolling message at least a few times *every* ride in recent weeks starting from the moment I put it into 1st or R it made no difference and was not specific to any particular gear... randomly when going up or down a gear I would get the message, occasionally it would refuse to shift also. Usually a subsequent shift would clear the message. Weird, right?
After cleaning the harness plugs this afternoon I took a 40 mile round trip stopped at 2 different stores and various stop lights and didn't get the light or scrolling message even once! So, this seems to me to be MUCH improved now!
:cheers:
Can't say it won't fault again, but this makes a lot more sense to me than the idea that both of the very well sealed switches inside that paddle shift housing failed at the same time. I have experienced similar issues with my 2000 GMC truck when the engine suddenly would not run and SECURITY light stayed on in the dash... the sensor in the steering column that detects the RF code in the key had a connector that had oxidized ever so slightly and made it not sense the key anymore shutting down my engine; once I got the column apart and was able to unplug and re-plug it a time or two, it went back to sensing my key and hasn't had a problem again for almost a year already! And that connector was inside the climate controlled cabin of the truck away from any possibility of rain or weather or anything getting to it! Time however was another matter I guess. :gaah:
Mechanically, the little switches in the paddle shifter are cleaning themselves every time they get clicked and they are apparently quite well sealed as someone posted pics of them in another forum on here... the harness plugs on the other hand are never being mechanically cleaned unless you pull them apart and plug them back together at some point (which is what I did to mine this afternoon, along with a little WD-40 spray for good measure)!
Hey it only took like 15 mins or so start to finish so it certainly doesn't hurt to give this a try if you're experiencing similar Check Transmission problems on your Spyder! :thumbup:
Regards!
- Michael