Yesterday while messing about with the K as we all do I needed to clean the contacts of one of the BMW type dash switches.
One of the wires has broken off and the copper contacts wer covered in green muck, I think most of us are familiar with the story.
I instinctivly reached for the DeoxIt (thats right isn't it Blakey) and found that there is only fresh whatever coming out of the tin but no DeoxIt. So being a cunning and ingeneous fella I looked around to find some other appropiate chemical that may work and found myself looking at the big can of carb and injector cleaner that I had been using to get the gunk off the throttle bodies (that is another story) I used it on the switch and the contacts were transformed to a new look before my eyes without any rubbing or anything. I then used compressed air to dry it off and it was sparkling clean.
Now it remains to be seen if the cleanliness is next to godliness or does it fall out the bottom of the switch body during the night, only time will tell but I may have discovered a much cheaper way to clean the contacts out of our mobile phones on our beloved Ks I only pay $13 for a whole big squirt can of the stuff.
Usual disclaimers apply like if your dog gets high on the fumes and eats the goldfish it aint my fault.
I will be trying it on the plugs etc of an old wiring harnes and some old relays to make sure it doesn't attack the insulation on the windings and will report back.

Signed
Proffessor Neutznvoltz.

DeoxIT...not DeoxIt. Good grief, it ain't difficult.

I hope this idea works. Is the contact dry after your treatment?

Totally dry. Haven't tried it yet on anything else as other things to do today.

Great story but............
Perhaps, you could give us a hint to what the magical $13 stuff might be????

You can use electrical contact cleaner or carb/fuel injection cleaner in a pinch to clean contacts like you did. Carb cleaner is harsher and, if you are not very careful where you spray, it will damage paint where contract cleaner is less likely too.

I like to spritz some WD-40 on the contacts afterwards to protect them and to make the swich operate more smoothly. WD-40 was developed in WWII for the US Navy and Marine Corps to use as a water dispersant (hence the WD moniker) on electrical components subject to the humidity and frequent rain common of the locales in which the Allies fought the Japanese. More often than not, you don't even need to use contact cleaner. A good doushing with WD-40 is often enough to clean and restore function to electrical contacts.

ibjman wrote:Great story but............
Perhaps, you could give us a hint to what the magical $13 stuff might be????

Its just called carb and injector cleaner.I think there are many manufacturers under different names but esentially it the same stuff. The one I have is NULON.

I used some vasilene on the contacts it works fairly well to protect but in a marine enviroment and probably salty roads it fall down and you need a much better protectorant.