kchan

Wife spills some mocha in the cup holder and it got inside the cup holder, and now when it opens and close it sticks a little....
how do i remove it and clean them out?

pinguhk

it a load of work to get it out, I think be best bet is to just clean it a few time to get the stickyness out of it.

MacSid

+1 If I recall correctly, the cup holder is actually mounted from inside/behind the dash so you'd realistically be looking at taking the dash off to get at the holder. Not worth the time and effort in my opinion, not to mention the fact that unmounting and remounting of any trim panels will slowly reduce the tightness of fit, eventually resulting in rattles and squeaks. I'd go at cleaning it thoroughly a couple of times until the stickiness goes away.

Rudy

There are two pieces to the cupholder -- the cupholder itself and the cupholder "carrier". The cupholder is very simple to remove but the cupholder carrier is a little more involved (but not necessarily as involved as taking the whole dashboard out.)

Here's the instructions for removing the cupholder:
replacing_front__inner_or_outer__cup_holder.pdf

To remove the carrier, you have to remove the wood trim that runs between them, the glovebox, and some other minor stuff depending on which cupholder you're talking about. I don't have a document ready for this task right now but if needed I could probably whip something up in the next couple of days. If you need it, let me know which one (inner cupholder or outer cupholder) so I can make the right one. (If you don't need it, that would be fine too since the documents with multiple steps take some time to create...)

kchan

Thanks all for the reply.
Rudy, thanks for the info, I think I need to remove the carrier since mocha gets inside the dash...
But knowing how lazy I am, if it's fairly involved I doubt I will ever get to it. Plus the stickyness isn't too bad.
It's the cup holder closer to the driver that swings at an angle (inner?)

so i guess 1 thing i hate about the car is the cup holder (i think i am not alone) .... i was renting the new highlander and they have FOUR full size cup holders in the front! but the handling....

timewa

Funny that you Americans rate cars by the amount of cupholders
I didn't even order the front cupholders (a 90 euro option, ridiculous) and I never miss them.

I don't drink & drive. If I need a coffee I just stop the car at a gas station and take a 5 min break to stretch my legs, then move on. Never understood the point of having a cupholder in a car, let alone 6 or 8 of them. I never heard a Dutch guy mention anything about a cupholder in a car.

spindrome

We need our $4 lattes to keep us awake during our 1-2hr commutes to/from work on bumpy highways that ruin our precious aftermarket wheels.

westcoast550

You may want to try a steamer on the area in and around the opening .It will dissolve the sugar and make the movement smooth again. Much easier than taking it apart, good luck.

Cheers