# How to clean the insides of shifters?



## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

Last night I had the pleasure of picking tiny cable fragments out of my shifter when the cable broke inside.

When doing so I noticed a lot of crud has worked it's way in there and it's in areas I can't reach. I can just imagine what's it's like deep inside where I can't see. 

They work okay but I'm thinking I need to somehow 'flush them out' because all that crud can't be good for their longevity and probably contributed to the cable breaking in there. (it broke at 3000 miles, the last time I broke one, when the shifters were newer and probably had less crud inside, it was at about 6500 miles).

First, should I flush them out?

And if so, how and what should I uses? WD-40 spray maybe? I'm asking because I don't want to use anything that will be harmful to the parts long term or just end up collecting more junk.

If it matters I have Ultegra 6700 shifters. Looks like there's a lot of plastic in there.

Thanks,


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

Pretty much everyone i have worked with uses WD40 and compressed air. Works great for un-sticking old, gummed up STI shifters as well.


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## Nubster (Jul 8, 2009)

Or maybe brake cleaner. Cleans gunk right up and evaporates completely and because of that you can really flush stuff out without leaving an oily mess behind. Use a quality lube afterwards to keep things running smooth.


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## DrSmile (Jul 22, 2006)

This is probably the greatest advantage of Campy shifters. They're easy to dis- and re-assemble, and you can (mostly) buy parts for the shifters. Shimano shifters work until they don't, and then you need new ones. To be fair I still have Shimano 600 shifters that work as long as I spray them with WD40 once a year or so, so the Campy advantage isn't all that significant. I think the major issue with the Shimano shifters is that when they went to under the tape cable routing, the cables tend to break inside the shifters. Apparently the new versions don't have this issue.


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## Jay Strongbow (May 8, 2010)

Thanks guys. I'll give wd-40 a try.


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## StevenG (Nov 19, 2005)

Ask a Mechanic: Cleaning and lubing shifters


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## echo7 (Sep 7, 2010)

I use MAF sensor cleaner or Electronics cleaner. then use teflon lube


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