On my 1998 Expy, the cruise control button for "coast" was sticking every time I used it. The button would remain in the depressed position and it was necessary to press the "set-accel" button to unstick it. I tried cleaning around the button with no success.

Then I remembered something I keep in my shop. It's powered teflon, marketed by Hoppe's, and designed as a dry lubricant for guns. I dusted the area around and under the edges of the button and after a couple of presses, the button works like new.

The nice thing about the teflon powder is that it is dry and doesn't make a mess. As Hoppe's says on the back of the package, the dry lubricant is "clean, white and non-staining. It's particles are atomized to micron in size enabling it to reach areas normally difficult to lubricate. Also, it will not damage plastics or painted surfaces." You can blow away the excess. Also, even more important, teflon is non-conductive so it can't get into the switch mechanism and short things out. I had considered using some powered graphite, but it is really messy...and...conductive.

Anyway, if anyone else experiences this problem, the teflon works great. Most gun stores either stock the product or can order it for you. It's produced by Hoppe's and is called "Powdered Teflon Precision Lubricator", Item No. 3062. The cost is around $4.00.

The stuff also works great as a lubricant for lots of things. I've got one of those boat propellers than mount in the Reese hitch on the back of my Expy. When I first got the thing, it didn't spin as freely as it should. It's difficult getting to the shaft to lubricate it. The teflon was just the thing, as it has a long needle attached to the squeeze bottle. I shot a few squeezes of teflon in to the shaft area, and now the thing spins like crazy.


Actually, I think the propeller acts like a turbocharger and gives me 25 more horsepower. ;-)