Toyota Repair: gear stick gets hard to move from park to drive, weather movement, dish soap

Question
Toyota  Camry le 2003, auto transmission with 33000 miles. In cold weather the gear stick gets hard to move from park to drive or from drive to park. However in warm weather movement of the gear stick becomes easy. Mechanic says coffee or pop has been spilled and has to replace the whole unit. I remember you had suggested to one of a similar question to spray with dish soap and warm water all the moving parts. My question is how do I remove the upper part of the shift console (plate which covers the gear stick). Thank you.

Answer
The trim piece around the shifter just pops out and the interlock mechanism can then be sprayed with the solution, keep applying it while moving the shifter foreward and backwards and it should clear up. The part that has the shift indicator does not need to be removed only the rectangular part that surrounds the shift indicator.