Made a mistake at a flea market and bought a broken DualShock 3 controller thinking it worked fine. I blame grogginess. Anyway, I want to know if it is possible to repair the existing analog stick mechanics without desoldering the mechanism itself and replacing it with a new one. Here's what's wrong: The left analog stick tends to get stuck in the up position. On top of that, the L3 click will not engage when pressing down on the analog stick itself, but will if I press the button directly (it's the little microswitch to the left of the left analog stick). Judging by the underside of the analog nub, serious abuse of up and left took place. I tried taking a Q-Tip of rubbing alcohol into all of the crevices in the analog stick mechanism to see if it were dust, but that does not appear to have worked. I'm not too good with soldering, so I'd like to avoid that option if at all possible.
This seems to be a common problem, looking at google. Maybe this video will help you? Basically this guy lubricates the mechanism, it looks like.
You can get replacement stick mechanisms for a few bucks online, or at a local retro game store if you're lucky to have one that stocks them. Removing the old part is relatively easy if you're proficient with a soldering iron and a desoldering bulb/sucker. I've replaced countless worn-out 306 sticks, it's like a 10 minute job if that... just remember to use the same potentiometers (the two grey things with 3 or 4 leads) because the replacement pots might have slightly different values, and thus may skew movement.
