I have found that Westley's Bleche-White, white wall tire cleaner will make the residue just run right off. Makes it look like someone spit a fresh mouthfull of chaw. Of course this will need to be washed off, so if your using it on metal or plastic it seems to work great.
I used this to clean up a air conditioner that was owned by a industrial smoker, it did a great job where nothing else was working
The container warns about aluminum, magnesium, painted, glass, fabric, and non rubber surfaces. It says it's corrosive. I haven't had any problems with hard surfaces as long as I promptly washed it off. I suppose they are warning about staining or etching. The active chemicals are sodium metasilicate and sodium orthosilicate.
Of course try it somewhere where it won't be seen just to be safe. I haven't tried to soak any parts in it and that maybe a whole different affect.

Just don,t breath that stuff. Really effects me bad
Stan Ski

Be cautious on Bakelite, caustics will degrade the surface and the residue will appear to look a lot like nicotine and have a strong phenolic odor. When rinsed and dried all the shine will be gone and the Bakelite will have to polished, and may not regain its original shine. Hard rubber and "Mud" cast knobs can be ruined if a strong detergent is used. The surface coating will disappear and crystals of filler will glint on the surface.

Some products for cleaning air conditioner evaporators actually do etch using buffered chemicals. This is a recommended approach as the aluminum fins do get oxidized and have a gripe on stains and grime. The solution will actually dissolve the corrosion and not substantially attack the good metal. Some of these solutions will actually chemically polish an oxidized metal surface...

I once used a commercial AC coil cleaner to clean corroded radio tuning condensers from the 20's. Impossible to clean any other way as they were swagged together., worked great and removed all the white growths on the plates.

FWIW: My mechanic used Westley's to clean the engine of my wifes 2000 Cavalier. It removed all the corrosion that was binding stains on the aluminum covers and plated parts. Looks great even 6 months later...

Chas

GoJo does wonders.
Vin

Wesleys in the eyes is nasty. Avoid windy days if outdoors.

Windex and maybe plastic cleaner takes it off a bakelite case for me. Before trying anything stronger. For chassis and parts, alcohol will dissolve that, plus some corrosion residues, dirt, etc. and if you rinse it off well, don't be stingy with it, it can run off and carry away the crud, and then you don't need an oven to dry it. Otherwise you can use water based stuff but then you have to rinse with clean water and dry the chassis in an oven.