Everyone should clean their throttle body
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 0
Likes: 7
From: CT
Everyone should clean their throttle body
Out of boredom today, I took my throttle body off and cleaned it. It was full of crap and the plate was actually sticking a little too I noticed. It is now clean and shiney.
Apparently it was nastier than it looked because it feels like i have a new engine now. It idles better. And the throttle responds faster and smoother. The cruise control accelerates much smoother. And it seems to coast downhill much better than it did before (and I do a lot of that to be cheap on gas).
We'll see if it makes a mileage difference on the scan gauge soon. But overall, I highly recommend everyone do this. That 100,000 miles worth of crap really messes with it apparently.
I hope this makes sense. I'm a little tipsy at the moment.
{edit the next day. Quoted from page two of this thread....}
Apparently it was nastier than it looked because it feels like i have a new engine now. It idles better. And the throttle responds faster and smoother. The cruise control accelerates much smoother. And it seems to coast downhill much better than it did before (and I do a lot of that to be cheap on gas).
We'll see if it makes a mileage difference on the scan gauge soon. But overall, I highly recommend everyone do this. That 100,000 miles worth of crap really messes with it apparently.
I hope this makes sense. I'm a little tipsy at the moment.
{edit the next day. Quoted from page two of this thread....}
I don't even know what possessed me to even look. I was bored. Simply pulling the tube off and hosing it down from the outside is not adequate and forces the crap and cleaner deeper into the intake. You are only half-*** cleaning half of the throttle body doing that and your wasting your time. However the IAC is good thing to clean too. I already did that a few months ago so I didn't bother yesterday.
Matt's guide to cleaning the throttle body in 10 easy steps:
(1) Loosen hose clamp where the intake hose meets the throttle body. Unplug the MAG electrical connector and the crank case vent from the intake hose.
(2) Pull the intake hose off the throttle body and unlatch it from the air cleaner box. Put it off to the side out of the way. Look in the throttle body, you will see it caked full of black dirt and oily residue. Its nasty, don't wear nice clothing.
(3) Unplug the wire from the throttle position sensor on the side of the throttle body. Loosen and remove the two philips head screws holding it on. Place it aside.
(4) The throttle cable is pretty obvious on how to unhook it from the throttle body. Lift and slide off to the side like a bicycle brake caliper. If you have cruise control, you just pull back on the connection and it will snap off (yes, it snaps back on too). Disconnect both of them.
(5) The throttle body is held onto the intake manifold with (4) 5/16" bolts. Loosen, remove and don't lose the bolts. The throttle body will come off in your hands. Don't drop it.
(6) Now that you have it off the truck it is time to clean it. The most logical cleaning solution is throttle body cleaner (duh). I didn't have any so I just used an ether based spray can of starter fluid. Do not smoke, toke, grind metal, or launch fireworks while using any of these cleaners.
(7) Spray it in and let it soak, dump it out. Do the same on the other side. Spray some more and work the throttle plate open and closed. Spray some more and use some paper towels or shop rags to wipe it out. You'll probably need to do a lot of spraying and wiping.
(8) The tricky part is cleaning the throttle plate. You have to hold it open. With the throttle plate held open, clean the plate, the edges of the plate, and the throttle body around where the plate closes. It can be really caked full of crap around there since it is choke point for the air flow. It is pain in the *** to do while holding it open. Wedge it on something or have someone hold it for you.
(9) Spray some more around the exterior linkage and clean that up nice.
(10) Make sure the whole thing is clean, dry and free of loose crap, bits of towel, torn skin, or dried blood.
Work backwards from step (5) to reassemble. Make sure you plug all the stuff back in and reattach that crankcase vent. Start the engine. If it will not start, runs like crap, or throws a rod through the hood, then you obviously can't follow simple directions and ya done f*$ked up. I take no responsibility, award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
If it does work, go inside and pour yourself a nice cold glass of spiked ice tea.
Matt's guide to cleaning the throttle body in 10 easy steps:
(1) Loosen hose clamp where the intake hose meets the throttle body. Unplug the MAG electrical connector and the crank case vent from the intake hose.
(2) Pull the intake hose off the throttle body and unlatch it from the air cleaner box. Put it off to the side out of the way. Look in the throttle body, you will see it caked full of black dirt and oily residue. Its nasty, don't wear nice clothing.
(3) Unplug the wire from the throttle position sensor on the side of the throttle body. Loosen and remove the two philips head screws holding it on. Place it aside.
(4) The throttle cable is pretty obvious on how to unhook it from the throttle body. Lift and slide off to the side like a bicycle brake caliper. If you have cruise control, you just pull back on the connection and it will snap off (yes, it snaps back on too). Disconnect both of them.
(5) The throttle body is held onto the intake manifold with (4) 5/16" bolts. Loosen, remove and don't lose the bolts. The throttle body will come off in your hands. Don't drop it.
(6) Now that you have it off the truck it is time to clean it. The most logical cleaning solution is throttle body cleaner (duh). I didn't have any so I just used an ether based spray can of starter fluid. Do not smoke, toke, grind metal, or launch fireworks while using any of these cleaners.
(7) Spray it in and let it soak, dump it out. Do the same on the other side. Spray some more and work the throttle plate open and closed. Spray some more and use some paper towels or shop rags to wipe it out. You'll probably need to do a lot of spraying and wiping.
(8) The tricky part is cleaning the throttle plate. You have to hold it open. With the throttle plate held open, clean the plate, the edges of the plate, and the throttle body around where the plate closes. It can be really caked full of crap around there since it is choke point for the air flow. It is pain in the *** to do while holding it open. Wedge it on something or have someone hold it for you.
(9) Spray some more around the exterior linkage and clean that up nice.
(10) Make sure the whole thing is clean, dry and free of loose crap, bits of towel, torn skin, or dried blood.
Work backwards from step (5) to reassemble. Make sure you plug all the stuff back in and reattach that crankcase vent. Start the engine. If it will not start, runs like crap, or throws a rod through the hood, then you obviously can't follow simple directions and ya done f*$ked up. I take no responsibility, award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
If it does work, go inside and pour yourself a nice cold glass of spiked ice tea.
Last edited by FireRanger; Jul 15, 2009 at 09:07 AM.
Member
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,583
Likes: 4
From: Stevenson, WA
Hmm, since I am feeling rather bored - I think I may throw a coat on and quickly pull my throttle body off.. get it cleaned up right fast.. I've got some random stuff here and there.. and if all else fails - gasoline does wonders! (as long as its fully dried before you try installing it again) :-p
oh hell. when I come down from being drunk I'm asleep. If i feel sick I just take a couple of shots of Jager.... I'm out like a light in 10 minutes...
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 0
Likes: 7
From: CT
Me too. Usually I go from happy and drunk to spat out like a light. But this was just two heavily spiked glasses of ice tea, not a whole night of drinking. So its dying down pretty quick. I have to work in the morning.
Member
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,583
Likes: 4
From: Stevenson, WA
Hmm, some sort of grease? WOudl it help to catch any extra's that may make it through the intake or something?
Won't be able to change out my throttle body till I can hit up NAPA tomorrow for a gasket - just chillin out for a bit on it
EDIT:
http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...-body-cleaner/
May be for a tundra - but aplies to several others..
Its sort of a hit or miss it seems.. stick your finger in there and see if theres a coating.. if not - gung ho it with carb cleaner!
Won't be able to change out my throttle body till I can hit up NAPA tomorrow for a gasket - just chillin out for a bit on it
EDIT:
http://www.tundrasolutions.com/forum...-body-cleaner/
May be for a tundra - but aplies to several others..
Its sort of a hit or miss it seems.. stick your finger in there and see if theres a coating.. if not - gung ho it with carb cleaner!
I cleaned mine a couple months ago. I really didn't notice any difference, I wanted to take the TB off but I couldn't get the throttle cable off so I just cleaned it with it on. I used TB cleaner.
The coating is there to make the airflow through the throttle body more consistent over its life.
Instead of leaving the throttle plate cracked open as was done in the early days of EFI, a calibrated hole is punched in the plate. A rubbery coating is applied to the bore and plate and allowed to dry. The coating is broken the first time the plate is opened during manufacturing but makes a reasonably effective seal when it closes again, forcing the airflow to pass through the hole.
With the earlier open plate method, deposits would build up at the gap and change the closed-throttle flow rate as the miles accumulated. With the new method, nothing builds in the butterfly hole, so a very predictable flow rate is maintained through the TB (and IAC) over time.
Instead of leaving the throttle plate cracked open as was done in the early days of EFI, a calibrated hole is punched in the plate. A rubbery coating is applied to the bore and plate and allowed to dry. The coating is broken the first time the plate is opened during manufacturing but makes a reasonably effective seal when it closes again, forcing the airflow to pass through the hole.
With the earlier open plate method, deposits would build up at the gap and change the closed-throttle flow rate as the miles accumulated. With the new method, nothing builds in the butterfly hole, so a very predictable flow rate is maintained through the TB (and IAC) over time.
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 0
Likes: 7
From: CT
The 20 mile drive to work today was soooooo nice. I'm baffled that simply cleaning this thing made such a noticable difference. Doesn't seem like the "octane booster seat of the pants BS" difference. Its legitimately a smoother and faster responding throttle.
I don't remember if there was any kind of coating on the plate or the tube. But I wouldn't recommend going at it with a brillo pad or anything like that just so you don't mess it up. I just used some paper towels and alcohol based cleaners. Came out all nice.
I don't remember if there was any kind of coating on the plate or the tube. But I wouldn't recommend going at it with a brillo pad or anything like that just so you don't mess it up. I just used some paper towels and alcohol based cleaners. Came out all nice.
uh...what?
