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How-To: Clean Your Throttle Body

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And the throttle body, also quite dirty.

Dirty throttle body

Very dirty throttle body - closeup photo

I used this to clean it out:

Gumout air intake and throttle body cleaner

Theres a warning on the throttle body about using special solvents. I actually would call BS, since theres no way the teflons doing anything anymore since the entire inside of the TB is coated with crud, but I just used special throttle cleaner anyway. That stuff is actually one of those spray while the vehicle is running, but I actually like my cat converters and the job they do, so I decided against that. I also recommend having some good pipe cleaners, or probably better, some baby bottle clenears. Just find something that will be good for cleaning small holes about 1 cm in diameter and about 6-7 inches long. You'll want to get those tubes nice and clean. Use all the cleaner stuff liberally.

On to the IAC. Mine has been acting up again so I knew it was time to clean it. Here's the IAC

The IAC

Heres the underside where you'll need to do your cleaning action.

The IAC

I used to just use brake cleaner every once in awhile and it really helped, but this time i used WD-40. I kinda dislike the idea of burning wd-40 in my engine, but i figured it was a minute amount, and it's really worth it. Using WD-40 my engine idles much nicer. It always felt just a little shakey before, but its much better now. Just clean it out with brake clean, let it dry, and then toss a couple shots of wd-40 in there. If your ambitious you can kinda wiggle the parts inside while cleaning. I did and I don't have damage, but it looks a little fragile inside.

Heres just a pic of the TB with the IAC and then with it removed for the slow folk

the throttle body

the throttle body

Notice in the IAC removed pic, the IAC is thrown negligently to the side.

Once Icleaned it I reattached it (10 mm bolts again i think). The just put everything back together and make sure you get everything back on properly. I didn't mess up, but I don't know what happens if you do, and I won't take any blame . In all I say it took me about 2 hours, going at a leisurely pace. I took it for a drive, and the idle like I said feels much stronger, not like its gonna die anymore, so thats satisfying, and it feels a tad more responsive. I also found a bolt and a socket that i lost in my engine, so that was nice. I wish i had time to pull the entire lower intake a clean that out too, maybe next weekend. If I do i'll be sure to make another post. Hope that helps some of ya out if your having IAC problems or EGR problems. I hope I didn't miss anything, and as usual:

This post is purely for entertainment purposes and in no way implies that you should do any of the following and if you choose to you do so at your own risk.