how to clean throttle body? (1 Viewer)

[cc93cruiser]

i wnat to clean my throttle body on my 93 cruiser- after talking to a couple of people about a low idle problem, they have told me to start with cleaning out the throttle body; however, i am unsure of how to does this and what product to clean it with? i was wondering if anyone out there has performed this job. should i take the throttle body off the intake and spray it with something, or should i simply just spray some cleaning solution in the throttle body while it is still attached to intake- obviusly i dont want no black carbon resadue to go into my engine.

 

[cruiserdan]

You could do a more thorough job if you remove it. It has coolant going through it so you need to drain some coolant or use hose clamping pliers to pinch the coolant hoses off. The gasket is a steel shim type (unless you have a blower) and could probably be re-used if you do not want to buy a new one. Spray carburetor cleaner or stuff billed as "air intake cleaner" will work. They are basicly the same but sinch carburetors are getting less and less prevelant, they had to invent a new name for the stuff .

D-

 

[landtoy80]

My coolant loss was very little. Your best bet it to get all the gaskets from the air cleaner to the intake manifold. Get at least 4 cans of carb cleaner.
The hardest part is getting all those vacuum hoses back where they belong.
With the intake chamber off, remove the screws that hold all the VSV's ( a needle nose vicegrip works) so you can remove them (the VSV for the EGR) when it goes without removing the intake chamber.

 

[landtoy80]

This would be a good time to check the valves.
Get the valve cover gasket,spark plug gasket, pvc gasket, etc
If it needs plugs,wires,cap,rotor, may as do it now.
C-dan can help you out with all the parts.He will even sell them to you with a smile.
Did I forget anything??????

 

[cruiserman]

IMO you won't need any new gaskets unless you squish them somehow. Coolant loss is negligible.

 

[landtoy80]

If your only vehicle is the 80 and you need it to get around, then get the gaskets.

 

[turbocruiser]

One thing to think about is that although the carb cleaners and the air intake cleaners are probably the same things with different packaging, SOME of the higher quality "air intake cleaners" are designed not to needlessly damage EFI system components. I learned this the hard way with my 4Runner; I thoroughly cleaned my throttle body while it was attached to the auto with common carb cleaner and in the process cleaned out and crapped out my throttle position sensor (TPS)! Apparently many EFI system components that measure varying voltages do so by some sensor that tracks around a carbon-based ring. Well, my TPS operated this way and the solvent I used dissolved the carbon ring in the TPS to the point that the sensor could not function. The dealer told me that common carb cleaners will do this while the higher quality air intake cleaners will not. For this reason, when doing your throttle body, make sure you use air intake cleaner if the throttle body and all assorted components are still attached to the automobile. If you take the TB off and do this part alone, you can use whatever you want. Hope that helps.

 

[landtoy80]

I ran out of carb cleaner and tried brake cleaner, it didn't cut the carbon at all.

 

[RavenTai]

speaking of the heated throttle body, anybody tried disconnecting the coolant lines? common mod on GM v8's, this helps the the intake charge stay cooler therefore denser for more power

probably not a good idea for you northerners (it is heated to prevent icing) but here in GA heating the throttle body seams like a waste of power