Hello Fellow Beasties,
So, ever since I bought my 01 in 07 I have experienced a strange symptom in cold weather. First thing in the morning, after the car has sat and cooled all night, I get an Engine Failsafe mode. Once the car is warmed up, I can restart it, and it runs perfectly. I brought it into the stealership and paid them a stupid amount of money to do some trouble shooting. They identified the Throttle Position Sensors as the part throwing error messages.
I hate paying a mechanic hundreds/hr to do something I can do myself so I got the sensors ($100 ea) and spent last weekend with the intake plenum on the garage floor. While I was in there I noticed that the butterfly valves looked a bit dirty. I also had the injectors out and there was a fair amount of build up on each one.
To shorten the story a little, next morning I still get my Engine Failsafe Mode.
My suspicion is that the butterflys are sticking in the cold weather due to some build up of residue. I want to clean them while they are in the car (no desire to take the throttle bodies off). What are your thoughts on using Carb cleaner and a lint free rag?
Also, my MPG has slowly deteriorated since 07. Could be a change in my commute, possibly I'm driving a little more Spiritedly these days, but is there anything to be said about the build up on the Fuel Injectors? She runs smoothly still with no hesitations etc. Should I take the time to clean the injectors?
Thanks in advance,
Sarge
So, ever since I bought my 01 in 07 I have experienced a strange symptom in cold weather. First thing in the morning, after the car has sat and cooled all night, I get an Engine Failsafe mode. Once the car is warmed up, I can restart it, and it runs perfectly. I brought it into the stealership and paid them a stupid amount of money to do some trouble shooting. They identified the Throttle Position Sensors as the part throwing error messages.
I hate paying a mechanic hundreds/hr to do something I can do myself so I got the sensors ($100 ea) and spent last weekend with the intake plenum on the garage floor. While I was in there I noticed that the butterfly valves looked a bit dirty. I also had the injectors out and there was a fair amount of build up on each one.
To shorten the story a little, next morning I still get my Engine Failsafe Mode.
My suspicion is that the butterflys are sticking in the cold weather due to some build up of residue. I want to clean them while they are in the car (no desire to take the throttle bodies off). What are your thoughts on using Carb cleaner and a lint free rag?
Also, my MPG has slowly deteriorated since 07. Could be a change in my commute, possibly I'm driving a little more Spiritedly these days, but is there anything to be said about the build up on the Fuel Injectors? She runs smoothly still with no hesitations etc. Should I take the time to clean the injectors?
Thanks in advance,
Sarge