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Cleaning throttle bodies

8K views 9 replies 4 participants last post by  Racer14sl 
#1 ·
I'm in the process of replacing my throttle body actuators and thinking about cleaning the throttle bodies while I'm there. Do you guys just clean these while the intake plenums are removed, using throttle body cleaning solvent and brush? Or...remove them from the engine? The DIY I found on here, the fella removed all 10 and cleaned on a bench. I'm not really interested in going through all that, even though that's the most thorough way...
 
#2 ·
I cleaned mine while I had the plenums off. I don't think you need to remove them unless you want to satisfy the urge. I just disconnected the actuator arms and held the butterflies open, cleaned them gently with a microfiber with some solvent and went about my day!

I also replaced my injectors and fuel filter for maximum butt-dyno restoration.


Your mileage may vary!
 
#3 ·
I just disconnected the actuator arms and held the butterflies open, cleaned them gently with a microfiber with some solvent and went about my day!
Thanks for the reply! No issues with the dirty solvent running into the combustion chambers? I know this stuff dries very fast, but will still run in there...

ALSO...after disconnecting the actuator arms, manually operating each throttle body bank (by hand) to clean the butterflies and lube the shaft, will not throw anything off with the hall sensor will it? I don't want to get into a sync issue..
 
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#6 ·
Maybe on fresh boots, but a little silicone will not degrade the rubber - i found that mine were sticky and would only fold over without a bit of lube.

If you can do it smoothly without, then I suppose have at it!

I got lucky - my car was serviced at the dealer right before I bought it, 2 weeks after purchase I had an actuator go out. When I pulled the plenum, the dealer had folded one of the boots over and pinched it...
 
#8 ·
Yes the top side stays quite clean, but the underside on mine were quite gummy. There was also a nice little gum ring on the surround. I used 99% alcohol as the cleaning solvent and then reset the parameters in DIS so that the DME would relearn idle flow characteristics quickly. The DME will obviously do it's own thing, so I don't think this step is necessary but my car also has a bit more than 100K miles on it.

My other advice to anyone when they are removing/reinstalling the plenums is to be aware of the potentially fragile plastic breather hoses at the very rear of the plenums - it can be hard to release, but better to take your time than break it as it appears to be a pain to replace. I've done a sweet M/// themed diagram of mine to demonstrate:
 

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#10 ·
Cleaned the throttle bodies (both sides of butterfly) with microfiber cloth towel and Throttle Body Cleaner... Not a bad task, definitely doesn't hurt a thing. Engine seems more responsive and smoother, glad I did this while replacing actuators.... Thanks Garfunkgrin for the help!
 

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