Is your throttle body clean?

[Brian_B]

Hmm...I used to remove the one on my old 89 ranger and soak it in lacquer (sp?) thinner overnight and use an old tooth brush on it. Sometimes even a wooden popsicle stick to scrape a little. I don't know if I was damaging anything, but at 180,000 plus miles its still running. Of course, the TB was from an 86, so its a few years older (unknown mileage).

 

[bmxking5]

I pulled mine today, expecting to see grime/$hit on the back of it, but it was almost spotless!

 

[aldive]

I pulled mine today, expecting to see grime/$hit on the back of it, but it was almost spotless!

Any pics?

 

[bmxking5]

Nope, sorry. There were a few really, really tiny spots that were dirty, but other than that it look great. Who knows, maybe my dad cleaned it for me after he did the one on my mom's a couple of weeks ago.

 

[spindlecone]

Most people will find the plate and TB to be very clean, unlike Aldives

 

[aldive]

Before I went to abrasive techniques to clean the throttle plate, I attempted another 15 min soak, on the entire throttle plate, with lacquer thinner. There was no apparent effect with this solvent.

Next I let the lacquer thinner soak the plate overnight; same negative result. ( bottom half of the throttle plate )

Out came a stiff toothbrush and Deep Creep as the solvent; didn't touch it.

Finally, I got our a small wire brush and it in combination with the Deep Creep removed the crud and apparently the factory coating also as shown on the top half of the throttle plate.

 

[rblais]

Al, doesn't that plate come out by removing the 2 screws and sliding from shaft? If it does, might be easier to clean and less risk of damaging throttle body. Just a thought.

 

[410Fortune]

hahahahahaha oh goodness.
My IAC, TB, and MAS must get removed and cleaned like 4 times a year.
Special coating my ass, I have been cleaning my TB's since I had this truck apart the first time.
As Aldive said that special coating is not doing much under that carbon/oil/gunk.

Always remove the TB to clean it.
Sea Foam wont touch the crap on teh butterfly, it must be physically cleaned.
I use carb cleaner and a wire brush, only takes a few minutes.

Good time to knife edge the leading edge too Aldive, in theory it will smooth out the airflow a bt my removing the lip the air trips over entering the TB......

 

[410Fortune]

yes the betterfly comes out but ther eis no reason to remove it to clean.
Soak in crab cleaner, wire brush, spray again, done.
Plan to get messy, use lots of rags, and dispose of the cleaner properly.....

 

[Brian_B]

I have seen people knife edge the butterfly, grind down the crossbar, and use flat head bolts on the butterfly in order to get more air though them as well.

 

[410Fortune]

yes thats true I noticed no increase when I did this to my old 2.9L, but at least I knew in theory it was working hahaha

 

[BeauJ]

I looked at mine today and it was rather clean.

And yes, LOL at the "Intake Snake"

 

[Tbonejr]

Aldive
With the Gas Mileage you get I would never clean a thing you might mess something up !!!!!! My power meter was running just fine at my house and my dad came over to visit and decided to tap on it for me - And my electric bill went from $100.00 a month to around $225.00.(why couldnt he just left well enough alone

Just kidding with you about the cleaning thing - that is unreal gas mileage though !!!!

I do have a stupid question though. Do OHV & SOHC motors both have throttle bodies. I have the OHV w/EFI and the intake dosen't look like it has a TB but I haven't taken that much time to look at it. Can anyone tell me.

Thanks again

 

[whoathere]

yes it does have a throttle body.

 

[Green98XLT]

I just done this to the '99 about a week after I bought it. It looked something like Al's and was a snap to clean. I just took a can of Kroil (Kano labs, good chit!) and a steel wire brush and it was looking like new in a matter of minutes. I can't help but think the upper/lower intake looks the same... do you suppose Seafoam cleans this very well??

I may do several applications and hopefully it will do the trick.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Just a note on cleaning the throttle body:
The most important areas to clean are the sides of the throttle housing that the blade closes against. Any carbon build-up there will affect the idle quality and off-idle throttle response. The back side of the throttle blade is not as important, as it's a 'swirl' area and dosen't affect airflow very much.....

There's a 'feel good' effect though, just knowing it's clean.....

 

[410Fortune]

Seafoam will not perform miracles
the inside fot he intakes do get oily and carbon buildup, but cleaning them is really not necessary.

I clean my MAS, TB, and IAC about once a year, usually just because I am already going in there to do something else hahaha My TB has never been as dirty as Al's he posted, only when I first get them on a used engine

 

[Rick]

Check this out Al: http://www.steeda.com/store/-catalog/555-3710.htm

I just bought one for my Mustang to keep the combustion chambers clean.

 

[Green98XLT]

I've seen the blown guys doing that for awhile now (former 95 Cobra owner). It's nothing more than a regular oil seperator used in paint shops for their air compressors. I don't know what Steeda is charging for their "kit" but I bet you can pick it up yourself much cheaper..

 

[cllns96]

what i would do is?? Put it in a carb cleaner can and leave it for 24 hrs or buy a new one.. simple..