Looking For Advice TPS\Seafoam Treatment

[NeoExplorer]

2004 Explorer V8 with 121K. Just purchased this and noticed the gas pedal hard to push in low RPM takeoff scenarios. Read here to clean the throttle body. I did that and it fixed the problem (YEAH!). I still feel a little throttle hunting or surging going on so I've gotten a new TPS sensor. I'm ready to put the TPS on and do the relearn but while the TB was off, I was looking into the intake and it looked filthy so I thought I would do a seafoam treatment via the brake booster as I've already done the gas tank treatment.

So my question is.....

Is it better to do the seafoam treatment before or after I replace the TPS sensor....or does it not matter in what order I do this in? It's tough where I'm at to do the seafoam treatment as I'll be looking to go out into an unpopulated area to do it and haven't really found one yet but want to really fix the surging of the throttle.

What do you guys think??

 

[Joe in NY]

I wouldn't do it all. Just think where all that dirt ends up... It gets washed into the cylinders and the strong cleaners in seafoam also strip away any oil on the cylinder walls. But you just dumped a whole lot of dirt in there. Yep, you'll be scoring your cylinder walls really bad. This is well known among good mechanics.

Clean the throttle body carefully with actual throttle body cleaner and a rag. Make sure to have someone hit the gas pedal to open it and clean the backside and hinges well.

 

[NeoExplorer]

Ok, thank you for the advice and I'll bypass the SF for now and only put it in the tank. I replaced the TPS sensor and noticed better idle response and noticeable pickup. Was a nice fix. Only thing left is the occasional jarring when going into reverse and\or coming out of reverse into drive or creeping along in drive really slow. I've seen where it's possibly the transmission solenoid pack. If I can just get this fixed, this car will be running great!

 

[chefduane]

Is there a 'clunk' when shifting from Park into Drive? Or Reverse to Drive? Perhaps bad u-joints. I had this problem on my '98 and it turned out to be driveshaft u-joints. Another symptom was a bad vibration when at speed. Maybe climb under the vehicle and give the drive shaft a shake or two. If it's loose, you prolly got a u-joint going out.

 

[NeoExplorer]

From park into reverse and from reverse into drive. And it's periodic. Usually if I give a second or two before I press the gas, it helps not to happen.