How To: Throttle body cleaning 2005+ V6

Subd

 

Yes, after my throttle body was cleaned the engine had a lot more pep and energy. I did it at 30K first time.

 

MAF Sensor Cleaning Erata

There is one change I suggest to this threads instructions. To fully clean the MAF; the MAF needs to be pulled from the intake housing. This is because if you leave the MAF in the intake housing, you can only clean (what looks like), the thermistor. The round bulb on the two wires seen below.


The MAF needs to be pulled so you can spray (clean) the "wires" in the tube. It can only be accessed from the top. See the two silver/gray out of focus wires in the tube.

 

Thanks for the write up!

I thought for sure the MAF would be all kinds of dirty so I was disappointed when I first pulled it and saw the bulb was perfectly clean. Then I turned it over and bam, smudge covering the other half of the bulb!

The truck has great throttle response now and will spin the tires again without trying. 172k miles, living in the desert and first time cleaning it so you can imagine how sluggish it's been. Feels like it regained 25hp and low end tq.

If you choose to leave the MAF in and spray inside the housing from the TB side, you may not be able to fully clean the bulb. The dirty side was the air filter side as that's where the air comes in. I'd also recommend getting a new o-ring as mine expanded after cleaning.

 

I will be doing this tomorrow!

 

The steps were super easy to follow. I completely removed my mass air flow sensor and the throttle body and cleaned them that way. Like other people, my sensor was dirty on one side and clean on the other. I wouldn't be able to get the dirty side without completely removing it. After i was done the truck idled really high. Then the idle would bounce around after a couple miles. By 5 miles everything settled down and the rim was back to normal.

Before







After

 

Just did this yesterday while changing the oil and spark plugs. I just rolled 150K miles and afterwards it felt a lot better on the throttle response. There was a good amount of black gunk built up on the walls so I will likely do this every 30K miles or so now. Nice write up! Much appreciated!

 

Bump.

 

This was the second time cleaning the maf and throttle body using the instructions above. This time, 60k, I removed the maf and it was simple to do. I also partially removed the throttle body, just the four bolts and not all of the tubes, and it was actually easier than leaving it attached. I got it much cleaner than leaving it attached and I torqued the bolts to 10 pounds. Thanks again for your write up...

 

2006 trd offroad with 130k miles. I've been having hesitation in low gears and higher than normal idles for a year. I changed to synthetic oil, diff fluids, spark plugs, filters, ran some redline through it with just minor improvement. Just cleaned the MAF and took off the throttle body to clean yesterday. It was really gunked up. After cleaning it's a complete improvement. It feels like I'm driving a brand new truck. I had to call my brother with a 4 runner with 100k miles immediately to tell him to do this. I'm excited to drive my truck again.

 

Followed everyone's previous directions and cleaned throttle body and MAF sensor. Now I have the confidence to tackle spark plugs tomorrow! Truck maintenance makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Truck is running great. Thanks for the clear write-up.

 

On the to do list now

 

Good info and pics. I removed the MAF to clean it. Can't clean the dirty side otherwise. Next time I will remove the throttle body to clean it for the same reason. I'm sure it will be just as easy, will end up cleaner, and no cleaner into the intake.

 

Anybody know what the vacuum hose on the back of the air box is? Doesnt have a clamp on it,i actually didnt notice mine was disconnected until a few days later (no cel)

 

Just read through that post. Very informative. Anyone actually attempted this on the v6?

 

This is the v6 thread lol.... Check out page 1
Did mine last week and was thinking only getting 10 miles a gallon now . Then realized disconnected battery to reset because was idling at 1500rpm

 

Think he was talking about the thread he posted a quote to.

this one:

 

The linked post in my response is about someone removing the entire intake plenum and cleaning it out on a 2.7. My question is has anyone done this level of cleaning on the v6.