Throttle body spacer.

Hello, so i know there are a lot of threads on throttle body spacers and how they practically dont do anything. My question is if they hurt anything. I bought my truck about a month ago and it has the 3.4L with the typical p0171 code. I cleaned the Maf, but i dont think thoroughly enough with the more i read. Regardless of that, my truck came with a throttle body spacer, I dont know who installed it or anything. I was curious as if that could be causing this problem or not? There is also a hole on my air cleaner box with a little connector on it with a crap load of silicone around it with a sort of cap on it and not a vacuum line. I have no clue what thats to either, it looks like a vacuum line was on it but its capped off now. Any help would be great to even just let me know why a vacuum line looking connector would be there or if the spacer might be giving me issues and might be worth taking off. Thanks!

 

Can you get pics?

Throttle body spacers in themselves shouldn't hurt anything, but they do add opportunities for a leak, which you definitely do not want.

 

It does literally nothing on a fi vehicle.

 

My truck is in the shop for the next few days getting the A/C fixed because parts are back ordered. So I’ll post some pictures when I have it back. And like I said, the truck came with the spacer so i just wanted to eliminate that as a problem for my trouble code. Thanks! I will post some pictures of the strange vacuum thing when i have my truck back.

 

sounds like a deck plate mod

 

Its not as severe as a deck plate mod, its only about the size of a penny. Ill post some pics when i get my truck back

 

If the small hole is on the side of the air box near the passenger inner fender then the previous owner might have swapped in an older air box from a vehicle that had a 3 wire MAF and separate air intake temperature sensor that would have had 2 wires.

 

Check to make sure you don't have an air leak around the spacer or any other place.

 

So i finally got around to getting some pictures today, i have no clue what these are for. The one with the red cap is very loose and probably leaking, would that cause the p0171 code? Also I added a picture of a line that does not look factory and I dont know what that is either.

 

Yeah, no good. Can’t have unaccounted for air after the MAF. Causing your code. Get a new snorkel. The thing at the airbox is most likely related to the charcoal canister system but is before the MAF so not really a big deal, I have no idea about that line by the cruise box. If it’s a vacuum line it should be fairy obvious where it goes.

 

What the Hell does a throttle spacer accomplish? Maybe if it was crossdrilled for a big ass bottle of nitrous .... I can’t see any logical reason to add one.

 

I wonder if the one after the MAF was used for a homemade hydrogen system put in by the previous owner

 

@Yoda2001 I have a stock airbox tube in great condition if interested.

 

What's the first pic?

Yah that looks jinky. I would take some carb cleaner and spray the red nubin. If the idle changes it's your that's a leak.

Either way, I would pull them out and see if you can at least seal the red one. It's probably not super high pressure so you might be able to test with duct tape or something. A more permanent fix is to replace it. Silicon doesn't la

The one in front of the air box - I don't "think" that would do anything. It's before the air filter.

 

Honestly I have no clue why there is a throttle body spacer on there. Ive done my research before and know they are pretty pointless. But Im gonna leave it just because its already there and im not the one who added it. I just ordered a new tube bc I figured it was bad anyhow. Thanks though mtb_taco

 

I know exactly why it's there.

The previous owner was an idiot. ..

All that crap reeks of "free hp!" Posts on the internet. The upside is the spacer won't hurt anything unless it is leaking. All the other holes though would have me looking fire replacements. Even sealed it would irritate me knowing it was there m

 

Thanks for the help guys, i taped over the hole and cleared the code just to see if it would show back up and it hasnt yet, which has me leaning towards that was the problem. I ordered a new intake pipe the other day because I didnt want the hole in it even if that wasnt the problem. Lol

 

Update, I talked to the previous owner and he said that the original owner thought it was a good idea to drill a hole in the air intake to get better gas mileage.

 

LOL. I can't believe what people do in the name of gas mileage. Aside from swapping motors, the biggest contributor to MPG is the loose nut behind the wheel.

 

I was about to say that fitting looked like it’s for Methanol injection on a supercharged engine, the nozzle on my truck is almost in the same spot. Albeit a 4 cylinder.