How To: Throttle body cleaning 2005+ V6

Haven't had any codes pop up for me, I cleaned my TB last week. Spraying directly on the butterfly thingy didn't work well for me, so I used a paper towel soaked in the stuff instead.

 

Awesome right up!! Thank you for taking the time to post this for everyone.

Quick question, has anyone ever heard of a throttle position sensor getting damaged from manually opening the butterfly on the throttle body? I have never heard this before, but came across this video below and figured I would ask. I just recently cleaned my throttle body and removed it from the truck to clean it better. I of course opened the butterfly multiple times, but I am not having any issues. That is also how I’ve always clean my throttlebody’s, but never heard of anyone damaging their throttle position sensor. Anybody have this issue before?

https://youtu.be/deypkLZpRRk

 

Regarding edits. Theres a vacuum hose attached to the backside of the air box, close to the fire wall, and attaches to a gizmo on the fuel rail, I think it was the fuel rail. It threw me for a loop, I couldn't find where it attached. I pulled the air box out of the way, then theres this hose sticking up. Worth mentioning.

My situation, I had the wonderful opportunity to deal with a cross threaded tb bolt. Difficult to remove, wouldn't go back in. If someone else has this happen, it's a M6 1.0 tap needed to fix it. The bolt holes are brass so the bolt was perfectly fine. Anti seize is my friend.

 

I did the TB and MAF sensor cleaning today, second time using this awesome guide. It's been about 40k since the last time and the TB looked good

 

I've read different reports on whether or not you should clean the throttle body if it's something you haven't done in a good long while, or during some regular maintenance.... In my mind though, it seems like nothing but positives by cleaning it out after say, 100k

Thoughts?

 

I took mine off and cleaned it. Worked out well for me. I can’t imagine leaving all that build up on there would do your truck any favors.

 

Thanks again for the write up and the red arrow. Never would of done this without this write up. I have 150m on my 2008 TRD and the throttle body was not that dirty, neither was the maf...I sprayed that little bugger anyway and scrubbed the throttle body clean as a whistle

 

Thanks for the great write up! Cleaned the TB & MAF today. (170K first timer) I found it easier to remove the inlet duct and set the air filter assembly aside, then was able to turn the intake housing 90 degrees to have plenty of room to remove/clean the TB. I included a photo of the vacuum line on back of the intake housing for reference. I disconnected the line before the process and reconnected after. My TB was dirty but cleaned up very nice. Runs great!!

 

My favorite part of this write-up is the cardboard pointer-arrow. So 1980's analog! Heckuva lot easier than editing & photoshopping in a digital arrow in every single photo.

When I clean the throttle body I remove it completely (the 4 bolts around the perimeter) and just use my finger to manipulate the butterfly plate to get around all the sides & angles. That way there's no chance of nicking the edge of the butterfly or scratching the smooth inner surface of the throttle body w/ the hard metal of a screwdriver shaft. Before proceeding: at a minimum, remove key from ignition, if you're ultra-cautious, disconnect the ground cable from the battery.

Already covered in OPs post, but bears repeating: Be extremely sure to plug up the exposed engine air intake hole with a new, clean, shaken-out shop rag, or a clean plastic bag, etc. as soon as you remove the throttle body. It would be Very Bad™ for a random metal part or small hard pebble (maybe shedding off clothing or hair) to fall down inside & get sucked into a cyclinder. Be sure that whatever you use doesn't tear, shred, or shed.

I believe the 4 throttle-body mounting bolts get retorqued to a modest 9 FT-LBs. Use a torque wrench if you don't know what 9 FT-LBs feels like -- it's not a lot of torque!

 

Stupid question, does cleaning TB improve mpg a little?

 

x2 "on finger to manipulate the butterfly plate" & "Use a torque wrench if you don't know what 9 FT-LBs feels like" did both!

 

Actually, reading around elsewhere on TW forums and watching the video in post #482, above, some people say it's important not to move the butterfly by hand (even with the engine off) as it can "mess up the servo" or "cause the engine computer to get confused."

Pushing gently on the butterfly plate to open it by hand, it's apparent that a) a strong spring is used to hold the plate in the closed position b) the plate has a natural stopping/reseating point, c) there's an internal gearbox attached to the servo motor. I would imagine there's some kind of rotary encoder, perhaps optical, which tells the ECU the position of the butterfly plate. All of these parts must be fairly robust because they're subject to a lot of heat, air pressure fluctations, & engine vibration.

With the engine off & no power (key out,) intuitively speaking I don't think gentle hand manipulation of the butterfly valve is likely to cause a problem, but I may be lacking important info.

I wonder if some people may get confused or concerned if they clean the MAF and the throttle body at the same time, and then experience engine RPM fluctuations for ~50 to 100 miles after. That's caused by the MAF being suddenly clean, which causes it to report a different (and more accurate) airflow to the ECU. Then the ECU needs to gradually re-learn / re-calibrate the fuel/air ratio, part of which involves uncommanded RPM changes.

 

Anybody add any light machine oil to the tb plate pivot? I wasn’t going to but I saw a post on the Mobil oil site that mentions it

 

No comments on the lube, im guessing everyone doesnt do this.

OK, another question. The video for the FJ at the beginning shows the guy cleaning the MAF by spraying the round thing thats visible. Is there another sensor hidden inside that tube on the MAF that needs cleaning. I cam across another video of someone spraying up in there.

 

I saw the same video and plan to remove the MAF and spray inside the unit as suggested. (did not do it the other day) Unless someone has a different opinion??

 

I removed my MAF sensor to clean the "hidden sensor" and snapped a pic.

 

In your assessment, do you think that area needed cleaning? I might do this today

 

It did not look to dirty, but after 170K miles I hit it with the MAF cleaner anyway. Truck is running great.

I have only run stock OEM air filters, so inside the MAF housing was wasn't to dirty either when I removed it for cleaning last week.

 

Just got done the MAF, TB, and plugs with a new air filter. Idling is smoother, maybe pickup is slightly better but its always hard to tell for me. I thought i could run faster in new shoes as a kid.

This was the first time I did the MAF and TB, 118k miles. The TB needed cleaning but it really wasn't as bad as some pictures on here. Change the stock air filter just about yearly.

 

Didn't we all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rUFlXZzbE8