How To: Throttle body cleaning 2005+ V6

Subd

 

Someone should really put "USE CARB CLEANER" on the front page of this! If you look on the back of Carb Cleaner cans... most of them say works on: throttle bodies, pvc valves, carbs, etc. Professional carb cleaner eats the crap out of that gunk 10x faster than anything else I've seen. It is also usually only $2 a can of 12oz compared to $5 a can of 11oz TB cleaner.

Anyways... so I've done this before briefly without disassembling & been pleased with the results. So this time I took off the entire TB and cleaned the intake manifold and the TB....

OMG!!! I had to go through 1 & 1/2 cans!!! looked like the underside of a lawn mower in there! I have a 2003 tacoma with 121k miles - mostly stop/go cold city.
Anyways... I did the MAFS too & when i put it back together and started it (gas petal down - choke mode) I got TONS of white smoke. Almost 10 minutes of smoke. I drove it around & OMG.... I swear I gained 30hp! It used to be sooooo hard to rev the truck past 3k rpm & now it just glides. It feels like a completely different truck. I can't even believe the power difference. I drove it for the past 45 minutes because it was so fun.

So I am really happy. & I really appreciate this writeup even-though it is for 2nd gens & I have a 1st gen.

1 more thing... disconnecting the damn TB is ridiculous... there are like 5 vacuum hoses, 2 coolant hoses, 2 electric connectors, and a throttle cable.... most on the underside... Ouch on the hands/pliers.


P.S. - I guess carb cleaner could hurt your o2 sensor... but mine was TB safe & I seriously doubt any carb cleaner is significantly worse than TB cleaner. The best thing to do for cleaning the intake manifoldis put a rag down there before you start spraying like crazy. That's what I did... but I still had a fair amount of "build up" go through the engine. There's no good way to avoid it. Feels great though.

 

sub'd for a future project

 

So I finally cleaned my throttle body. It was pretty dirty, so I ended up taking the 4 bolts off and I was able to move it out of the way enough to clean the backside of it without disconnecting everything. I never saw any "O-ring" or gasket...?
I forgot to disconnect the neg on the battery though...why is this necessary?
for the MAF, I was leary about pulling it off, so I just took off my AFE ProDry, and I sprayed a little MAF cleaner into the intake pipe (K&N) from both sides...not sure if this really accomplshed anything though, couldn't see in there.
when I started the truck, it seemed to have more HP and is more responsive too. I do have the "high idle" others have mentioned though. I am hoping it will go away by tomorrow.
Should I disconnect the battery to re-set ECU?

 

yes. I'm not sure if it resets on it's own or not, but disconnecting the negative for 5 minutes will work. It will high idle for at most 15 minutes. Drive it around and let it idle and it will drop down to 700. Worked perfectly for me. It takes about 10-15 minutes sometimes for the computer to relearn / remap itself.

Also if you cleaned your TB you probably should've driven around for 15 - 30 minutes to make sure all the extra carbon continued to burn off instead of going ontop of your cylinder heads, valves, or intake manifold. But w\e

 

I have a K&N intake that freaks me out every time I clean it so I really want to give this a try. I have a few quick questions though.

1. Im going to have to remove the sensor since I dont think its visible from inside the tube but after I spray the MAF cleaner do I wipe it off or just leave the cleaner on the sensor?

2. I want to clean the intake tube as well. Can I do that with the MAF cleaner or the TB cleaner (or dont do it)?

3. For the TB, is the butterfly the main thing to try and get really clean?

4. How does Edward scissorhands wipe his butt after he uses the bathroom?

I think thats it.

Oh and great job OP

 

DO NOT touch the MAF sensor. Very fragile and $$$ to replace.

 

1.NEVER touch the MAF wires, they are brittle. Best to spray the cleaner on it heavily & let it sit. Put a cloth behind it & let any residue drip on the cloth. The maf cleaner will evaporate.

2.Yes you can clean the intake tube with the TB cleaner & wipe it out.

3. The butterfly on both sides & the housing it sits in. If yours is needing to be cleaned you will notice at first some resistance when opening the butterfly. After it is cleaned it opens more freely.

4. Edward scissorhands uses a bidet. (the toilet that cleans your ass for you).

 

Thanks guys! Hopefully it stops raining out here so I can get this done tomorrow.

 

So I did this today. Even took the MAF and TB off but now I realized I should probably change the oil. The thing is my oil isn't due till about 3000 more miles. What do u guys say? Change it or leave it till its due?

 

Why would you need to change the oil after cleaning the throttle body?
They have nothing to do with each other. Change the oil when it is due.

 

Just going off what I read online A lot of people recommend changing the oil but I thought the exact same thing as you. Thanks again

 

Cleaned my throttle body today,boy you talk about being dirty,(looked like the rear of a cows ass on molasses). Also did the trany fluid ck.because Im getting ready to change the fluid in the next couple of months its only got 58000. on it now. Thanks for the great write ups everything was just like the directions said!!!! Thanks Again

 

Thanx a lot for posting this how to Genexer.....

It was a great write-up and I had removed both the MAFS and the TB for cleaniong in about 15 minutes, making sure I was doing it right.

After cleaning about 15 min. to button her back up.

The MAFS was a little dirty (50,000 mi) and TB was quite dirty.... I took her for a ride and I noticed quite an improvement in throttle response...

It was idling at 17,000 right after and about 12,000 after a short warm-up run....

I assume that it will settle down in a while...

Thanx again man....

Rep for you

Over60

 

+rep

Great thread man! Made it fool proof! Decided to remove the section with the butterfly in it. Made it so much easier to be thorough with that piece.

Couldn't believe my trucks response after. Feels like it's new again!

Thanks for taking the time to make this.

 

How many miles on yours when you cleaned it ? Thanks.

 

I can't believe how dirty the TB was I removed it for a good cleaning. Thanks for the step by step instructions. Changed spark plugs and rear end oil too.

 

I think I initally cleaned mine around 60,000 & did this write up when I was around 85,000. It wasn't that dirty at the 85 mark. But was nasty at the 60k mark. I plan on doing it on my new truck around 50,000 miles. I should hit that this time next year.

 

I'm at 50 now. I guess you would say do it.

 

It's at 155k we traded our Camry for my step sons Tacoma