DIY: Clean your Throttle Bodies
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Joined: Nov 2011
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From: Happiest Place on Earth
Wow. Worse than I thought. Moved butterflies a tiny bit. Car idles better and throttle response is smoother. No longer have to floor it to pick up nominal speed. Very happy man. No codes. Didnt go crazy with cleaner only sprayed on towel and q tips and wiped. Also wiped inside plenum as best I could. No codes no weird issues.
Thanks! Glad you wrote this and not me. This should be re-written to include this from the start. Once I read this from the top of this page and heard that there was surging I knew it was due to air leaks. I am a launch manager for a company that makes intake manifolds for Honda. Their manifolds and TB are the same. Nylon manifolds with heat inserted nuts, same gaskets, and drive by wire TB. I can't stress enough that the proper torque sequence be applied or you will strip the inserts and it will leak or gasket will "bunch" at the 4th bolt and leak. If you take the gasket out (or knock it out with a rag or whatever) you MUST put it back in with the tongue (witness tab) first and sliding two fingers around to install the rest of the gasket at the same time. If not that tongue may cause a leak due to improper install. It happens at our leak test every time we get someone new installs them without this method. As for "touching/moving" the butterfly valve, it make no difference, go ahead and move it just don't disconnect the TB or the learned home position must be relearned by the ECU - in all cars. I have seen people in my mechanic days use a rag with straggling bits or terry cloth to clean and leave chunks of the rag in between the TB and valve and it cause high idle also.
I hope someone has the time to retype all this and it get re-stickyed.
BTW many forums have a thread with links in categories to the best threads involving DIY or problems/fixes etc. I will suggest it in the suggestions area.
I hope someone has the time to retype all this and it get re-stickyed.
BTW many forums have a thread with links in categories to the best threads involving DIY or problems/fixes etc. I will suggest it in the suggestions area.
that begin said I can't believe how long this thread has been going with completely contradictory advice all over it.... in all of it, this post (#286) with the quoted post in it (#276) are the most useful 2 posts and should really be at the head of this sticky so people don't have to read though 24+ pages of contradictory advice.
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 244
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From: Endicott, NY
Pulled mine apart yesterday, didn't disconnect the battery. The throttle bodies themselves were quite dirty, as I believe its the first time its ever been cleaned(2011 63.5K miles) I cleaned everything up nice, put it all back together, no CEL. car seems to be idling and shifter smoother
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 176
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From: Levittown PA
I just cleaned my TB’s and MAF sensors and now my Service Engine Soon light is on. I disconnected the battery sprayed the MAF’s let them dry and plugged them back in then took TB’s off (only disconnecting the one hose on each air tube) cleaned them good and bolted them back on and reconnected everything. Started it up it stayed around 2k for a couple seconds them came down to 1k I dove it about 10 min and idle bounced around between 900-1500 when I would press clutch in and/or stop. I turned it off then back on and SES light came on. It idles right around 650 when I start it but still around 900 when I drive it and press clutch in when slowing to a stop. What went wrong? I only have 41k miles TB’s were a little dirty but now I wish I didn’t mess with them never knew they would be so sensitive. Any suggestions? Thanks.
I just cleaned my TB’s and MAF sensors and now my Service Engine Soon light is on. I disconnected the battery sprayed the MAF’s let them dry and plugged them back in then took TB’s off (only disconnecting the one hose on each air tube) cleaned them good and bolted them back on and reconnected everything. Started it up it stayed around 2k for a couple seconds them came down to 1k I dove it about 10 min and idle bounced around between 900-1500 when I would press clutch in and/or stop. I turned it off then back on and SES light came on. It idles right around 650 when I start it but still around 900 when I drive it and press clutch in when slowing to a stop. What went wrong? I only have 41k miles TB’s were a little dirty but now I wish I didn’t mess with them never knew they would be so sensitive. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Sometimes when manipulating the TB, especially when the battery has been disconnected, you may throw off the throttle valve position sensor.
there's some explanation in this thread about how to reset it. There's also a DYI for it.
Try the full ecu reset or at least the throttle valve position sensor reset. and see if that helps.
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Joined: Jun 2018
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From: SoCal
My car was idling rough at times so I went ahead and popped off both TBs and they looked pretty damn bad. From the looks of it, it's never been cleaned. Had extra TB cleaner and cleaned it. Didn't feel the need to disconnect the battery and I moved the butterfly valve carefully. I sprayed TB cleaner onto a rag and cleaned it. I heard spraying it directly onto the TB could damage them. Did the whole 3 step relearning process and now she runs SMOOOOOOTH. Looks like I'm going to be doing this every so often.
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Joined: Jun 2018
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Did this today. Did NOT disconnect batteries. Did NOT disconnect wiring to TB. Removed hose, removed TB and cleaned both sides. Opened up butterfly to thoroughly clean. Also sprayed rag and wiped down intake area. Did NOT spray inside of it though. Put back together and started car. Started right up, idled high for about 2 mins, then dropped right where its supposed to be. No check engine light. What a difference. Car has 67k on it. Prob never been done. Seems like more power w/o hesitation. Throttle seems less sticky or hesitant. Couldnt be happier.....
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Joined: Jun 2018
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From: SoCal
I dont see it concerning unless you came up with your own way of cleaning the TBs. Follow the majority and a couple YouTube videos. If you followed it and car runs and idles good than you good.
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Joined: Feb 2019
Posts: 52
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From: Washington
This completley simple cleaning scares the hell out of me... been wanting to do this since purchasd car as a routine maintenance, but there is SO many different stories. Some people dont have any issues at all. Others seem to have problems to were they have to replace the damb throttle bodies. I am more than capable of doing this cleaning amd the relearn procedure, but dont really want to buy new TBs either... i cleaned the MAFs the other day. All went fine. I happened to talk with Joe from ZSPEED and he said dont even touch the TBs for cleaning. He said its not worth it... So why do we have SO many different problems or No problems? So confused
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Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 130
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From: Philadelphia PA
Trottle body cleaning
This completley simple cleaning scares the hell out of me... been wanting to do this since purchasd car as a routine maintenance, but there is SO many different stories. Some people dont have any issues at all. Others seem to have problems to were they have to replace the damb throttle bodies. I am more than capable of doing this cleaning amd the relearn procedure, but dont really want to buy new TBs either... i cleaned the MAFs the other day. All went fine. I happened to talk with Joe from ZSPEED and he said dont even touch the TBs for cleaning. He said its not worth it... So why do we have SO many different problems or No problems? So confused
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Joined: Dec 2015
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The 2007 VQ35HR's ECU with an ECU id ending in "A" has a bug and won't do the idle air volume learning.
I believe, Nissan fixed the issue and updated firmware now ends in version "C"
I wonder if some shops replace the throttle bodies just to increase profits, then do the $100 ECU update.
The only person I know who can fix this 100% of the time is Eugene & Enthusiast Auto Care.
He loads the 09 HR firmware on your 08 ECU.
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/enthusiast-auto-care-concord
He is also an ECUTek master tuner, See a review here:
Review - Ecutek by Master Tuner: Eugene @ Enthusiast Auto Care - Nissan 370Z Forum