im gonna clean my throttle body tomm morning. my ex-manager @ advance auto parts told me that i should have the car running and spray the throttle body cleaner into the body while adjusting the acceleration so it wouldnt stall out.

is this safe to do or should i just clean the throttle body and the butterfly with the car off and call it a day. or would it be better to clean it while the car is runing and have the TB suck all the cleaner in thhere.

i talked to this guy at NISSAn and he said that the engine could "hydrolock". anyone cleaned their TB and had any probs or is it completely safe to do it eitheer way?

thanks

 

Its perfectly fine to clean it while the car is off, just open up the butterfly plate and spray inside there, and wipe with a rag wrapped around a wrench or something that length. Read the stickies it should be in there anyways.

 

i read the stickies on how to clean on the motorvate website and it mentions that the car is off and u clean the butterfly and valve body. but what about while ur car is running? is it safe to spray iit into the body while the throttle is open?

 

and wtf is hydrolock???

 

Research it.

 

And remember we don't drive '78 Chevys we have japanese Maximas.

 

Hydrolock, You dont want that happening to your car. you will need a new motor.

 

dont do it while it is running.. its not worth loosing your engine over...... if you want to clean the injectors or something then use Seafoam and have it sucked in threw a vacume line (follow isntructions). the TB cleaning is mainly there to clean the butterfly and the top end of the TB....

I have done this cleaning on both my old 96 GXE and the 98 se and it makes a great deal of difference

 

At what mileage did you start to clean the TB and how frequently do you clean it?

 

i over do it.. the tb cleaning i do it at every oil change, even tho it doesnt need it.. some say once a year is good... the seafoam thing i havent dome it on the 98 yet and only did it once on my old 96... smoked like a bastard.. i will do it soon before i redo my exhaust tho

as soon as i bought the 98 i did it and i bought it with 100k on it the 96 i didnt do it till i started really getting into the Max and it had 88k miles on it and did just the butterfly after every oil change

i think the best thing to do the thorough cleaning is every 60k miles but no clue

 

The **** .orger award for this week goes to Geophrum for religiously cleaning his throttle body at every oil change.

 

I have yet to clean my throttle body. I don't believe it can make that big of a difference. But who knows, maybe it's something to look in to.

 

Just call me a freak and yes i do need

 

WTF! I worked at Advance, and I know some managers dont know their heads from their a$$es, but to spray that with the car on? OMG, good thing I left.

#1 Spraying any type of flamable fluid into the intake WITH THE MOTOR ON can be very dangerous. Ever heard of backfire? It can also happen on the intake manifold in some conditions (like running rich at idle and tapping the gas). If that intake backfires and you're spraying flamable fluid into the intake.... You can assume what COULD happen. Its not worth the risk.

#2 How the heck can you hydrolock with a flamable fluid such as intake cleaner? hydrolock usually involves water or some kind of fluid that CANT BE COMPRESSED by the pistons. That's when all heck breaks loose and you kiss your motor goodbye. Intake cleaner will combust in the chamber, and possibly in the intake manifold if its hot enough, lol. And even if I am wrong and it can in fact hydrolock with intake cleaner, you'd be wiping off the majority of it cleaning the TB, and as you do that its also evaporating. And most of it will settle by where the EGR is, so you have nothing to worry about.

If he suggested to do it with the car on, tell him to do it on his car

 

thanx for the input. i guess ill jus be content and do it with the car off. 95blkmax...what part of miami u from and which adauto part u worked for?

 

Perform this maintenance exactly as Motorvate's website stated and you will have absolutely no problems. Remember, you want to use throttle body cleaner. Auto Zone sales STP throttle body cleaner that works great. I have done this maintenance on 4th and 5th gens with no problems what so ever. Good luck to you.

 

Could not have said it better myself!

 

i am a little bit confused and would like it if someone could clarify something for me. when cleaning the throttle body, do you use seafoam? or is there something completely different for this purpose which everyone refers to as "throtle body cleaner"?

when i cleaned my TB i used some seafom from Advanced Auto but i didn't get any "smoking" which some people talk about. are they referring to a different process?

 

Just use regular carb and choke cleaner to clean the TB and the IACV. When you go to start it up again it will idle a little rough... this is normal. Just let the engine warm up and take it for a short drive. It will go away.

 

the smoking from sea foaming comes when u "inject" the sea foam into the manifold and it burns the carbon deposits hence the smoke from the exhaust. when u clean the throttle body...use TB cleaner...and no it wudnt smoke.

by the way...jus finished cleaning TB with CRC TB clenaer and for a 97 with 99k miles....it wasnt tooo dirty. the car is a lot more responsive now and it idles nice....not much of a big diff. but a more clear conscience.

thanx for inputs guys....app. it

 

throtle body cleaner is harmless it is a solvent that will evaporate dont matter just dont try to flood the motor with it, also thortle body cleaner and carb cleaner can help start cars that have been sitting a while an old mechanic trick.

 

Cleaning the TB with the STP Injector cleaner or any carb/injector cleaner will work. the seafoam is a totaly different process for deap cleaning carbon off from inside the engine... the TB cleaning wont cause smoke and wont do any damage. and true while carb cleaner is an old mechanic trick they never use it while the car is running... its allways added like either into the TB then they try starting the car.. basicly its a combustable fluid that acts like a fuel that will cumbust like gas when there is no gas getting to the top end.. or something like that...

 

Just think of it like spraying instant fuel into the manifold.

 

thanks guys. now i understand the TB cleaning process. another quick question: how do I "inject" the seafoam into the engine in order to clean out carbon deposits?

 

1/3 can in a cup and sucked through the brake booster hose. In addition it can be put into the gas tank and the crankcase like adding oil. The best bang for the buck is through the brake booster hose. I believe its best to use this stuff (I haven't yet) shortly before a scheduled oil change. Scroll back and see the numerous SeaFoam threads and look at the stickies, they are your friend.

 

exactly what rmurdoch said it gets sucked threw a vacume hose straight into the cylinders.. if you go to seafoams website it also gives you different places were you can put it to clean different parts of your car..

it is the best stuff i have seen by far... it doesnt take much, just follow the instructions or follow the stickies...

 

I worked at 09357 (Bird Rd and 137th ave) and 09304 (SW 69st and 117th ave), and I'm from the SW :-D

 

how do you open the butterfly?

 

WHen you press on the gas what happens?
Butterfly opens. So now go to your car and trace the wire that is hooked up to your gas pedal. This way you know how to do it.

 

With your fingers!

 

There is nothing wrong with cleaning your TB while your car is on. In fact if you read the instructions you'll realise that its meant to be done with the car on, and thats what my friends mechanic said. Prior to cleaning my TB I did some research and concluded that it's fine to do so but if you don't feel safe for whatver reason then its your choice. Just make sure you reset your ECU afterwars as your CEL will probably be on, although it will be a "no failure" code. You might see smoke out of your exhaust but thats normal. My car hasn't had any problems whatsoever, same with my friend's cars who have done the same thing.

 

I went to AutoZone today, and mentioned I recently cleaned the TB, and since i read this thread earlier, I asked what they think about doing it while it's on, and they actually recommended I do just that. When I did it, i made sure the Engine Was Off, but On Topic, there's another Person working in the industry suggesting you clean it while it's on, even though I personally am a bit afraid of doing that. He said that it could stall when I turn it back on if I clean it while off, but when I did it, this wasn't the case.
What's a good thing to use to clean that thing, I wasted about a roll of paper towels and I got a instant gratification with my engine idling better, but I think i can do better next time. I used the How-To guide found in these forums, but it says to use just a paintbrush and a towel, is there anything else? i'm thinking of taking grandma's shower scrub (ewww) or hitting the dollar store to see if they have anything useful.

 

old toothbrush works well

 

take it on the highway afterwards

 

its recomended for doing the major cleaning first with it off.... do you want all that junk getting sucked into the engine??? clean it while it is off... then afterwards when you have most of the junk out then i wouldnt see the harm of spraying some in while running... just be carefull not to drown it and do it in an area were not alot of dust or what ever can get sucked in.. .then take it for a nice highway drive...

i have never done it when it was running but then again mine never gets that dirty... and seafoam is my friend...

 

The bottom line is why would you want to do it while the engine is running?!? It makes the cleaning process much more difficult. You will have to distinct CEL codes to erase and not to mention all that unfiltered air that is getting sucked in the engine. Also, if the TB is really dirty and you need a lot of time clean it, you have to work over an engine that is increasing in temperature, which can be very hot. The main reason though, is in order to get the tooth brush all the way in the TB, you need to open the butterfly plate to WOT... Do you really want to rev the p!ss out of you motor while you clean that thing for 15 min.!?!?

 

well said, and many good points no one else mentioned

 

great point

 

Just as Geophrum said, all the major cleaning is done with the car OFF. All you do while the car is on is spray inside the TB, no scrubbing or anything like that. I cant see how reseting your ECU is difficult, but i understand the lazyness lol.

To make things easier, before you start aything I suggest you run the car a bit sice it might loosen up the buildup and make it easier to clean. Also while you clean inside with the toothbrush make sure you go easy, don't scrub too hard since there may be some protective coating which you don't want take off.

 

that is just retarded to clean your TB with the car running, unless you took off the throttle cables, but I assumed that wasnt done. Next time take the car into the Dealership and have them clean it.