I pulled my TB to clean it and ended up curious what the mechanism above the left coolant line is for? I took a few pics so you guys can see what I'm talking about:

From the front:



From an angle:



and from underneath:




So what does this thing do exactly? It looks like there's some kind of plunger with a stop screw resting on it. There's a coiled spring on a rod next to that. None of it seems to pivot or move in any way. I'm stumped.

 

It opens and close your throttle body? If it attaches to your throttle cable, then turn it and watch your throttle body open up. The metal rod part stops it from going back any further.

 

Cold Idle Cam

The plunger moves aka closes the butterfly plate as the coolant warms up.

 

Ahh ok, that makes sense. Thanks!

 

Looks a little bent to me