How To Clean Throttle Body By Yourself (Step By Step)

For many vehicle owners,it is well know to the “Throttle”,the “throttle” is an important part of the vehicle,it need to be cleaned regular basis,otherwise idle instability and others adverse reactions.If you go to the dealer for clean throttle,it will tens dollar or more.Many forum members have shared the throttle body cleaning guide,but there are still many owners do not dare to try it by themself.In fact,it is easy to clean the throttle by yourself,what you need to do is follow a correct guide.Here I share the step by step guide on how to clean throttle body by yourself.

 

What is Throttle ?

In short,the throttle is the throat of engine,it located between air filter and divided manifold of intake.(Detail location in the operation pic).The throttle is a controllable valve that used to control the air value into engine from outside,accelerator value you pressed is directly related to the throttle opening,so throttle cleaning is very relevant to idle,power and other performance.

 

How often do you need to clean throttle body?

There is not a strict restrictions to define how long you need to clean throttle body,it depends on the your drive habits and environment,and if you find the throttle body is dirty then you need to  clean.Or you need to clean,when you finding emergence of idle instability and other circumstances.

 

Usually,the dealer recommend you to clean the throttle body with 12 thousands miles.However,treatments of different vehicle models is different,some vehicle models’ throttle body is easy dirty,almost they need to clean with 5000 miles.

 

What happen if you do not clean throttle body long time?

With long time dirty throttle body,it will caused opening degree error of throttle,and air with impurity flow into the engine combustor.Both of them will result in engine work incorrectly:idle instability,power will decline,accelerator reducing feeling when driving,even can not start or increase fuel consumption.

 

Which vehicle models’ throttle body can be cleaned by yourself?

Nowadays,most of the vehicle models equipped with electronic throttle,only a few old model or low-end cars with pull throttle.Their structures are different,pull throttle equipped with a idle motor,you need to be careful when cleaning pull throttle.For the inexperienced owner,it is recommend not to clean it by themself.

 

What tools you need to clean throttle by yourself?

Cleaning throttle need special throttle cleaner, ,you can buy it from local car part aftermarket or eBay,amazon…only less than $10/can,each throttle cleaner can use to clean throttle body twice.

Before clean throttle body,you need to remove throttle body from your car.

 

Procedures of cleaning throttle body:

1. After removing throttle body,you will find a lot of dirt on the interior surface of throttle body,corner especially.

2 Wear gloves and install the jet spray nozzle of throttle cleaner.Then align the jet spray nozzle to throttle and spray on it.

It is obvious that the position we spray is clean,the effect is good.

The dirt will flow out with the cleaner fluid,you would better to put them into trash can.And the smell of throttle cleaner is irritating and corrosive,so you would better to ware a mask,put the cleaner away from the mouth,nose,eyes.

 

3. After clean all dirt on interior of throttle,you need to wiped throttle body with cotton cloth.In order to wipe the throttle body thoroughly,take off the gloves and wiping the throttle body by your hand with cotton cloth directly.Although the cleaner is corrosive,it doesn’t matter to touch it in short time,just wash you hand after completing cleaning.

 

Note:You need to pay attention to flaps in the middle of the throttle,and do not to touch it as less as possible,because the flap is a weak and high-precision accessories.If you touch or move it in wrong way,it will reduce throttle opening degree accuracy.In some situation,you had to clean the dirt on the flap by you hand,pls pay attention to the flap,do not damaged it.

After finish cleaning,check the interior and outer of the throttle,make sure you have cleaned it up,and then start to install the throttle body back to you vehicle.

 

PS:Don’t spray the cleaner on throttle body without removing throttle body from your vehicle.Otherwise there is a security risk,when you starting the engine,the pressure generated by loosening accelerator will make cleaner liquid out.And this method can not clean the throttle thoroughly.

Video on How to clean throttle body:

 

Auto Throttle Matching:

Many owners worry about the problem of throttle matching after throttle clean.In fact,except the idle speed grow up,and there isn’t other adverse reactions.Even you clean throttle by you dealer,the idle speed will also grow up.
Don’t worry,most vehicle have the self-learn function,after a period of time(about 30 miles),the idle speed will restore.

If you want to shorten self-learn time of throttle,you would better to perform it by device,below show some article at this topic.

Ford F150 Throttle Response Adjustment (No Need Tools)

How to Adjust/Calibrate Throttle Position for Benz 212 2014

FIAT 2012 Throttle Body Self Learning Guide(Video)