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DIY Throttle Body cleaning

Orient Express
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  • Moderators
Orient Express Member

Orient Express

Posted
  • Moderators
Posted

DIY Throttle Body cleaning

One of the problems that I see with many 996/986/997/987 owners complaining about is a lumpy or erratic idle and sometimes sluggish acceleration. I have a quick cure for this problem. In fact, this cure will work for any car that has a throttle body. The issue is that over time a sludgy gunk will build up in the throttle body where the throttle butterfly opens and closes. This gunk will eventually change the airflow characteristics of the gap between the butterfly and the throttlebody

 

  • 8 months later...
gofor28off Member

gofor28off

Posted
Posted (edited)

I performed this service and now I have a "noise" when I quickly blip the throttle at idle. The noise is best described as a "pop" or "cough" and was not there before the cleaning and is also not there if I rev it smoothly rather than a quick blip, and is also not noticable when driving normally. Only heard when quickly blipping.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Is it possible the butterfly is sticking? Is there a lubricant that should be applied to the butterfly?

Suggestions please.

Thx

Edited by gofor28off
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
thewraith Member

thewraith

Posted
Posted (edited)
I performed this service and now I have a "noise" when I quickly blip the throttle at idle. The noise is best described as a "pop" or "cough" and was not there before the cleaning and is also not there if I rev it smoothly rather than a quick blip, and is also not noticable when driving normally. Only heard when quickly blipping.

Does anyone have any thoughts? Is it possible the butterfly is sticking? Is there a lubricant that should be applied to the butterfly?

Suggestions please.

Thx

Maybe way too late but sounds like a loose or not entirely closing butterfly valve. I've seen people bend the valve too far back sometimes when cleaning it.

Edited by thewraith
  • 2 months later...
gofor28off Member

gofor28off

Posted
Posted

The car is still making the sound and it is caused by the intake air being sucked through the TB faster than the butterfly is opening causing the "bark." This became significantly louder right after the cleaning.

I wonder if the cleaner I used is causing the butterfly to stick slightly causing slower movement, or it I pushed open too far or ???.

I am considering trying some lubricant; such as silicone spray or WD-40. Does anyone see any problem with spraying a lubricant in and around the contact points of the TB and butterfly? (I would remove it first).

One of my neighbors also has an '02 so I suppose I could try swapping the TB assemblies between the two cars and see if his makes the sound and mine doesn't after the swap. If that turns out to be the case I guess I will have to either live with it or buy a replacment TB.

Cheers

  • 2 weeks later...
rustman Member

rustman

Posted
Posted

If anyone is thinking of cleaning your TB and you have an IPD plenum, be careful not to get any carb cleaner on the paint inside the plenum!!! While cleaning my TB today I sprayed the face of the butterfly with carb cleaner to loosen up the minor build. I cleaned the face of the BF and then the contact area of the TB "no problem". I opened the face of the BF to clean the backside of the BF and while doing so I notice the painted surface on the inside of the IPD intake plenum starting to wrinkle. Well you guessed it; now due to the fact that I have peeling paint on the inside of the intake plenum from the carb cleaner, I had to remove the plenum to clean off all of the flaky paint.

I hope I save someone some trouble.

Rustman

  • 3 months later...
thewraith Member

thewraith

Posted
Posted
The car is still making the sound and it is caused by the intake air being sucked through the TB faster than the butterfly is opening causing the "bark." This became significantly louder right after the cleaning.

I wonder if the cleaner I used is causing the butterfly to stick slightly causing slower movement, or it I pushed open too far or ???.

I am considering trying some lubricant; such as silicone spray or WD-40. Does anyone see any problem with spraying a lubricant in and around the contact points of the TB and butterfly? (I would remove it first).

One of my neighbors also has an '02 so I suppose I could try swapping the TB assemblies between the two cars and see if his makes the sound and mine doesn't after the swap. If that turns out to be the case I guess I will have to either live with it or buy a replacment TB.

Cheers

I see no problems with this. I wouldn't even remove it- just stuff some paper towels in there before spraying.

  • 1 month later...
gborkowski Member

gborkowski

Posted
Posted

I just did this today and while it did solve my idle problem, I am hearing the same 'coughing' noise. I've decided to leave it alone for now and hope it goes away over time (I'm an optimist).

  • 10 months later...
jetbox Member

jetbox

Posted
Posted

Hi,

stupid question maybe but here goes...

The butterfly appears still to be stiff to open on mine. Can it be opened by hand on a 2000 model C4 manual. I don't want to break anything??

thanks

  • 11 months later...
  • Admin
Loren Member

Loren

Posted
  • Admin
Posted

Hi, carbu cleaner is aggressive and dries the TB.

Use WD40 instead, better cleaner, a bit greasy, just perfect for TB cleaning ;-)

I could not disagree more. You want the TB to be dry as only air passes over it.

b-man Member

b-man

Posted
Posted (edited)

If anyone is thinking of cleaning your TB and you have an IPD plenum, be careful not to get any carb cleaner on the paint inside the plenum!!! While cleaning my TB today I sprayed the face of the butterfly with carb cleaner to loosen up the minor build. I cleaned the face of the BF and then the contact area of the TB "no problem". I opened the face of the BF to clean the backside of the BF and while doing so I notice the painted surface on the inside of the IPD intake plenum starting to wrinkle. Well you guessed it; now due to the fact that I have peeling paint on the inside of the intake plenum from the carb cleaner, I had to remove the plenum to clean off all of the flaky paint.

I hope I save someone some trouble.

Rustman

I'm sorry to hear that Rustman. IPD should know better when they designed/made the throttle body . . .

b-man

Edited by b-man
  • 7 months later...
DK570 Member

DK570

Posted
Posted

Hi,

stupid question maybe but here goes...

The butterfly appears still to be stiff to open on mine. Can it be opened by hand on a 2000 model C4 manual. I don't want to break anything??

thanks

If you are afraid of braking something, have someone else step on the pedal while you spray. This is the way the valve was designed to operate, so there is basically no chance of breakage. Pushing it with your finger I'm sure was not a designed operating condition.

DK570 Member

DK570

Posted
Posted

If anyone is thinking of cleaning your TB and you have an IPD plenum, be careful not to get any carb cleaner on the paint inside the plenum!!! While cleaning my TB today I sprayed the face of the butterfly with carb cleaner to loosen up the minor build. I cleaned the face of the BF and then the contact area of the TB "no problem". I opened the face of the BF to clean the backside of the BF and while doing so I notice the painted surface on the inside of the IPD intake plenum starting to wrinkle. Well you guessed it; now due to the fact that I have peeling paint on the inside of the intake plenum from the carb cleaner, I had to remove the plenum to clean off all of the flaky paint.

I hope I save someone some trouble.

Rustman

Why would the inside of the plenum be painted? Every throttle body cleaner I've seen specifically says to avoid contact with painted surfaces. That would be hard to do if the interior of the plenum was painted!

  • 1 year later...
godwine Member

godwine

Posted
Posted

Would seafoam be a good agent to perform the cleaning? I used it with my other cars before with good result, but was too chicken to try it on the 996 all these years

1dmurrray Member

1dmurrray

Posted
Posted

I just cleaned the throttle body on my '01 C4 with CRC throttle body cleaner. I sprayed the cleaner on a microfiber rag, and wiped out all the dirt. The engine now purrs like a kitten, and idle, acceleration and deceleration are much smother. Great DIY. Thanks.

While I was at it, I put on a Schnell air intake kit. I prefer the throatier intake sound to the stock set up.

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