cleaning ur throttle body

[cameron4518]

i just cleaned my throttle body with carby cleaner, removed it, it was full or carbon, yer they do get a fair bit of carbon in em and the plenum, got a wire brush with a can or carby cleaner removed the carbon put it all back together and got a surprising difference!! more response and feels better to drive, so just letting u guys know if ur commys done a few k's then clean the throttle body or plenum on a satdy and go for a cruise, worth it!

 

[Hairy Eater]

where does all that bloody carbon come from?....

 

[VT97]

wire brush and carby cleaner, guess youd have to stick a few rags down the ports to stop any gunk falling down them, anyone have any other hints how to clean the plenum and throttle body? dont wanna take the plenum off heard its tricky, is there much involved taking the plunum off??

 

[kopper69]

Have a search and look in the VR/VS forums. There is a detailed how to guide there on removing and cleaning. Never done it on a VT/VX but it would be very similar. Make sure you get new gaskets from holden before you do it. Replace the gaskets when you put it back together.

 

[vtmadness]

where does all that bloody carbon come from?....

The carbon deposits are a mixture of the combustion process, gum from fuel and dirt that has passed through the air filter. Combine that with heat and you have a nasty residue on the walls of the intake manifold that robs the mixture of precious oxygen, thereby increasing the rate of fuel consumption and lowering power at the same time.

I recently bought a VT series 2 with 114,000 kms. Intrinsically,the car was in good condition. Two weeks ago I gave the car a decent service, deliberetly replacing items of a different quality over a space of two weeks so as to record any difference. After the obligatory oil change, I replaced the air filter with just a holden standard. What I did do differently was to replace the spark plugs with the Bosch super 4. Basically a spark plug with 4 prongs instead of the one. Immediately noticed the car ran smoother and noticed a slightly better fuel figures. I then cleaned out the throttle body. The amount of gunk that was released almost floored me as it took an entire can of Nulon throttle body cleaner to dissolve all that stuff. The car then ran beautifully. Increased torque, quiter and better fuel figures again. Within a week one of the leads began to fail so a new set of 8.0mm were put on last week . Once again the torque increased along with the responsivness and better consumption figures. To quote an example, I put in $60 of fuel in the car last Wednesday, drove within Melbourne CBD and Citylink and clocked 530kms in distance. Having done all that, I think that cleaning out the Plenum chamber would be a very good idea and will attempt this over the next two weeks. Only trouble I'm having is removing the fuel filter as I beleive its still the original.

A word of friendly advice. Resist the temptation of using chemicals like Wynns fuel injector cleaner. Why you may ask? Well as some one that had worked at these places a long time ago, the main ingrediants only boost the octane for a short while disgusing the fact that they don't actually clean and could corrode injector/fuel parts. Have your injectors ultrasonically cleaned or replace as necessary. Everything else is a waste of money. Just my 2 bobs worth.

 

[Spyper]

Is cleaning out the throttle body a big job? For someone that hasn't even changed their oil before.. I wouldn't even know where it is. (I'm not saying I'm completely hopeless, I COULD change my oil - pending stands - just never have.)

 

[TigerVX]

Is cleaning out the throttle body a big job? For someone that hasn't even changed their oil before.. I wouldn't even know where it is. (I'm not saying I'm completely hopeless, I COULD change my oil - pending stands - just never have.)

No. Quite easy. If you aren't real sure about doing it get a gregorys manual. All details are in there. I think there is a thread in the "How to" section aswell.

 

[Spyper]

Yeah I think I'm overdue for a gregories. Gotta get some cash together..

 

[Dave398]

wire brush and carby cleaner, guess youd have to stick a few rags down the ports to stop any gunk falling down them, anyone have any other hints how to clean the plenum and throttle body? dont wanna take the plenum off heard its tricky, is there much involved taking the plunum off??

Dont use a wire brush. After taking the throttle body off, keep spraying into the plenum and eventually all the gunk comes out. Just have a rag under the hole so the the rocker covers dont get a coat of carby cleaner.

To clean the throttle body its the same. You dont need to scrub it, just spray the carby cleaner and all the gunk comes off.

After you put the throttle body back on, the car will be a little hard to start and will start with a bit of smoke. This is just the carby cleaner going through, it wont harm your engine.

 

[TigerVX]

Dont use a wire brush. After taking the throttle body off, keep spraying into the plenum and eventually all the gunk comes out. Just have a rag under the hole so the the rocker covers dont get a coat of carby cleaner.

To clean the throttle body its the same. You dont need to scrub it, just spray the carby cleaner and all the gunk comes off.

After you put the throttle body back on, the car will be a little hard to start and will start with a bit of smoke. This is just the carby cleaner going through, it wont harm your engine.

I'm not real keen on spraying that much crap into the plenum and if you want to clean the plenum properly you would need to remove it or atleast the plenum cover if you don't mind having that much crap going into your engine.