Technical Throttle body clean advise

[Gandalf500]

Hi there

I'm planning on cleaning the throttle body in my 500. I realised it's looking a bit dirty and saw a bunch of YT vids on cleaning but thought I'd double check on the forum for advise.
I saw online it's important not to move the throttle place (butterfly value). Something about moving it out of alignment if it's electric or something.

I got some STP Carb Spray cleaner, as i saw in the vids it's improtant to use the right spray. I hope i got the right stuff.

Any adise is appreciate, many thanks
Andy

 

[John202020]

Is this the dirty state or clean? As it looks quite clean.

 

[chris3234]

Take bolts out remove it from engine then spray and clean both sides take care not to loose the bolts into the open hole

 

[The Panda Nut]

Have a magnetic tool for collection to hand. Its easy to drop things down the back mof the engine and you cannot get them back! I have done this job on our pandas several times. Removed the throttle body. This is straight forward, and spray it clean. While its off I suggest you wipe the manifold clean with some clean lint free cloth. I found a lot of contamination in there which can affect the MAP sensor that sits in the bottom. I found the car ran better after acleaning. I used a length of wire to help mop out the manifold and then fish out the soaked cloth. Having dropped my torx bit down the back of the engine I reiterate the need to take it slow and use a magnetic tool if possible

 

[Gandalf500]

Is this the dirty state or clean? As it looks quite clean.

The dirty pic. Although I'm not sure how dirty these things get lol

 

[Gandalf500]

Have a magnetic tool for collection to hand. Its easy to drop things down the back mof the engine and you cannot get them back! I have done this job on our pandas several times. Removed the throttle body. This is straight forward, and spray it clean. While its off I suggest you wipe the manifold clean with some clean lint free cloth. I found a lot of contamination in there which can affect the MAP sensor that sits in the bottom. I found the car ran better after acleaning. I used a length of wire to help mop out the manifold and then fish out the soaked cloth. Having dropped my torx bit down the back of the engine I reiterate the need to take it slow and use a magnetic tool if possible

Many thanks for the advise. I was just going to spray it a bit. I'll take the advise and remove it as I've been finding the engine seems to be running a little rough at times. Might as well go the extra mile and get it as good as I can. I'll keep the magnetic pickup tool handy as well.

 

[puntodeltathema]

Possibly one of the cleanest throttle bodies I've seen! Do people really think there is value in this cleaning procedure? If there were narrow idle passages, maybe...

 

[Gandalf500]

Possibly one of the cleanest throttle bodies I've seen! Do people really think there is value in this cleaning procedure? If there were narrow idle passages, maybe...

I have no idea if cleaning it will make a difference, I'm not an experienced mechanic lol. I'm doing what i can to trouble shoot what feels like a slightly laggy engine at times. It's gone into limp mode a few times over the last few months as well. Matey from the forum was kind enough to scan the ecu. Had a misfire on cylinder 2 and 4 from memory. Done the spark plugs, will be changing the ignition coils at some point. I don't have the funds to take it to a garage not knowing what it could be. Done that before and got rinsed by the garage. Turned out to be the engine temperature sensor. So am trying to address what i can and as cheaply as i can.

Sometimes when I'm pulling away it feels like the engine sort of drops in power for a brief moment. Normally it gets back to power almost straight away. But a couple of week ago it did the power drop thing and went into limp mode. That's why I'm thinking it might be something to do with the throttle.

Would rather not have that happen in heavy traffic at a busy junction lol.

If all it take is unbolting the four bolts, and lifting it up, spraying & wipe it clean. Then put back. I'll give it a try.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I have found that cleaning seemed beneficial. On our Seat Leon it restored teh car which was rough running and stalling, but both of ours were very dirty. Keping sensitive moving partd clean is a no brainer. These things dont benefit from a build up of oil and grime.. Do note that the torque figure for the throttle body is very low so carefully re tighten each and then do them up to c. 6Nm. I will see if I have the exact figure, but we are takling a little more than finger tight. The gaskets are not cheap if damaged. Access to check the manifold is clean and dry would be the main reason for removal for me.