Throttle Body Cleaning at 15,000 miles?

Would that mod void any warranty? It gets to 117 here in summertime.

 

If you worried about warranty just put the hoses back beforw you go in. They will never know nor could they prove you ever did the mod. Personally id just leave it alone. Your not gonna get much if any performance boost with this and the tb isnt exactly a part that breaks all the time.

 

Can you please share DIY for throttle body cleaning, i am very interested to keep my car fully functional with preventive maintenance things since i drive 200 miles 5 days a week so i guess i need throttle body cleaning pretty much every 3 months or so.
thanks in advance.

 

He already did. Page 2, post 15.

 

FWIW, I took my intake apart and looked at the throttle body & clean it. First time I've seen a vertical throttle body - its basically mounted on the intake manifold and down low behind the radiator. At 59K miles, mine was pretty clean. I used a paper towel soaked in carb cleaner on a stick to reach in past the butterfly on both sides, and I didn't come out with much. There was some soot on the edges of the butterfly valve that wiped off easily. Beyond the butterfly valve was pretty dark.

BTW, the butterfly can be opened by pushing on it, but there's a fair amount of resistance. Not like a conventional butterfly valve.

 

There's a fair amount of resistance becasue there's a motor hooked to the right end. Open the butterfly by turning the spring on left side like every other tb. Don't push on the butterfly you'll bend the axle.

Don't use a paper towel as it can fall apart down in the throat and then your picking pieces of p towel out of the tb. Use old t shirt cut into 2 inch wide long strips. It will pickup 100% more dirt than a paper towel.

Open butterfly with spring. Shove dry strip down as far as you can way past butterfly with small long wooden stick.
Don't use metal stick as can scratch the tb throat. Then soak the strip with carb cleaner. Wearing gloves scrub it out with wet strip. While strip in there take off pvc hose on top backside of tb. Flush out that tube the hose is connected too. Thats important as all contamination comes in that way. Pull out strip. Repeat. TB will be dry and pristine if done right.

Spray lube the butterfly spring.

Don't forget to tighten tb throat clamp after putting air cleaner box back on. Its under neath the box and easy to forget.

I would try it again with a t shirt. You missed alot of dirt.

 

Can you please post with couple of pics of bolt locations etc. if possible?

I had this "Throttle Body cleaning" item suggested by Dealer during my last visit but I declined it.

I used to do this throttle body cleaning on my 1999 Camry when the gas pedal starts sticking. Real easy to do on that car. Sold it at 180K miles, engine running as good as new !!

When I cleaned the '99 Camry, after I start the car after cleaning the throttle body, the engine used to run ROUGH for about 5 seconds due to the cleaning solution ( I think I used GUMOUT throttle body cleaner) but is ok after that. Does Prius engine does the same thing after cleaning? I am afraid it will throw error codes If I do not clean properly.

Thanks a lot.

 

I believe Ed's procedure avoids getting the cleaner into the intake system by using the strips of clothing. That should prevent the problems you experienced.

 

I am not familiar with the Gen 2's throttle body, but I did the disassembly to check the throttle body on my Gen 3 and found both sides of the plate to be 100% spotless. This was around the 60k mark. Of course, your individual findings may vary.





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Critic-
Looks very clean but try just one of my old t shirt strips. You'll be surprised how dirty it is. Plus make sure you hose out the pvc pipe the pvc hose is hooked to. Thats where alot of the gunk is out of sight.

Boochi101-
Yes my strip method captures all the contaminates and removes them as opposed to just flushing it out where it goes down the intake and is burned off by the cylinders. That's alot of carb cleaner and dirt into the cylinders hence the rough running you experienced. Not good for the cylinder's. If your really unlucky it can backfire and damage the valves or rings.

The one bolt that's hard is in the photo provided by Critic which is the bolt and clamp under the air cleaner box that holds the throat of the box onto the throttle body. Its important that clamp is on right or you will have an air leak post maf which will put the engine into a tizzy.

 

That's what mine looked like. I got a little soot out from the edges of the butterfly and surfaces beyond with paper towels wound on a stick soaked in carb cleaner.

 

Paper towels don't work well. Especially wound on a stick.

 

Thanks. I'll take a look at it during the 90k service.


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How and what would I use to flush the tube the PVC hose is connected to?

Is WD-40 OK?

Thanks.

 

Insert the t shirt as I explained to soak up all cleaner and find the hose from the pvc valve. Pull that hose off and shoot carb cleaner down the pipe. All the bad stuff is coming from the pvc valve through the hose into the throttle body. Its all crankcase vapor and blow by.

Btw, WD40 is awful stuff. It stinks real bad and is a poor lubricant. Much better products out there.

PB Blaster CSP is much much better.
No smell and is a little heavier and stays where you spray it. Excellent product.
I haven't used WD in 15 years.

 

All throttle bodies & plates get deposits over time from the carbon in the fuel vapor. When the engine is turned off, the vapors cool & a very small amount of deposits form over time. Over time these deposits cake up & cause many problems! With modern electronic throttle bodies on these late models, they still need to be cleaned & maintained properly to help keep them trouble free for many years down the road.

I maintain a 2005, 2009 & a 2012 in our own family along with many others that I service for customers. The Toyota electronic throttles that we have cleaned/maintained will re-learn air flow/position after cleaning.
Some other vehicles with electronic throttles such as Nissans, have to be recalibrated with their Nissan Consult (dealer only tools) or they will idle high & set codes especially when very dirty! I have experienced this first hand. It is important to have a compentent repair facility maintain these electonic throttles who also has the experience on the models they service.

 

Where does a throttle body see fuel vapor?

 

I thought the fuel was injected into the cylinders?

 

U thought right. Fuel does not get anywhere near the throttle body. The tb is contaminated by crankcase vapors
(oil vapor & blowby) via the pcv valve.

Positive Crankcase Ventilation

Fuel vapor has nothing to do with it. And nothing to re-learn. You not changing anything.

 

That is EXACTLY correct

Put another way - ask your dealer if it's a necessary service to keep your warranty valid. Regardless of which way they answer- right there you'll know whether or not he's a big fat liar or honest. By the way, one of prius chats very own hybrid Tech specialist has a sticky posted regarding services you need verses services you don't ... guess which one this is

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