Carbon build up in the throttle?

[krunchykrome]

We took the Acura TSX to the dealer on Saturday for a routine oil change. They told us that we have carbon build up in the throttle and they wanted $165 to clean it. The car is a 2004 with 95k miles on it.

Anyone ever have a mechanic tell them this before? After a quick google search, I found out that a lot of mechanics try to "sell" this to customers. I also found out that it's a quick DIY fix after buying a $10 chemical at a auto store.

 

[Vette73]

Depends on what they do. If all they do is spray out the throttle body then no just about anybody can do that.

If they remove the TB and maybe remove the EGR and/or any other top end parts like those to hand clean then on some cars it may be worth it.

Most only do the first so 99% of the time its not worth it.

 

[radioouman]

The symptom of this problem is a sticky accelerator pedal when you first hit it. It can also cause rough idle, but in my opinion that is rare.

I'd buy the $7 can of throttle body cleaner, pull the throttle body myself and clean it.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I cleaned mine (after 95,000 miles...) and did notice the idle a bit smoother. But that was mainly because of cleaning off the gunk from the idle control motor's plunger, not the throttle body blade and orifice itself.

 

[StageLeft]

I cleaned mine on my maxima some years ago and noticed no difference. I think build up of deposits on the throttle body is natural. Some do report it working better but this is not something I'd bother with unless the car was symptomatic in some sense and even then I'd be surprised if this could help much.

I'd like actually to know how they determined you have carbon build up on that with a regular oil change. To get to mine to see inside I have to disconnect the pipe after the air filter and it's actually a bit of a pain to do because the confines are so small.

 

[lsd]

Seems like a good deal. After all a $3 bottle of carb cleaner is hard to come by these days.
lol

 

[kornphlake]

I wouldn't pay for it unless you noticed the check engine light was on, you failed emissions or the accelerator pedal sticks. I've used Seafoam myself several times on a few different vehicles I've owned. Seafoam made a noticeable difference in my commuter the first couple times, back when the odometer showed about 100k, but now I don't notice any difference after the cleaning. Despite using Seafoam a couple times, I still got a sticky accelerator pedal and had to remove the throttle body for a manual cleaning, aside from the feel of the gas pedal I couldn't tell any difference in performance after the cleaning. Supposedly Seafoam cleans the combustion chamber as well as the intake, it may clean carbon deposits out of the combustion chamber better than it cleans out the intake.

 

[Audiotherapy]

I look my intake manifold apart and cleaned it, heres what it looked like

http://i41.tinypic.com/2lsecd2.jpg

 

[exdeath]

Biggest symptom of buildup in throttle is high idle speed. Confirm by reaching under the hood and force the throttle towards the closed position and see if it moves slightly and idle drops to normal.

PS that pic looks like a variable intake runner mechanism, not the throttle body. The throttle will be leading into the plenum you took off, located just beyond the airflow sensor.

Looks like you have a lot of oil in there, might want to check your PCV system and possibly install a oil catch can/screen.

 

[Audiotherapy]

yeah i changed the PCV, its the air plenum behind the TB, dont have the actual picture of TB, so just to illustrate all the crap that was in my intake...

heres another picture where the TB would be attached to...

http://i34.tinypic.com/spc40m.jpg

 

[Squisher]

The EGR ports in the throttle body riser were totally closed up with carbon in my '98 F150. I used a piece of aluminum wire that I pounded into a spade drill shape to clean it out. They're like .250" dia. and 3-4" long and after cleaning them my mileage went up 30+%.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Depends on what they do. If all they do is spray out the throttle body then no just about anybody can do that.

If they remove the TB and maybe remove the EGR and/or any other top end parts like those to hand clean then on some cars it may be worth it.

Most only do the first so 99% of the time its not worth it.

This. Ask what they'll do. If it's just a chemical treatment without removing anything then you can do that yourself. If they're going to spend some time taking it apart that price isn't too terrible.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: Bignate603

Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Depends on what they do. If all they do is spray out the throttle body then no just about anybody can do that.

If they remove the TB and maybe remove the EGR and/or any other top end parts like those to hand clean then on some cars it may be worth it.

Most only do the first so 99% of the time its not worth it.

This. Ask what they'll do. If it's just a chemical treatment without removing anything then you can do that yourself. If they're going to spend some time taking it apart that price isn't too terrible.

I took mine apart, I had it back on in about 15 minutes. If you have any do-it-yourselfness just do it yourself. On a difficulty scale I'd rate it as a 3/10 simply because you need to make sure you don't drop a screw in the intake. So about on par with an oil change.

 

[AMCRambler]

Had to clean the TB on my old Contour. I was getting the sticky accelerator pedal issue and it was gunk in the TB holding the butterfly closed. Getting in the car and pushing the pedal for the first time would require extra force to get it to move, then it would pop and move freely. A couple of times I had it actually stick open a bit which was a little scary. Fortunately it was at low speeds.

It wasn't hard to take it apart and clean it. You did have to take the air intake off to get to it and disconnect a couple vacuum hoses, one or two wire harnesses and the throttle cable. Then it was just four nuts and I was able to take the whole thing right off and clean it real good with some carb cleaner. It was this sticky tar like substance which makes me think it wasn't carbon but maybe oil residue that had grown viscous over time. I tried to clean some of the intake manifold at the opening there but that was a pretty futile effort. I would have had to the whole manifold off the engine and soak it to get the crud out. I didn't feel getting that thing clean warranted going through the trouble of getting new manifold gaskets so I put it all back together again. The accel pedal problem was fixed so I was happy.

I'd say tackle it yourself if you're even slightly handy. It will take you an hour and some carb cleaner and save you $165. Worst case, one of the vacuum hoses breaks and you need to pick up a new one.