Boiler Steve

I have removed the factory plastic air intake system and there is a decal saying NOT to clean inside. The car has 62,500 miles and is completely original. The two butterfly valves DO have carbon build-up on their insides. Is their a cleaner to use or leave it alone. Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

ESABATM

They have stuff safe for throttle bodies that wont take off the protective coatings.

cliffyk

There is no need to clean the bores unless they are VERY dirty, if you do use the "coating safe" cleaner and do not scrub off the coating.

Ford says do not clean them, and I have never found any benefit in doing so....

95beaststang

Not arguing with the facts ,just wondering what are the problems that will occur after you clean the throttle body plate ??? Thanks

cliffyk

Too much air bleed past the butterfly which will mess up the idle speed (this can be corrected by readjusting the throttle stop screw), less resistance to sludge build-up and increased "stiction" causing the throttle plates to tend to stick closed if the throttle is suddenly closed on hard deceleration.

Other than that not much...

Boiler Steve

Thanks for the info. Haven't noticed the car running bad so it sounds like I will leave well enough alone.

Repzard

I have to agree with this statement,not to go against anything Cliffy states (he is the man )

But the co. CRC make good cleaning products for intake systems (MAF Cleaner ,TB cleaner..so on) Im sure it would be okay to use their products to clean the throttle plates if need be.

But its just my opinion and .02


GL

cliffyk

FWIW I have never cleaned a throttle body on an FI setup in my life, including those on cars with well over 200k miles, it just isn't something that's necessary. Regardless of how "carboned up" they look, the light layer of carbon actually improves air flow by generating a turbulent boundary layer.

Carburetors are a different animal, I have cleaned more of those than I care to remember. At one time I had a big hot tank boiling them...