How To Clean Your Throttle Body

[Sh00tme!]

Hi Guys,

I recently started noticing a rough idle in my 03BA Turbo and after just putting up with it for a while it became more and more noticeable, it was almost stalling with the A/C on. After a quick call up of the local ford service department they informed me that "either my spark plugs, core packs or my injectors were in need of servicing and to just drop it on down" after my wallet went down $360 I thought the problem solved..... or so I thought.

After little over 10min of driving home the idle drop happened again. Once I got home I rang ford service informing them that the problem still was there and inquired what exactly my $360 paid for... no new plugs or packs... just a injector clean "additive" (I'm assuming like the ones ya buy for $14 at super cheap / autobarn) and labour..... (swearing once again ensued). They then preceeded to tell me that it must be another underlying problem such as a tune or a vacuum issue, after further gibberish I was told to drop it down again the following day, which I declined.

I had a quick look around the forum to see if someone else had a similar problem, after which I noticed a solid trend of people with similar story's and senior members saying "clean the throttle body" so with my toolbox in had I set on doing just that today.

Firstly I went down to Super Cheap and bought Nulon "Throttle body & Carby Cleaner" (Cost me $14.95) came home and set to work.

Firstly you'll need to disconnect the battery (I do this as a precaution as the electronic throttle)

I then started loosening the hose clams & crossover pipe mounting bolts.

After this I got a beer and then disconnected the oil breather return, and the vacuum hose on the blow off valve, (mine is after market).

after a little wriggling and pulling the whole cross pipe assembly came off and I was left with clear access to the throttle body

Grabbing the throttle body cleaner and a cotton rag (I used an old t-shirt). After reading the tin I decided to spray the cleaner onto the rag instead of down the throat of the body, once again because of the electric motor that moves the butterfly and I didn't want to get over spray everywhere. Proceed to clean the inside of the body opening the butterfly gently and cleaning on the other side as well. The butterfly will resist and spring back when you let go so its a bit tedious...

Before

After

Once you body is nice and clean its the simple steps of putting everything back

Tip: check the hose that goes down to the outlet of the turbo is still connected securely. When I tried reconnecting mine it had disconnected from the other end which was annoying.

Once you've go everything tight and back where it should be reconnect the battery & go for a drive.

Tip: listen out for any leaking boost pressure. !!! I got around the corner from home to hear that I was leaking boost pressure and after turning around and inspecting I noticed the sh*tty clips that ford supply on the intakes weren't sealing properly on the pipe going from the turbo to the crossover pipe. after spending over an hour trying to make it all fit snugly and securely only to drive up the street and hear the same pressure leak I cracked it and borrowed the missus car and got a aftermarket inter cooler joiner and heavy duty clips (from Autobarn). Problem Solved. (While I was @ the Shops got new joiners and heavy duty clip for all 3 turbo joiners (Turbo to uptake pipe, Uptake pipe to crossover assembly and the crossover pipe to the throttle body) ... (didn't want to go through another hour trying on the other end.)

While I was Cleaning up I looked @ the joiner which joined the turbo to the uptake pipe... only to notice a nice split about 3mm long in the center of the joiner.... After I finished swearing that I'd wasted over an hour trying to join a split joiner I took the car for a good long drive.

NO IDLE DROP !!!!

even with A/C ON!!!!

Now I just wish I could have that $360 back & slap the ford service guy across the face.

I'd like you guys for saving me probably $1000's because my local ford service guys are retards .....

Hope this guide helps others out

[freeze_dk]

nice writeup for the people who havnt done this already.. why did you disconnect the battery though?

[RHR]

that's what I thought. Really no need.

[Sh00tme!]

I Disconnected the battery because the throttle is electrically controlled and I thought opening the throttle while it still was connected to the battery might be harmful... As I said in the write up it was my own precaution.

[RHR]

Fair enough

[ebxmple]

Dis connecting the battery is actually a good idea,as it resets the keep alive memory in the ecu. Gives the idle etc a fresh start now that its all clean and all.

[KWIK F6]

Nice write up mate..might have to do this on the weekend, have noticed a rough idle, changed plugs and coils and still there...hopefully this wil fix it..

[Sh00tme!]

Cheers for the positive feed back guys !!!

[freeze_dk]

I recommend this to everyone every service as mine looked the same after 15k

[FastR1Red]

Plus don't forget to reset the TPS after you've cleaned the throttle body....always a good idea.