I cleaned the Throttle Body, was that a mistake?

[BillRod]

Hi All

2000 Explorer, 4.0L OHV.
I removed and cleaned the Throttle Body with Throttle Body cleaner and a rag inside and out.
After it was clean I saw the sticker that said Do Not Clean due to a special coating.
What can I expect?
Will it cause any issues?

Thanks in advance
Bill

 

[franklin2]

You can expect a better running engine. That sticker is one of those Ford things. They "thought" that the special coating would keep the build-up away from the throttle body. It didn't work. Every few years clean it.

 

[bobbywalter]

Depends on what you clean it with. From what you have described I would expect no issues.

 

[Blmpkn]

Throttle body cleaner is usually safe for those coatings, brakleen.. not so much.

 

[cbxer55]

Heck, I've seen some throttle bodies where the owners have ported and polished them. The for instance being the stock Lightning TB. It is a dual side-by-side TB with a big bump in the middle. I've seen them with that large bump ground away. Never causes any issues. I removed the stock TB in my Lightning and replaced it with an Accufab TB. You don't even have to tune for a different TB. just swap it and go. They say you can tune it, but you don't have to.

The TB in my 98 3.0 Ranger has been cleaned using gasoline many times. I've never had an issue with it. Use gasoline because it appears to get all carboned up, and the stuff doesn't come off easy. Gasoline works.

 

[Dirtman]

Throttle body cleaner is costing safe. Carburetor cleaner is not.

If you remove the coating by using the wrong cleaner the throttle will stick and you will have a poor idle.

 

[Shran]

^ I can vouch for that. I cleaned the one on my 302 before I knew better and it started sticking right off idle and will sometimes stick open just a hair. A little WD-40 fixes it temporarily... I'll wipe them out now with a clean rag but that's about all

 

[franklin2]

A small percentage of idle air is supposed to go by the throttle blade. The rest is supplied by the idle air control. The throttle blade touches the bore of the throttle body when it's set correctly?

 

[Shran]

A small percentage of idle air is supposed to go by the throttle blade. The rest is supplied by the idle air control. The throttle blade touches the bore of the throttle body when it's set correctly?

On mine I can push the throttle closed by hand when it sticks open and I can feel that the accelerator pedal has some resistance for just a tiny bit. Whatever coating they put in there lubricates the throttle blade pin/hinge/pivot thing.

 

[franklin2]

On mine I can push the throttle closed by hand when it sticks open and I can feel that the accelerator pedal has some resistance for just a tiny bit. Whatever coating they put in there lubricates the throttle blade pin/hinge/pivot thing.

I believe you. Like everything else on the truck, I don't see it lasting over 10 years, no matter what they coated it with.

 

[gw33gp]

I cleaned my throttle body once when I had it off for another reason. I used throttle body cleaner. My problem was getting the engine to fire after assembly. I kept trying for several days, checking everything that I could have done to make it not fire. I finally gave up and was going to take it to a Ford dealer. It sat for a couple more days and before I called a tow truck I tried it again just to be sure and it fired up like there was nothing ever wrong with it.

I will never know what was keeping it from firing. I suspect there may have been some of the cleaner trapped somewhere in the throttle body that was interfering with letting the engine run and the time setting allowed it to evaporate, I really have no idea. It has run perfectly since then, but it ran perfect before cleaning too.

 

[Dirtman]

Throttle body cleaner will burn, you can still use it as starting fluid in a pinch so I doubt that was the issue.

 

[Dirtman]

Heck, I've seen some throttle bodies where the owners have ported and polished them. The for instance being the stock Lightning TB. It is a dual side-by-side TB with a big bump in the middle. I've seen them with that large bump ground away. Never causes any issues. I removed the stock TB in my Lightning and replaced it with an Accufab TB. You don't even have to tune for a different TB. just swap it and go. They say you can tune it, but you don't have to.

The TB in my 98 3.0 Ranger has been cleaned using gasoline many times. I've never had an issue with it. Use gasoline because it appears to get all carboned up, and the stuff doesn't come off easy. Gasoline works.

Failed to see this gem.

Throttle bodies contain carbon and vaporized oil from the PCV system. Carburetors get varnish from gasoline. These are two very different things to clean.

Carb cleaner is made to dissolve gasoline varnish, throttle body cleaner is made to dissolve carbon, soot, and oil.

Throttle body cleaner among other things is also sensor safe, i.e it won't leave residue on the map sensor or effect the o2 sensors. Carb cleaner can damage these sensors.

And also you can grind away at your throttle body but the ones in question here are Teflon coated (usually plastic but they did some aluminum). If that coating is removed the throttle body is trashed. Just because your throttle body is not one of those coated ones, doesn't mean you should give advice for everyone to clean them with gas or be grinding at them. Your experience is irrelevant.

Again to the OP.. Use dedicated throttle body cleaner on a throttle body and ignore bad examples.

 

[cbxer55]

I don't care whether you think my experience is relevant or not. My Ranger had a sticking throttle blade. I removed it and saw that it was heavily coated with some type of carbon build up. The only thing I had that would remove it was gasoline. 110 octane Sunoco. It hasn't stuck again since. I would do it again in a New York City minute if necessary. Whatever stupid coating Ford put on it when new isn't worth a horse's ass 23 years later. YMMV!

I suggest you put me on ignore. It's obvious we'll never see eye-to-eye.

 

[Dirtman]

I'm not going to ignore it when someone gives people bad advice that can damage their vehicle. You don't clean a coated throttle body with gasoline. Period.