Cleaner for Throttle Body and Intake Manifold ?

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AccordMDX

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Want to clean the throttle body and air intake manifold on the accord and the mdx as well. There are some sprays out there including one from Honda that I saw at their parts/spares counter. Any recommendations or suggestions ?

How/Why exactly does the intake and throttle body get the black deposits ?
 
Wet the throttle sparingly with throttle spray, get some shop paper towel (the one that makes by kimberly clark, long fibre strans, lint-free (almost)), wipe down the throttle until it's clean.

Reason for not overspraying the throttle is that there are lots of orifices (vacuum holes) and ports on the throttle body that leads to all kinds of pneumatically driven motors, valves,seals, etc. Solvent spray will attack these rubberised parts where you're gonna get all sorts of weird failures and intermittent drivability issues further down the road.

These black deposits are from motor oil fumes and gasoline vapours.
 
That's why I put a PCV catch can in my system.
No more deposits on the plate, or pools in the manifold.
Some throttle bodies are supposedly coated to help slough off deposits, and strong solvents will damage the coating.
 
CRC makes an "Air Intake Cleaner" that is PTFE safe, for those with coated throttle bodies. Gentle, yet decent. For stronger cleaning Valvoline makes a decent "synpower" spray, otherwise I'd use our house brand.
 
I cleaned the throttle body on my BMW 2 summers ago after 175k mi. because it was filthy looking. Using a generic throttle body cleaner, I removed it from the car and thoroughly sprayed things until the fluid came out clear keeping away from the electronics (it's an electric throttle body). Then I wiped the excess off and lubed things up with M-1 spray lube. No problems since.
 
As of now removing the intake is not an option so it will have to be a spray. So the options are -

CRC
Valvoline
Subaru
Deepcreep
Honda

I believe DeepCreep is the same as Seafoam except that its a spray, right ?

I'd like to use the safest option. The one that is safe for O2 sensors, Cat conv, etc..

Well I picked up the one from Honda since I was there anyway (pictured below) and it did have a pretty quick action on the removing the buildup in the throttle body. Its a bit cumbersome to look far into the throttle body and intake on a 4-bore accord but as far as I could see it was doing its job. The engine stuttered and stammered as I sprayed it in. Some of it trailed back out taking some of the goo with it as I shut off the engine.

I wasn't sure if it would have cleaned the intake manifold or not so I also sprayed it through the PCV connection. Again the engine stuttered as I sprayed it in and I had to keep it from dying.

-
 
just pull all of the vacuum lines off one at a time and use carb cleaner spray with the very fine spray tube. buy a foot of vacuum hose at the local parts store and use it to get the spray down the orfice. flush them out one at a time and then start the engine after you clean each one and run it for a minute with each line dettached. its about the only way to get the orfices clean without damaging the rubber hose or the device at the other end of the rubber hose. i killed a honda MAP sensor a few years ago by leaving it on the throttle body on my old civic. it died about 50 miles from home with no warning. i had it towed home and spent a day figuring out what was wrong. the sensor was 300 at the dealer. the tow was 140. my wallet still aches from that one.
 
The can has been stripped for your viewing pleasure but its not as revealing as you might expected it to be.
tongue.gif


Here's the entire label. But there is nothing on the can, just a plain blank aluminium can. Let me know if you need a larger picture or want to read any part of the label.

-
 
that's why I suggest spraying of the throttle area sparingly (just wets it) and then wipe it down with lint-free cloth/towel.

By doing so you have pretty much elimiates all the possible problems that might have been attributed to the spray down the road...

The introduction of "foreign" matter even things like throttle cleaner spray will definitely upsets your idling (that is expected) so engine shrudder or chokes to a stall is expected.

I would, again, stress on the fact that while spraying a throttle cleaner spray while engine runs is not too bad (other than to suffocate/choke the engine to a stall, diluting the motor oil on your cylinder walls, might put a bit of stress on your engine bearings, etc.), one shall always consider doing it the "manual" way by wetting the throttle sparing and wipe it down.

my biggest concern would be the damaging of computer controlled components, vacuum driven devices and also potential harm to the engine due to motor oil washout and dilution.

Change the motor oil shortly after you have sprayed a full can of throttle cleaner...
 
Thanks...I figured itd have the real label undernieth, oh well. But the ingredients say enough.."methanol, acetone, and toluene"...not unlike B-12, but what worries me is that methanol is the number one ingredient, I thought that stuff was damaging to aluminum and caused it to pit???
 
A catch can is the real answer to taking care of the TB and the pcv. Do we need a catch can, make it yourself thread?
 
Hah, hello! Toluene in the Honda stuff! That's Berryman B-12 Chemtool! Berryman B-12 Carb and Choke Spray may be a good bet, then. Chemtool is great. I like it as much as some people like GC and Havoline, LOL.
 
gogozy- you should be able to pop the throttle plate open easily by hand with the vehicle off (power off to servo/throttle actuator) on a TBW equipped vehicle. Just don't try to work the throttle by hand with the engine running. The actuator and associated position sensors HATE that!
G/luck
Joel
 
thanks JTK. i will try that on the TSX, clean up the system and install a catch can in next spring.
another question off topic
grin.gif
...where can i find VSOT in Buffalo area?
worshippy.gif
 
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