I bought a new remanufactured throttle body to replace the one on my car (I suspect the sensors may be going out of sync).

When inspecting the throttle body, I noticed some excess silicone/grease on the back of the throttle plate near the piece that screws into the plate.

Although a small amount, I did not want this stuff entering the combustion chamber, so I took a microfibre cloth dampened with water and gently attempted to wipe away the excess. Not much came off, and I did not want to mess with it too much. So I left it alone after this.

I did not push in the throttle plate or move the position, just used some gently wiping. A tech told me that messing with the throttle plate and/or agressively cleaning the throttle body can "toast" it.

Since I only gently wiped the plate and used my nail a little in an attempt to take off the excess silicone, is it safe to assume that the throttle body is unaffected and good, or is it possible that just the wiping (and not moving the plate) could have somehow damaged the throttle body?

I know I'm being paranoid, but just looking for opinions/reassurance with anyone that has experience changing/cleaning throttle bodies.

Thanks!

 

i've pulled mine apart many times to clean it. Just make sure it's not plugged into the harness when you push the throttle plate in to clean it. I disconnect the battery ground, unclip the harness from the TB then take it out to clean it.

 

^^By harness do you mean the clips that plug into the sensor housing?

The throttle body was new in box and not connected to anything--just the sensor box on the housing. All good?

 

ya, harness from the car.

unplugged from everything, it's all good.

 

can the tb's be polished???

 

I don't understand...are you having the same issue you had before replacing it or something? Running a Utec by any chance?

 

^^havent installed it yet. just opened it out of the box and noticed some excess black grease/silicone on the back side of the plate. So I used a wet microfibre cloth to wipe it off and I did touch the plate with my finger, but I did not use force/did not push the plate open. Just wondering if I could have caused any damage doing this, cuz if so, I would return the tb to the dealer and get a different one.

No utech. Vpro and uprev flash.

 

you can polish anything you want. the question is why? You won't gain anything and if you actually "polish" it then you risk losing the small amount of turbulence offered by a rough surface. There isn't fuel to atomize there, but air does funny things across extremely smooth surfaces.

 

I'm sure he's talking about polishing the outside for cosmetic reasons.

 

oh, haha, i'm a sleeper so i never think about those things.

 

Ok, so all the cleaning procedures I have read call for specific TB spray which does not strip the plate coating and evaporates in a few seconds.

Since, this throttle body was newly remanufactured, I did not use the TB spray, just a little tap water on a microfibre cloth to wipe off some black residue.

Was the dampened water a bad idea? Could it have had adverse effects on the plate's coating. Or was the water just as safe/safer than TB cleaner?

 

i use non-chlorinated brake cleaner. haven't had any issues yet. They make spray called "throttle body cleaner". I guess you could buy that. I just used what i had in the shop.