93ToyKid

Well, today I was in Auto Zone and picked up a can of STP Throttle Body Cleaner. Wow! Immediately once I cranked it up I noticed I had a smoother idle. Also, before when revving it up in neutral, it would want to skip, miss, and carry on. It sounded terrible. It still does it a little bit, but it's no where near as bad. I think if I took the TB all the way off and went to town, I could get it to stop completely. My question is, what do I need to be careful with when taking it off and cleaning it? Do I need to take the TPS off, or is it fine if I'm using TB Cleaner? I don't want to invest in a new one, so any help is appreciated before I dive into this!!

93ToyKid

Anyone?

eric-the-red

I've heard that the cleaner can damage the TPS if it gets in there. I wouldn't spray too much. Removing the throttle body is easy to do, just unplug a few vacuum hoses, 1 electrical connector, 2 coolant hoses and remove 4 bolts. When I did mine I didn't drain the rad as is suggested, I just removed the coolant hoses and quickly plugged them with a bolt. I probably spilt a couple of ounces only. Then remove the TPS and clean away. It's also a good time to make sure the TPS is adjusted properly. I found this site useful for that
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TPS/index.shtml

One other thing if you remove the throttle body the dealers near me didn't stock the gasket between it and the intake plenum, I had to order it which meant no truck for 2 days. You may want to get one ahead of time.

93ToyKid

If I remove the TPS, is it possible to reinstall it incorrectly? I know the mounting holes are oval-shaped for adjustment, should I just mark where it is and not worry about it? Thanks!

eric-the-red

Assuming it's correct now, if you put it back in exactly the same place it should be OK.

bflooks

seeing how this is being talked about, i have a question.

i read the link on the cleaning and replacement on 4crawler. my question is this...a bad tps will cause a stutter or hessitation on acceleration, correct? and will it just happen, or will there be signs first? reason i am asking is this:

i have a 98 4runner, 4cyl, 5spd. with 131k on it. the truck has always run fine, but it just started to skip on up shifts, surge when at highway speeds, and have a lack of power on down shifts. i went from 22-23 mpg to about 20-21 mpg. i orderred a clutch, but now i am beginning to qustion if it could be this based on the surge and stutter. any idea how much the part is, and if anyone thinks this i worth looking into before replacing the clutch.? i have not cleaned the throttle body, as this is on my things to do list. could it also just be the throttle body needing a good cleaning? thanks in advance.

paranoidandroid

it definitely will not hurt to clean the throttle body

Mohamed

You're idle will act wierd if you have a bad TPS. You'll be at a stop light and you're rpms will idle up and down erratically if your TPS is bad. But, test it first before replacing it, it's a good $230 part when it was replaced in my old '90 4Runner.