throttle body cleaning

[rutter123]

can anyone recommend a cleaner of a sort, or something that can be applied, without being too abrasive that will remove the carbon build up and staining on the butterfly and internals of the throttle body as this is preventing the butterfly from fully closing.

[Vanny]

carb cleaner?

These days i use ASDA's £1 'Multi purpose spray' for practically all cleaning purposes in the garage. No idea exactly what is in it, but its excellent stuff.

[rutter123]

tried carb cleaner it didnt remove the stubborn carbon on the butterfly did a good job on the outside tho. maybe brake fluid would break it down, but would it do any further damage?

[Vanny]

If its just the butterfly, I tend to unscrew the disc and use 400grit paper to get the worst off, then 2000grit to flat it back. The spindle has a seal either end I think, so you'll want to be careful with that

[citronut]

dont put brake fluid any were near it as it will probably destroy the seals,

do you know anyone local to you that dose soda blasting as that would bring it up like new,
without damaging the sub straight

regards malcolm

[Tinkley]

With carb cleaner the different brands are more or less effective but sometimes I have used a soft brush to help remove deposits. Ideally something like an artists paint brush. Have used toothbrushes etc but sometimes the solvents destroy the plastic handles!. A bit of help from the brush does tend to get most of the rubbish away.

[Defender110]

I knew a top mechanic bloke once who swore by brake fluid, he used to use it for head decokes without removing the heads. He would take the car in question into the middle of a field next door, remove the air filter and have someone hold the engine running at half throttle whilst he poured brake cleaner (fluid not cleaner) down the carb. The exhaust would belt out vast amounts of smoke for a few minutes whilst he was pouring and once he stopped would eventually clear. He would then take a spark plug out to demonstrate how clean it was.
I've never been brave enough to do it myself or actually really needed to.

EDITED: Brake Fluid not cleaner

[citronut]

I knew a top mechanic bloke once who swore by break fluid, he used to use it for head decokes without removing the heads. He would take the car in question into the middle of a field next door, remove the air filter and have someone hold the engine running at half throttle whilst he poured brake cleaner down the carb. The exhaust would belt out vast amounts of smoke for a few minutes whilst he was pouring and once he stopped would eventually clear. He would then take a spark plug out to demonstrate how clean it was.
I've never been brave enough to do it myself or actually really needed to.

brake cleaner is more likely but brake fluid i think is a no no,

i dont think there is much difference between brake and carb cleaner they are both solvents

regards malcolm

[MULLEY]

Sounds like an ultrasonic cleaner would do the trick?

[Way2go]

Sounds like an ultrasonic cleaner would do the trick?

What solvents do you use in your ultrasonic cleaner then, Mulley? It's not easy to remove baked-on carbon and most ultrasonics would not be capable. In a company I worked for they had a tank (not ultrasonic although we had those too) where Carbon Tetra-Chloride was boiled and items for degreasing and cleaning were hung in the vapour which then recondensed. That was very effective but CTC is now banned due to being carcinogenic, along with many other effective solvents of the age since H&S policies have become implemented.

[rutter123]

vanny..i think i will try the removing the disc approach to clean that as it seems to have a fair build up around the edge of the disc, but as for cleaning the body internals would fine grit clean away the build up there?

[Tinkley]

I would be very wary of using any grit to clean any apertures in the throttle body. OK for the flat butterfly but fuel atomising apertures are critical and I would not want to risk altering the size. Remember carb jets are to 100'ths of a mm and bearing interferences are to '000s'ths. Even 2 hundreths of a mm can significantly alter performance from a carb.

Still prefer to use a solvent cleaner. You can use petrol, acetone, meths, thinners etc as long as you check compatibility of any plastic parts with the solvent. Just try putting polycarbonate in petrol! instant crazing.
Yet its what m/c helmet visors use and they take a 6mm ball at 160 mph as a test.
That's why methanol carbs have differnt plastic parts. Methanol will dissolve standard carb plastics.
It's also why LHM requires the correct grade of 'rubber' probably an EPDM or neoprene.

I would personally try a soft ie pipe cleaner with carb cleaner and compressed air through the apertures. Something soft even a strimmer line, fishing line (nylon) anything not metal. I'm sure something will work. BTW carb cleaner is compatible for cleaning fuel injection components.

[MULLEY]

Sounds like an ultrasonic cleaner would do the trick?

What solvents do you use in your ultrasonic cleaner then, Mulley? It's not easy to remove baked-on carbon and most ultrasonics would not be capable. In a company I worked for they had a tank (not ultrasonic although we had those too) where Carbon Tetra-Chloride was boiled and items for degreasing and cleaning were hung in the vapour which then recondensed. That was very effective but CTC is now banned due to being carcinogenic, along with many other effective solvents of the age since H&S policies have become implemented.

I've only ever used SeaClean, details of which are: http://www.jamesproducts.co.uk/sea-clean-solution.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rutter123]

i have removed the throttle body and held it up to the light there is daylight coming thru pretty much all the way round the lower butterfly, the carbon build up is clearly visible all around the rim of the butterfly preventing full closure, seems to be quite a lot of sticky black residue in the breather apertures as well, and looks a tho the timing advance breather is partially blocked with a black residue as well.

[Oilyspanner]

Brake fluid is a great solvent for carbon buildup, I have seen it squirted into the inlet of a running engine, spectacular !