When my car is idle in park I noticed that after tapping the gas the idle speed seems to drop a little. The rpms rev up fine and right after drop to what seems to be a little below normal. Right around 500 rpm. All the lights dim a little. I also notice in park or when driving from a standstill if i stomp on the gas pedal it seems to take a split second for a response. Is that normal or maybe somehow connected to my other problem? Seems to be a list of problems with that car here lately.

 

Stiffler, seems to me that the throttle body is sticking slightly and it is being a little slow on the take up. Remember, our cars are "fly by wire". So, there is no cable that directly controls the throttlebody. If there is some drag in the throttle body, an electric motor has to overcome it and it takes a moment for that to happen. I would recommend spraying some throttle body cleaner (NOT CARB CLEANER!!!!!!!) into the throttle body (open the butterfly valve with your fingers) and clean out what you can. That should help you out. A can of throttle body cleaner is like $6.

 

So should I spray it in through the butterfly valve? Then clean it out after I do that. Also, is there a certain brand you would recommend? I did a little research and a lot of people were saying to be very careful with cleaning it since some cleaners can hurt wires or sensors inside them. I just want to check since I don't know much about them.

 

Stiffler, don't worry about cleaning it out afterwards. The throttlebody cleaner is combustable, so, it will burn itself off. As for hurting sensors and wires, there are none inside the throttlebody for you to hurt. It also won't hurt the O2 sensors as it is essentially a kerosene and it will burn just like gas. When it comes to brands, like I mentioned, they are all using essentially a kerosene fuel to do the cleaning, so, it doesn't matter as long as it isn't tossing in all sorts of "protective coating" products.

Now, please note, the first time starting the car afterwards, it is going to run a little rough because you have essentially flooded the car. Get the engine to run, keep your foot on the gas and it will clear up in just a few seconds.