Ok, so I've posted about my pesky throttle body before. Since I was told I needed a new alternator when all I needed was a new negative battery cable, I'm not jumping at replacing the TB yet. Here's why- it's an intermittent problem. She'll go for days without throwing the dreaded ! and the engine light and the dreaded TPS code.

But here's the thing I've noticed, she has a pattern: She'll start out fine and then go into limp mode after a few minutes. The I'll start her up again and get the engine light, then the ! and limp mode a few minutes later. Ok. Stop and start her again and I just get the engine light. But once I've driven her for a few miles and she gets warmed up, I can restart her and the lights go out and she's great. Weird, huh?

My theory is that she's got gunk preventing the TPS from communicating with the thingamadoozie she has to talk to. I got a couple of cans of throttle body cleaner and we'll see if that fixes it. My feeling is that if it needed to be replaced, the lights wouldn't go off.

 

Jo, pick up a can of contact cleaner (or electrical parts cleaner). This can be bought at any parts store near you (really close to the throttle body cleaner in the store). The throttle body cleaner will be for the inside of the throttle body. If it looks brown, squirt the living hell out of it until it either goes away or isn't changing color. Make sure to open the metal disk that is blocking the air flow. You need to clean beyond that disk and also make sure to spray the edges of the metal disk. Of note, after doing this, you will find the car hard to start. You have essentially flooded the engine. Keep cranking and the car will fire after about 10-15 seconds of cranking. But, before starting the car, you will notice two electrical connectors on the throttle body. Remove them 1 at a time and using the electrical cleaner, spray both ends of the plug really good. Let the plug air dry for a few minutes to let all the cleaner evaporate away. Plug in the first plug and then do the other plug. You want to get rid of any rust or white powder that may have formed inside of the plug. All the visible metal should be a nice silver color. Again, squirt until it is silver or the color is not changing. If you have white stuff left over, you can use a small screw driver to scrap it off.

Start the car and see what you have. You may get a check engine light after the engine starts due to being flooded. But, this will not cause the car to go into limp mode. So, if you see the limp mode, you know your problem is still there.

Hope this helps. It is worth a try, but I can't say that I have heard anyone having success with this.

 

Ok, Chris. I'll give it a try! Thank you!

 

Ok! We cleaned the throttle body. It wasn't very brown and it's clean as a whistle now. She started up and we cleared the codes and took her for a drive. She was perfect. No engine lights. No limp mode. No problems. We took her on the interstate. I had my ex test drive her for a good while. She's doing great and we didn't get a speeding ticket, which is always good.

Now, if the TPS code pops up again, I know I've exhausted all other measures and I'll just have to put in a new throttle body because of the sensor. But that's ok. I'll just have to wait and see.