Hey guys!

Actually, I’ve never cleaned the throttle body on my car. Which is peculiar as I did this annually on the xjr, and do this every other year on the S-Type 4.0.
My question is; How often has your throttle body been cleaned? And do you notice a difference? What is different?
I suppose I was just avoiding the replacement of the coupler, which is crazy.
Cheers!

 

I had this done per Jaguar SVC department recommendation, last year. I did not notice any difference, except for a lighter pocket book, but I always do scheduled/recommend maintenance. This one has to last until Jaguar makes another XKR!

 

but that’s just it. Did I miss something? I don’t see the item on the maintenance schedule.

 

If you do, have a new coupler ready.

I only cleaned mine when I had the S/C out. I installed a catch can at the same time but not sure if that kept the TB cleaner or not. It still looks pretty clean last time I looked, almost 30K miles after the catch can was installed.

You can always take a peek and see how dirty it is. But I wouldn't bother unless youre in there doing other stuff.

 

Pretty sure the 4.2 is specifically not recommended to be cleaned due to the coating on it. The 5.0 is easy to clean and accessible.

 

I know on the 4L X100 XKR I have, the intake seems to get more "crap" in it via the emissions system, and I know some earlier cars had issues with throttle bodies actually having mechanical issues. I am unaware of that affecting the X150 in any variant.

If you are doing anything that requires pulling the snorkel bit of the intake off, you could check, but I don't recall mine ever looking bad and I have 74k miles. Popping that off if you want to check is super fast too; at least on my 07 XKR it is.

 

That's correct but... there are plenty of cleaners on the market that are safe to use on throttle bodies coated with moly.

I haven't done it on my XK N/A but did on my SV8.
I used this kit (overkill) -
I had a rough idle, not terrible but when I removed the intake manifold and lifted the butterfly valve, it was black inside the throttle body.

I started with cleaning the throttle body using the intake system cleaner and I dumped the fuel treatment into the gas tank. I had to feed the straw in carefully so the vehicle would idle properly while the can was draining.

Once done, I removed the intake again. The TB was clean. I didn't want to remove the moly compound on the butterfly valve, so I focused on movement of the butterfly valve itself by hand. I sprayed and cleaned the pivot points with a tooth brush. I also cleaned the TB where the butterfly valve makes contact with the TB.

Rough idle issue resolved. Also had a bit of a lurch on the accelerator beforehand and that went away too,

I'd say I left 98% of the moly untouched. My assumption was, I could always remove more.

From Popular Mechanics:
Some throttle body bores have a coating to reduce the buildup, but, in time, bores with protective coats can be affected. There are several ways to clean out the area. The best is with a professional tool called the Intake Snake, which comes with an effective yet safe solvent, and the simplest is with an old worn-out toothbrush with soft bristles and a mild solvent.

There are three reasons why you have to be careful, both in choice of solvent and in application: First, if the throttle body has a protective coating (as on many Ford products) to reduce the buildup, a strong solvent and hard brushing will remove it, so you'd have to do the job more often. If you see a warning label on a Ford product, that's why.

 

I had planned to clean my throttle body when I change my SC coupler but I am pretty sure the service manual said specifically not to clean the trottle body. I was surprised as I've done this on my previous cars as routine maintenance. I will try to find the specific ref to post here. (2010 XKR)

 

From the 4.2 liter service manual:
CAUTION: Do not attempt to clean the throttle body. The bore and the throttle plate has a special coating applied during manufacture which should not be removed.

From the 5.0 liter manual:
Do not attempt to clean the throttle body bore, build up of deposits reduces air leakage past the throttle plate at the fully closed position.

On my 07 I did clean the body where it meets the butterfly valve with no ill effects on the teflon coating of the plate itself as I only focused on the pivot points. My car, my money....

 

yeah... probably. Coincidentally by the same guys that didn't spec a diff fluid change and gave us grief for many years on the transmission fluid change.

 

Did clean the TB on the XJ two years ago; the build-up was minimal, but it solved my OBD code problem (my Jaguar dealer said it could not be that…).

Never did it on the XK and no issue for the moment. If I get an OBDII warning compatible with a dirty TB I’ll do it but not before.