D5 Throttle Body clean - suggestions ?
 

Hi,

Im due to remove the electronic throttle body on my S60 D5-185 for a clean soon, I know you should replace the gasket on the manifold side.

Does the battery need to be disconnected, or can the unit just be unplugged without any problems?

Would be useful to hear from anyone that has done this before, and any things to watch out for, thanks

hi i removed mine on my 2.0t its recomended you disconnect battery however i didnt as in my eyes if ignition off no power is going there be carefull what you use to clean as apparently carb n throttle cleaner can dame electrical components inside however spraying on a cloth or tooth brush should be ok

forgot too add dont know if your model is same but on mine the etm wiring is behind starter motor bracket which i undone and just bent forward to get wires out

Hi,
There's no need to disconnect the battery; on the euro4 185 engine it isn't coded to the car or anything so simply unplug the connector and undo the four bolts and the main air pipe whereupon the unit just lifts out. The gasket has two small tabs which will hold it in place on the rear of the throttle body upon reassembly to make life easier. Be careful what you clean it with as the gear inside the rectangular bit where the plug goes is plastic and easily damaged... I would soak a rag in carb cleaner and wipe the butterfly etc rather than spraying it with an aerosol.
Regards,
Neil

Some pics, of how gunked up it was!
 

Had a go at this, and thought ild post some pics, attached to give an idea of how much crud there was on the throttle assembly !,, it was about 5mm thick on the butterfly, and probably 3-4mm on the housing port, some pics showing how it looked after some time spent cleaning it, I used a scraper, toothbrush and carb cleaner (but didnt over soak the area where the spindle goes into the servo assy) took quite some time to clean it up. The assembly the throttle module bolts to had a lot of soot/crud in it also, probably 4-5mm thick which cant have been helping with airflow (there is a spindle that crosses the centre of the port (you cant see this in the pics) im guessing this is something to do with the EGR valve?) not sure why they had it come thru the centre of the tube but perhaps its to keep the heat away from the motor side?.

I made some long scrapers and got a ton of soot out of the manifold, ill post some pics of these incase its helpful to anyone else, probably got half a 'mugs worth' of chud out of here!, the bolts on the bottom of the throttle assembly can be a bit of a pig to access, (8mm head).

I managed to only remove the top section of the airbox, and left the ECU and battery connected without any problems (not sure if its OK to unplug the ECU with battery on, so i didnt!).

Im surprised they dont list this as a major service item, as with the amount of crud build up on the port i would think it must affect the airflow a bit not to mention the possibility of the butterfly jamming/the motor gear problem that others have reported.

good write up, just shows how much crap these engines put out:thumbs_up: what a dealer striping and cleaning,

Tools
 

Thanks for the thumbs outnumbered,, didnt you mean 'how much crap these engines keep in !' Im guessing its the exhaust recirculation that causes the crud.. Clan mentioned that the throttle is normally open most of the time (not entirely sure when its moved/closed on a diesel).

Heres a pic of the tools i used the bottom 2 i made up (one you might recognise the origins of!), they allowed me to get into the manifold around 6inches and scrape out piles of crud, a bit like coal mining!

The engine is sounding slightly sweeter since the cleanout ! especially on mid range revs.

i am all for preventative Maintenance, , if it saves a trip to the dealers its a bonus. and i do like your tool set up better than Snap on:thumbs_up:.
mike

Excellent post, nice to see someone with the guts to rip a 185 apart :)

How many miles are on the car Thassos? Doesn't appear to be as bad as the Euro III engines for the muck.

Also, any noticeable improvement in mpg? Good to hear it made a difference to the engine noise though.

I have a similar set but mine are Snap Off!!!


Tarquin:thumbs_up: