Ok, first things first: I tried the search and couldnt find what I was looking for.

Tonight I am going to rip into my motor and start cleaning stuff. Sensors, TB, etc... I am not a pro mechanic but I know my fair share and can figure it out. My question is, what should I clean? If you can take it apart to clean it I want to know about it....

TIY Nick

 

IMO (stating that clearly up front..lol), the IAC and TB are the only ones I would mess with. All the others are either too delicate (IAT), difficult to remove (EGR) or could be damaged by cleaning (MAP). It's easier to just replace them if you feel there is a problem. Take the PCV valve for example, sure you can clean it, but if you dont clean it completely you could cause more problems and they are really cheap, so I would just replace it. Many times you can cause problems because if a sensor is dirty or or whatever, the PCM has adjusted to it and if you change the characteristics by cleaning it, it can throw a code. Just my experience with these things in the past. I'm sure this will be shot down, but , hey, thats my personal experience and I am entitled to sharing. : )

 

Agreed...sometimes it's more reliable to replace than clean. The IAT sensor is a tiny little thing.

Also, be careful regarding what you do with the truck 'on'. I made the mistake of leaving the ignition on, to listen to music, while I monkeyed around with the TB and IAT.

I was horrified when I fired the truck up to see "CHECK ENGINE", and even more horrified when the truck's throttle response was almost undriveable.

Turns out I had pushed on the butterfly valve while the computer was on, and without a gas pedal input to correlate with, my throttle profile was skewed by about -70%.

As in, it barely idled, and would top out at about 2900 RPM with my foot on the floor. When I took my foot off the gas, the truck would engine brake so severely I thought the damn thing was ruined.

I pulled over...turned it off...crossed my fingers and restarted it. Problem solved! Ha! Lesson is, just be careful what you're fiddling around with. There is alot of carbon and gunk due to EGR in our intakes.

 

Thanks guys!

 

Sea foam in gas tank, crank case and also the Throttle body spray!

 

Ok, thanks again guys. I will see if cleaning it makes a difference, have to get it clean before I start to tinker with it...