Removing the throttle body to clean it

[dafoo21]

i have a 2000 1.6l protege and im having some major hesitation and chugging sound problems. i first thought the problem might be my fuel system being dirty so i threw some greased lightning into the gas tank, filled it up and ran the car and i havent seen any results. my next step is i want to clean up the throttle body. my question is what am i getting myself into by removing the throttle body? what kind of hidden hoses are there to disconnect if there are any, anything to that nature? thanks guys. or do you guys have any other suggestions to why my car might be running like it is? it only hesitates when i first accelerate, kind of embarassing if someone is in the car with me and it sucks dealing with the sounds and hesitation at every stop light when it turns green. ive thought about goign to a shop but i dont want some guy trying to add on to my problems just to make money.

[dafoo21]

any brands you recommend?

[mazda323]

You really need to drain your coolant to clean this?

Because I was told that I should clean my throttle body due to some problems I was having.

[goldstar]

You only need to drain your coolant if you remove the throttle body since coolant circulates through it. As TheMAN said, you don't have to remove the TB in order to clean it.

Happy Motoring!

[mazda323]

Ah now I see, so you could just spray it clean with some cleaner that'll rinse off the black carbon build-up.

[goldstar]

Yes, and a small brush might be helpful in case of stubborn deposits.

Happy Motoring!

[dafoo21]

ok, so today when coming home from work, i turned on the car and pressed on the gas and the car *putt putt putted* and then stalled. my problem is getting worse, it takes me forever to get going at green lights after chugging for like 3 seconds. anyone had this problem before and know how to fix it?

[Shoelessjoemac]

Just out of curiousity, how many miles do you have on it?

[mazda323]

Did you check the ECU and see if it's dropping?

[mazda323]

I am begining to think that I'm goin' to run into this problem pretty soon.
This morning the car won't start! My brother had to help me kick start it. The thing is, I went to a car place to get a cleaner for the throttle body. The guy showed one to me but it was also for a carburetor. I was told that I should get one specifically for throttle plates because carb cleaner can damage the throttle plate, so use a cleaner specifically for throttle plates.

[dafoo21]

I am begining to think that I'm goin' to run into this problem pretty soon.
This morning the car won't start! My brother had to help me kick start it. The thing is, I went to a car place to get a cleaner for the throttle body. The guy showed one to me but it was also for a carburetor. I was told that I should get one specifically for throttle plates because carb cleaner can damage the throttle plate, so use a cleaner specifically for throttle plates.

well i went out and bought new spark plugs and it helped out the stalling problem but theres still some hesitation. if i give it a little more gas when i accelerate from a stop it isnt that much of a problem but i want my smoothness back =(! i have about 80,000 miles on it. my speedometer reads 45000 tho because of a problem putting on gay guages when i was younger and i broke a needle and got a new cluster. would it be a problem not getting the high mileage oil when i get the oil changed? i guess my next step would be to start cleaning out the throttle body?

[mazda323]

Yeah you should probably look into cleaning that throttle body. I have to clean mine as well but as I mentioned before, I have to get the cleaner specifically for it and I can't locate that anywhere here. There's lots of carb and fi cleaners in 1 but I don't wanna buy those.

[goldstar]

If you're having problems getting TB cleaner in Trinidad, couldn't you order it online?

Happy Motoring!

[mazda323]

Yeah I'll have to do that.

[mig360m]

mazda323 you live in Trinidad me too. Which part