Gack! ...now That's Dirty!

[blk_on_blk]

So, on a nice and super rainy night, I went to leave my chiro's office and my 95 ES wouldn't start... it'd turn over, spring to life, then die... repeatedly. My first thought was the ICV (Idle Control Valve). So, I feathered the gas pedal and got it started... after a few seconds held around 1500 rpm, it settled right now to the famous smooth idle. It's been fine since, but I finally got time to tear apart the intake tonight.

Once I got the cluster of hoses off, and removed the butterfly assembly, I saw how gunky it is in there. Good Gack!! Look at that deposit... and it's from oil. Now, I know there is an oil or coolant line running up through ICV (is that oil or coolant? Didn't look closely at it), but there is also a breather line coming off the valve cover to the intake... and there is some blow-by in the crankcase because i can see deposits. I don't know if it's been repaired before I bought it and it's just left over (for the car runs perfectly... other than the non-start), but it's pretty nasty. I'll clean out the butterfly assembly with cleaner tomorrow, but is there any kind of a filter I can put on the crankcase breather tube so it traps any of this atomized oil if it's still a problem?

Back to the ICV... it's got some deposits on it, but it's not sticking. I'm sure one out of a hundred times it'll probably stick, and it's surely dirty, so I'll clean it. Any precautions to take before spraying and scrubbin in the thing? Any precautions for spraying and cleaning in the butterfly assembly?

I'll post some more pics of the actual ICV tomorrow during the repair. If there is any shot of the repair anyone wants to see, let me know in the morn and I'll get a pic of it (if I can).

[lexusk8]

It's not surprising to see a dirty throttle body like that on a +10 yr old car, but of course it's good maintenance to clean it up. I'd just spray some carb/throttle body cleaner into the butterfly valve where the TB is located. You can get the Valvoline kind at your local Pep Boys or Advance Auto store for a few bucks. After spraying it, clean the gunk off real good with a rag, or if necessary a used toothbrush. After reconnecting everything, your car should start up instantly and at normal idle.

[mburnickas]

It's not surprising to see a dirty throttle body like that on a +10 yr old car, but of course it's good maintenance to clean it up. I'd just spray some carb/throttle body cleaner into the butterfly valve where the TB is located. You can get the Valvoline kind at your local Pep Boys or Advance Auto store for a few bucks. After spraying it, clean the gunk off real good with a rag, or if necessary a used toothbrush. After reconnecting everything, your car should start up instantly and at normal idle.

I agree. I cleaned my TB and ivac last year. Was not that bad but bad enough to notice the delta in performance. His is bad, DAMN!!!!!

[blk_on_blk]

Okay, so I can just go ahead clean away with a toothbrush, a rag, and some carb/TB cleaner without any concerns? Good... I'm going to start scrubbin' now.

Yeah, I'm wondering if the guy before me blew a head gasket or something, but you'd think they would clean that up during the repair. It's amazing how well it runs looking like that.... no smoke, quick throttle. Hmm, I wonder if all that 'coating' just keeps things running smoothly (yeah, as if it worked like that).

BTW, it's not only 10+ years in vintage, but also with 166K on the ticker. That's a lot of blow-by to be pulling through the intake system over the years/miles... I'm surprised all my sensors aren't clogged!

[blk_on_blk]

Okay, so that was kind of a dirty job... just finished up, put it all back together, attached all the hoses and vvrrroomm... started up nice and smooth. Drove it around a bit, did a few restarts... it's like new again.

If anyone is going to undertake this job, it's almost a necessity to remove the throttlebody/butterfly assembly. I don't see how you can get to the screws for the ICV decently any other way. To do this, you have remove the main air intake hose from the airfilter box, remove the crankcase hose from the ICV, as well as the two coolant lines. Don't forget to disconnect all the electrical connections on this assembly. Then take off some of the vacuum hoses that restrict you from removing the assembly... leave the throttle cable and assembly on there, though. The throttlebody will just flex around and out of the way with the throttle cable still attached.

Once you drop all the bolts, then you can place a soft rag down under the assembly, pull it off the lower studs, and swing it over. Removal of the ICV is pretty straight forward from there.

Another note, if you all haven't used Carb cleaner, it's pretty nasty and volitile stuff. Any over spray will mar surfaces. Always work in a well ventilated area, use eye guards religiously, and wear rubber gloves. I tried to contain the carb cleaner, but when scrubbing in there with a toothbrush and trying to clean those tight corners, it tends to flick cleaner around a bit.

Once you get it cleaned and scrubbed with a toothbrush or small paint brush, wipe it all down with a clean cloth. You can spray a little more carb cleaner as you wipe down to get everything to release.

I had a little more gunk to clean than usual, but it all cleaned up nicely, and started with a flick of the key when I was done. Thanks for all the input on this board and previous posts on this topic. They helped tremendously, and even in the diagnostics stage. A warm thanks, again.

[lexusk8]

Glad to have helped out. I might have to partake on this myself on the wife's '98 Corolla. Nice write-up and pics as well! :)

[mburnickas]

I think on my 98 you just go under the TB and unscrew the 4 bolts (10 mm?). Did you put a new seal on? I have to do mine again this summmer.

Great pics? Things get real dirty.

[blk_on_blk]

Thanks again guys... it's really nice to be able to undertake a job I've never done before with confidence in that I know exactly what I'm looking for and how to approach it. Very cool... and probably one of the most straight forward repairs I've done in a while.

Mburnickas, I didn't change out the gasket. I've read a few other older posts who did this repair, and none of them changed out the gaskets. The gasket between the TB and the intake plenum is metal, and just needed to be cleaned. The one between the ICV and TB is polymer based... I'm guessing it's not a simple Buna-N (maybe it's Viton), or the carb cleaner would have made it swell, plus it looked to be in really good condition, so I reused it. Even if it did swell a little, that'll just give a tigher fit :P

BTW, mburnickas, I see you ride a Gixr... what an awesome bike. Even being 10+ years old, they are still kind of the benchmark for performance bikes. A friend of mine had a GSXR1100R back in the early 90's, and that thing was a monster!! Very cool.

[BenjiNtheES300]

Very nice, Sounds like im gonna have to try this out, when cold my car seems to start with a fuss... sometimes it'll make some kind of a bad noise like a loud clank when it turns over, do you guys think that this could be my problem? i havent taken a look at it yet so i dont know if its dirty or not.

[ftmail]

Very cool... and probably one of the most straight forward repairs I've done in a while.

Very good wrte up. Did you have any problems after you cleaned the iac and TB ? It seems that cleaning is good enough and there is no need to buy a new iac.

[JB2]

Thanks for the tread and the pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a 97 es300 and every once in a while I would have to pat the gas to get her started. Although my assembly is a little different, I took it off and cleaned it up and now she starts like new. It's been over a week and not a miss yet.

Thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[blk_on_blk]

Super glad to hear this thread has been help to some of you, and thanks again for the help from others that made this job a breeze for me. It's been a several months ago now and the car starts and runs perfectly... a good cleaning of the ICV definitely did the trick!

[kaosfive2005]

what about if you have the 92-96 body on it? is it the same set up?/process

[OceanView]

Just wanted to thank the OP on this DIY.

It made it easy for me to tackle this job.

I did notice that my RPM was a bit higher than normal initially but it has come down a bit in the last day.

Anyone else have this problem?

If so, what did you do to fix it?