How to clean TB Intake on a 7G?????

[Mitsufied]

Guyz,

Today I took my 2000 Saturn LS 4cyl {it's a company car. I get a new one every 3 years as long as I keep my job}; to get an Oil Change. While I was there, the tech inspected everything under the hood, and he told me that the TB Intake needed cleaning. Since it's a company car, I did not hesitate to have it done.

WELL WELL WELL............

I was shocked by the nasty smell and the thick black smoke that came out of the car's exhaust. I saw and smelled this from the customer waiting area.

*** THE CAR IDLES AND RUNS SOOOOOOOO SMOOTHE NOW...... IT'S INCREDIBLE ***

Since 'CUSTOMERS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN WORK AREA' I was unable to peep what they were doing prior to cleaning the TB Intake. I know that they hooked a machine up to something under the hood and poured some sort of cleaning substance into a canister attached to the machine.

This is all I know. When I asked the tech what exactly he did and how he did it..... he got an attitude and avoided giving me a direct answer.

SO............

If anyone here is an Automotive Tech...... or is studying to be one...... or knows one........ can you let me know if this can be done simply; or must I take my 7G to the Pro's and pay the $79.99 for the service?

P.S. I used to think that using Fuel Injector Cleaners on a regular basis was good enough. But today I found out that the TB Intake needs it own cleaning as well.

Mitsufied

[96TEXASgalant]

I'm not a tech, but my friend recommended that I use carb cleaner on it. I took off the intake pipe, wedged the throttle open and sprayed, hooked the pipe back up, cranked the car and let it cycle through. I can't say I felt a huge difference(it was right before we went to the track)but I think it made a little difference. If you start the car without connecting the pipe back your check eng. light will come on(like mine did)but that's no big problem. I did it twice, oh yea, when you start the car don't rev it just let it cycle through(if you try this).

[Kain]

Very simple. Go to the local auto parts store, and buy some "carb, choke, and throttle body cleaner" Get an old tooth brush, take off any intake pipage, hold the throttle butterfly open, spray the cleaner in, and brush well with the toothbrush, get as much black gunk as you can. Than while it's still wet, swab it out with a clean cloth (cloth, not paper towel. You don't wanna leave crap in there if you can avoid it) do that a couple of times till the rag comes out fairly clean. Than squirt it down again, put it back together and start her up. Good as the pros, and a whole lot cheaper.

[miragal]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kain)</div><div class='quotemain'>Very simple. Go to the local auto parts store, and buy some "carb, choke, and throttle body cleaner" Get an old tooth brush, take off any intake pipage, hold the throttle butterfly open, spray the cleaner in, and brush well with the toothbrush, get as much black gunk as you can. Than while it's still wet, swab it out with a clean cloth (cloth, not paper towel. You don't wanna leave crap in there if you can avoid it) do that a couple of times till the rag comes out fairly clean. Than squirt it down again, put it back together and start her up. Good as the pros, and a whole lot cheaper.</div>

Perfect but you need to cover the two holes in the throtle body or you can damage the ISC motor.

[carlos reynoso]

I'm a tech for honda but I have a galant
so yes is the way they telling you thats the best
way to do it
you go to a parts store then take the intake pipe off
open the trottle spray and then clean .
put everything back together and start the car up.
note: the car will give you a hard time to start and
you will see that black smoke but than it will bet perfect and clean

[PaulBlackGSX]

Actually, there is something that seems to work better than carb cleaner. It's called Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner (MCCC for short). It's available for any Chrysler dealer, although CarMax had a pretty good deal on it. Bout 5 bucks a can. This stuff is HEAVY duty. There is also a way to take out the plugs and spray it on the tops of the pistons, suck it out with a shop vac to get the tops of the pistons clean. I need this on my Eclipse and it made a world of difference. Seems to work much better than the carb cleaner.

I can detail the steps, but they are really well documented at the DSM vfaq site http://www.vfaq.com.

In personal experience (for whatever that counts), it's superior that auto part store carb cleaner and works wonders if you have age on your car if you do the complete MCCC by getting the top of the pistons clean.

[2True]

This is great info for sure, but most of us know about it now.

I am going to unstick it as it's been here forever. If anyone needs this info, a quick search will bring it to ya.