Warning when cleaning your throttle body and MAF

I threw a CEL yesterday and went to AutoZone, used their reader and found that it was displaying a P1123. Best I can figure is that there's something going on with either the sensor being dirty or dirty throttle body.....so no big deal...go in and clean it out right? Warning....when you're spraying the CRC into the TB, take off that damn red tube....the red plastic tube blew off when I was spraying into the TB...and it's gone around the corner of the plenum where I can't see it. Since it's plastic, I can't fish it out with a magnet...... That means that a relatively simple procedure like cleaning the MAF and TB is turning into a slightly more complex and time consuming job. So, as a suggestion....take the dogone red tube off your CRC spray can when cleaning your TB. Sheesh!

Sounds like something that would happen to me. Try a shop vac.

Damn hate to hear that Chuck, I used the black tube with my spray and didn't have a problem with it coming off, must be higher quality

Demon: Undoubtedly the black straw must be of much higher quality. I'll have to remember that next time. Actually, I tried just about everything I knew, but couldn't locate it...so I called a lady friend who has very small hands, and she was able to reach around the 90 degree curve in the plenum and found the plastic straw teetering on the edge of the down tube to the intake. Had it dropped down there I would have had to start dismantling the dogone intake. I learned something today. Actually, it's just as well that I took the throttle body apart because there was some ugly build-up of crud in there that I wouldn't have seen if I had just sprayed into the butterfly valve. I also saw some buildup on one side of the throttle body around one of the 10mm bolts which told me that there could have been an airleak there. I'll have to torque them more evenly this time. Does anyone know the torque specs for the bolts to the throttle body?

Chuck, it HAS to do with that RSS Plenum with improved airflow!!! I'm telling ya! With the OEM plenum, the straw would have stuck right there at the T. So there you GO! That's a better test than any Dyno run.

That's why I agree with Loren and Tool Pants... .you're going through all the trouble in removing the other components...just remove the 4 hand-tightened screws that hold the TB and clean the damned thing away from the car on a table! Good luck with it, Chuck. Also, the TB cleaner is harmful to the paint...so watch the painted inside of the RSS plenum.

Arnee: I actually had to take the TB off to chase down that straw.....so I took a damp cloth and wiped down the whole Plenum and TB to remove any residual cleaner. The inside of the RSS Plenum looks like baked enamel, not paint....it didn't look like paint...much harder. It was very dirty in there, so I'm sure that's the reason for the CEL. Since I had already thrown a CEL, I didn't want to leave anything in there like left over cleaner that might affect the Sensor. I've disconnected the battery to wipe out the CEL and I'll take it for a drive when the weather cools off later tonite.(102 in Sacramento!)

Just got back from a drive and it's truly amazing how much increased performance I got out of something as simple as a good cleaning of the TB and MAF......I never would have thought it would give me that sort of result. But I do have to admit that it was pretty cruddy in there.

That's odd... my RSS plenum peeled on some areas where the tb cleaner ran along.

Arnee: I know it might be a pain in the ***, but you might try getting ahold of the folks at RSS and returning the item.....there's no reason it should have peeled with the application of CRC....and if perhchance that does happen....it might be good to get that info out to the folks who have spent close to $1K for the plenum. To me, that should have been an R and D issue....especially because it's logical to assume that folks would be using MAF cleaners to clean up the sensor as well as the throttle body. If the RSS plenum is susceptible to degradation from the CRC cleaners, we should know about it.

Most of those cleaners contain what is commonly called lacquer thinner (which will remove many paints). CRC Fuel Injection Air Intake Cleaner Acetone 67-64-1 750 ppm 750 ppm NE 40-60 Diacetone alcohol 123-42-2 50 ppm 50 ppm NE 1-2 Methanol 67-56-1 200 ppm 200 ppm NE 1-2 Xylene 1330-20-7 100 ppm 100 ppm NE 8-16 Toluene 108-88-3 100 ppm 100 ppm NE 9-18 Organic additives Mixture NE NE NE <5 Propane 74-98-6 NE 1000 ppm NE 10-15 Isobutane 75-28-5 NE NE 1000 ppm 10-15 Ethylbenzene 100-41-4 100 ppm 100 ppm NE 1-2

Thanks for the rundown on the various compositions Loren.....but to me the issue still is that if CRC or any other electrical cleaner has a degrading effect on the compositon of the material used inside the RSS Plenum.....those folks should have a warning to that effect on the instruction sheet that comes with the device. I sprayed quite a bit of CRC into there when I was cleanin up the black residual goop....but I did chase it down right away with a damp cloth to remove the cleaner as well as the black substance...whatever it is. It doesn't stand to reason the black would be carbon because there's no detonation in the intake that would leave a carbon residue....so it has to be possibly oil from the CAI that uses the funnel shaped K and N type filter.... The bottom line is that after a good cleaning that included the inside of the CAI TB, Plenum, and intake housing, the car ran a lot better....So I'm ultimately satisfied with the effort even though it took about 3 hours longer than it should have.

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+1 This is the reason I don't work on my own car, not because I can't - but because **** like this happens to me all the time and a simple job will waste an entire day. And the shop vac is a good idea too. Sorry this happened. One day you'll look back on this and laugh... well not really, you'll just get more pissed off. Best not to think about it again.

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Chuck, I know just how you feel. Aren't neighbors great? I had to replace a light bulb in the kitchen a few weeks back. As my sweet and thoughtful wife was on the way out the door to go to work, she told me I was too old and clumsy to be climbing on a ladder. So I asked my neighbor for help. I decided the best thing I could do is hold the ladder! I may be old, but I ain't stupid!

Tim, that is fantastic. I almost fell off my chair. Chuck, should you have to clean the throttle body already? Of course, I'm presuming that you have a new RSS and recall they only went for sale about 6 months ago.

Tim....nice bulbs....I just love those neighborhoods where there's a good neighbor policy that prevails. Thanks for sharing that info with us less fortunate guys. Edward: Yes...you're quite correct. I did install the RSS Plenum just a while back and the throttle body was filthy. There was some crud around one of the four 10mm bolts that holds the TB up against the Plenum.....which tells me that the bolts were'nt torqued down equally. There was more crud on the bottom of the Plenum....most likely a collection of crud that accumulated when I sprayed the CRC in there but didin't get into the Plenum until I took off the TB to fish around for the straw. I don't know why or what is contributing to the presence of the black substance that seems to collect around the bottom half of the butterfly valve....but after taking everything apart, it was obvious that a cleaning was definitely called for. I will say that the car runs much "friskier" after cleaning. I think the CEL was caused by a dirty MAF because it hasn't come back since the cleaning and reset.

Great info. Chuck. Did you ever find a torque spec for the four throttle body bolts? BTW, I like the new avatar, great looking 996!!!

Dreamcarrera: Thank you for the compliment on the avatar.....unfortunately the car caught fire this afternoon and looks like it is totalled. Something caught fire under the dash and it spread so fast I had to bail out. You can see the details under the new post I wrote entitled Holy Smokes! It was truly heartbreaking to be standing there watching it burn.

Wow, Chuck that is unbelievable, I just read your previous post and I almost fell off my chair. I am very sorry to hear about the car but I am glad you got out of it uninjured. I wish you the best of luck in resolving this with the insurance co., etc.