Infamous Nissan throttle body cleaning

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I have been wanting to clean the throttle bodies on my 11 Altima and 07 Frontier both with the 2.5L engine. I have read many forums about idle and CEL problems afterwards. Here is what I did for both of mine. I tried the ignition on vehicle in drive not running and hold the accelerator pedal down. It only opened the throttle butterfly about 1/4 of the way. That was not going to work. I then did everything with the vehicles turned off. I just removed the air intake hoses and gently opened the butterflies and used a rag with intake cleaner sprayed on the rag and wiped out the throttle bodies around where the butterfly rests when idling. There was a lot of black that wiped off. I did not spray anything into the throttle body. The way I see it the most critical area is where the butterfly rests when idling. It is a very small opening and any buildup can interfere with the airflow at that area. Afterwards I buttoned everything back up and started the vehicles. Both started fine and idled down to normal fine. I had no CEL or erratic idle issues. The reason I did it on the Altima was I was getting a slight erratic idle when at a stoplight. The vehicle would seem to drop idle slightly at times and come back up. So far now it idles well in drive at a stop light. I know it is not the gold standard in throttle body cleaning but it is clean around where the butterfly rests at idle. To me that is the most important area to keep clean and no CEL or idle relearn procedure to perform. Not sure if anyone would get the same results, but I just wanted to share anyway. Any comments are welcomed. Thanks.
 
It's good everything worked out. You're definitely one of the lucky ones. All the bad experiences I read about over on the Maxima forums dissuaded me from cleaning the TB on my I35. Many people ended up with CELs and erratic idles that were not solved by idle relearns. They had to pay the dealer to hook up their fancy computer to reset everything. Nissan electronic TBs are finicky as [censored].
 
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Do these cars have mechanical linkages, or 'by wire'? I've heard similar 'issues' and was going to clean out my wife's 350 on a PM basis, but decided to leave it alone. You'd think with everything shut off, opening by hand and cleaning wouldn't be a problem-disconnect the battery first?
 
I think the way to clean a drive by wire throttle body is to have the key in the 'on' position and have a buddy step on the throttle. I could be wrong though.
Shouldn't need to clean it unless the throttle is sticky though.
 
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
The timing for the idle relearn procedure has to be dead accurate. Use a stopwatch to time yourself.


Yup - and 1/2 the time, the throttle body will go bad after you attempt to clean it - it will just refuse to accept the idle air relearn.

As a result, we no longer clean the VQ35 throttle bodies as part of scheduled service....unless there is a drivability issue.
 
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i have a 05 altima 2.5s it started idleing low when you pulled to a stop while in gear and got to where it would idle between 600 to 300 rpms and dying most of the time what did i do to fix it? glad you asked.... i took the flexible rubber hose off between the throttle body and the air flow meter there was oil present in the hose i then turned the key on put it in drive and have someone hold the throttle to the floor and i took a clean shop rag and just wiped the throttle body thouroughly no chemical cleaner used reasembled it and it fixed the problem. hope this helps someone...
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Ive never understood why people do this.. its an old school idea that i dont think applies to new school tech.

Having owned a VQ35 and i'm pretty active in the local community

It seems like people are asking for trouble. Most end up paying for a new TB to a tune of maybe $300. I always tell people( most never listen normally the young bucks) to unbolt the TB if you really want to clean it. Just replace the TB gasket for few bucks. This way its 100% your not damaging it. Yea, you might not get it all the way clean.

I dont recall but i think "Cipher" software does it, i haven't loaded that software in a while. I bumped up my idle when i first got it but thats it.


This is not a NISSAN only issue, its just some companies have better or looser parameters to reset the TB learning.
 
The correct way to clean the throttle body is with the throttle body OFF the car. It's the backside of the butterfly and everything behind it that needs cleaning the most; the side you can't get to with the throttle body still on the engine.
 
Can anyone explain WHY cleaning an electronic throttle body damages it, and what gets damaged?!

This makes no sense to me.
 
Originally Posted By: JamesBond
Can anyone explain WHY cleaning an electronic throttle body damages it, and what gets damaged?!


People are probably trying to clean the throttle body while it's mounted to the engine and the sensors are still attached to the throttle body. Sensors should be removed before cleaning.
 
Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Originally Posted By: JamesBond
Can anyone explain WHY cleaning an electronic throttle body damages it, and what gets damaged?!


People are probably trying to clean the throttle body while it's mounted to the engine and the sensors are still attached to the throttle body. Sensors should be removed before cleaning.


Does that only apply to Nissan or any make drive by wire throttle? I've had great success in cleaning cable throttle bodies in my older Ford's. Both ran much better afterwards. Neither of them used any measurable oil between OCI's of ~8,000 miles. My wife has a 2005 Explorer with the drive by wire TB and I'm leery of touching it, especially since it drives and runs fine at 172,000 miles. I think I'll leave it alone
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Whimsey
 
I cleaned my TB on my drive by wire accord by using a brick on the pedal with key in on position... Zero problems afterwards

Maybe some people break everything they touch?
 
All you need is a can of purpose built TB cleaner spray.

This really helps our newer fleet trucks idle sweetly for a week or two....
 
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