High Idle/Poor Response in Low Revs....Dirty TB?

[RiceMeister]

Hey dudes,

Car has been running great since the new transmission went in, shifting is smooth and barely noticeable, very pleased. However the car tends to have very poor low end power lately and revs rather high at low speeds or when applying mild acceleration, also idles high at times and takes a while for revs to settle down to idle (750-900rpm). I've read up on these symptoms and all arrows point to a dirty throttle body being the culprit.

Any tips on this or whether this is in fact true? I wouldn't be suprised as I've changed air intakes a number of times and each time have not cleaned the TB or paid much attention to the TB, so a buildup of dirt and grime from leaving it exposed as I installed an intake would not be strange.

Cleaning seems to be fairly straightforward from what I've read? Just applying some throttle body cleaner gently after removing the intake and exposing the TB. Just have to gently remove the grime and dirt build up with the cleaner I assume?

Also going in for a service in the next two weeks, so hopefully after a good TB clean and the service the car will run proper!

any advice or expert knowledge on throttle cleaning or dirty throttel bodies would be sweet.

thanks guys

[grifty]

yeah i would give it a clean first and see how it goes from there, to clean it use a clean rag and some carby cleaner.

[RiceMeister]

Sweet, cheers for reply.

Just grabbing some throttle body cleaner on lunch break and applying it with a cloth tonight. Makes sense that it would be this problem as I've modded intake a fair bit yet never cleaned TB.

Will suss it tonight.

[markismaximus]

its unlikely it will be the actual TB. the TB is just a hole with a moving plate, unless its very very dirty its more likely to be things attached to the TB or intake manifold.

Such as the EACV, fast idle valve, map sensor, idle adjust screw....

Is your car auto?

because this makes no sense

"revs rather high at low speeds or when applying mild acceleration"

[RiceMeister]

its unlikely it will be the actual TB. the TB is just a hole with a moving plate, unless its very very dirty its more likely to be things attached to the TB or intake manifold.

Such as the EACV, fast idle valve, map sensor, idle adjust screw....

Is your car auto?

because this makes no sense

"revs rather high at low speeds or when applying mild acceleration"


Yes my car is auto.

That sentence does make sense, I just mis-phrased it perhaps.

Basically,

When I apply mild acceleration from idle to take off, the car revs high and revs remain high even at low speeds, when removing my foot from the accelerator the revs remain high and are slow to drop back down to idle revs (750-900rpm)

if that makes sense?

anyway, these exact symptoms have been described all over the net as being a dirty TB issue, so i hope its fixable with the throttle body cleaner I bought today.

[RiceMeister]

High idle is not really the issue, it's more or less the poor response in low revs.

[markismaximus]

as your car is auto then yes it makes sense. just thought I'd ask because you didn't mention it in the OP

[RiceMeister]

as your car is auto then yes it makes sense. just thought I'd ask because you didn't mention it in the OP

Yeah sorry about that, should have included that in the first post! thanks for your help mate, glad I've got some confirmation of the issue. will give it a clean when I get home!

[JohnnyJohnJohn]

When I apply mild acceleration from idle to take off, the car revs high and revs remain high even at low speeds, when removing my foot from the accelerator the revs remain high and are slow to drop back down to idle revs (750-900rpm)

I have an auto eh9 and had this problem when i first got it, well similar one anyway, basically make sure ur transmission oil is change and to the correct weighting aswell as ur engine oil 10w30? since this was my first civic i didnt know what oil to use ended up listening to some noob to use 20w40. :thumbdwn: later i found out i was supposed to use 10w30 :thumbsup: car was more responsive, less sluggish and faster warmups. hope this helps?

[Zilli]

i tend to agree that the TB is not going to be your issue here... but do give it a clean... also i wouldnt be trying to use a cloth etc... just spray it in with WOT with the car off then close throttle and spray, then start the car and give some gas to get it going... if your keen open the trottle with the car on and give the throttle body a spray as well... you'll need to give it gas while your spraying to keep the car running

[RiceMeister]

SUCCESS!

I parked my car in the garage and removed my K&N intake. After this I put my jack on the accelerator pedal to open up the TB blade and began to spray the TB cleaner inside and remove all the grit and grime with a soft toothbrush and cleaning clothes. I gave it a good clean until the entire inside of the TB both before the blade and after it were back to polished metal and looking clean again (used a flashlight to look inside TB) and mannn was the brush and cloth dirty! black as midnight!

Then I installed intake back in and fired the car up (these were the directions I found on mobil.com and heaps of other sites) as expected from reading....the car made a horrible noise on start up, but then idled fine. I then gave the gas pedal a good hit and the white smoke poured out the back of my car (this too was expected) I then let the car idle some more and every so often applying some gas, did this for about 10mins.

After about 10 minutes I reversed up the drive and headed for a quick test run around my neighboorhood...

INSTANTLY it was better. it was no longer being sluggish or rev'ing poorly. every touch of the pedal was responsive and I could hear and feel everything as it should be. Running perfect right now. Car has never felt better. Due to the jerkyness of it I had thought my newly rebuilt trans was stuffing up, but it was indeed the TB as the serviceman at Hondworld had suggested when I brought the car back down there.

I highly reccomend doing a TB clean as it truly is noticeable on my car. I was really suprised how noticeable the improvement was. Feels like it used to again! I will now we doing a TB clean myself each time I have my car serviced so roughly every 5,000KM

It's amazing what you can find on the internet :) invaluable DIY

[RiceMeister]

oh and when I got up at 6.30AM this morning to 2* coldness and drizzly, freezing rain, I got in my car and it warmed up far quicker than usual. Usually it'll be even more sluggish in the cold, but today it warmed up fine and was fine from the get-go.

best $11.99 I've spent in ages. TB Cleaner FTW!

[Zilli]

mate if you want to go the next step, grab yourself a can of Subaru Upper Engine cleaner... its the same concept as TB cleaner, but it is a fomaing spray that cleans all your upper engine, ie valves etc etc... really does make a difference too

[RiceMeister]

oh sweet, might give that a go...do you spray it in the TB too?