I cleaned my throttle body with carb cleaner and some rags, while it was on the car. The inside was very black with carbon build up. I also cleaned a little behind the throttle plate and I could see the inside of my manifold is very thick with black carbon build up. After finishing, my car would crank and crank but not turn over. I found out it was my spark plugs... they were completely black and wet (I guess with carbon that was sprayed in the manifold and dripped down on to the spark plugs). I cleaned the spark plugs with some carb cleaner and wiped them down.. unfortunately some of them still look a little dirty as they were very hard to clean up (it is annoying because I just bought brand new NGK PFR7G-11S plugs a month ago.. did I ruin/degrade them greatly?)

After cleaning off the plugs, the car started up. Now I have a very rough idle surge from 900 to 2k RPM. What gives?
I have never had an idle surge at all times, only rarely when the car is cold and warming up. Last week, for fun and to prevent future possible idle problems, I took off the IACV and cleaned it thoroughly with simple green and a brush. During the whole week my idle has been nice and smooth until now that I just attempted to clean the TB. Do I need to reclean the IACV now? If I have to reclean the TB, I guess I will unbolt it from the manifold and just clean it with water and simple green as well.

 

This is a video of what I mean, if you can't tell from the description I gave.

 

i have that same problem w/ my car
I cleaned my IACV to no avail.

 

When did your problem start?

 

I'm not knowledgeable, but just throwing this out there, mass air flow went bad from cleaning? I think there is some type of coating on the MAF and needs to be cleaned/touched by the proper MAF cleaner, or else that coating with be ruined and a hunting idle is a symptom.

 

These cars do not have mass air flow sensors... they have manifold absolute pressure sensors.

 

I told ya I wasn't knowledgable, lol.

 

Haha, I really need some knowledgeable people to give me some advice.

 

Sorry I was just trying to help! Good luck!. Maybe trying cleaning the IACV again, probably loosened up a bunch of that crud.

 

Try cleaning the iacv one more time, are you sure theres no leaks around the TB gasket?

 

Unless I just started a leak from cleaning the TB... is that possible? What is the most definitive way to check for a leak?

I already ordered a new TB gasket and a new IACV gasket from Acura, and should pick it up tomorrow. I am planning on taking both off and recleaning thoroughly with simple green, then replacing gaskets. That should fix this problem, but I am wondering what exactly caused this problem.

Is there a chance I could have damaged the MAP sensor when I sprayed the carb cleaner?

Any suggestions on what I should do with the sensors or the throttle bracket when I remove the TB? (This is my first time removing a TB)

 

Depending on how old the gasket is, it may have developed a small crack but ive ran with ripped paper ones before and its been fine.

Like the others have said, you may have just loosened up a buch of build up that got sucked into the iacv and caused it to act all weird.

As for the removal, you just need to undo those two coolant lines at the bottom, unplug the sensors, rotate the tb butterfly forward and slip the cable out. Then just undo the bolts and itll slide off. If your going to unscrew the map sensor make sure you use the right size screw driver cause those screws strip fairly easy.

 

By TB butterfly, do you mean the throttle bracket?

If I leave the MAP sensor screwed on, can I still clean the TB thoroughly under running water with Simple Green and a brush?

 

I mean the wheel that rotates that the throttle cable connects to, youll see how it needs to be done when you go to pull it.

And I wouldnt use water near anything like that, brake parts cleaner works wonders for cleaning dirt and grime with out leaving moisture behind. Id still unscrew it though and just make sure your careful around the tps.

 

I don't have any brake parts cleaner right now. I thought cleaning the TB with water and simple green was fine, as long as I let it completely dry? I definitely will take the sensor off before I do this.

 

It will be. I was saying the water comment towards anything sensor related lol. Using it to scrub the dirt off you should be ok.

 

I took off the MAP sensor before washing the TB. The TPS sensor is weird.. I removed it but it is only a cover and underneath that is the gold sensor, so I left the actual black cover with the connector on the TB while I washed it. I wanted to remove all sensors before getting it wet but that one had to stay. When I removed the cover of the TPS to look inside, the gasket cracked... I can't get a new one today but is it fine to run with it like that for a while?

Good thing I got the new TB gasket cause right when I removed the TB, the gasket cracked as well.

I am waiting for all of it to dry before putting it back. The IACV was not dirty at all. It was still clean from the last time I cleaned it, so this is not a good sign..

 

Usually tps's arent supposed to come apart easily like that lol. But I believe that gasket is just there to seal it so moisture doesnt get in and build up in the sensor. You should be ok for now though. If the car starts having a weird throttle response you may want to change it out for a new one.

Worst case try resetting the edu and see if that helps.

 

Well I needed a T25 torx bit to get the 2 screw for the TPS off.

http://www.streetimports.com/product_details.asp?id=991

That's funny, when you buy it they come with just the black part. When I removed that is where I saw the gold internals, which I believe to be the actual sensor.

Unfortunately you cannot buy just a TPS from Honda/Acura or even just the TPS gasket. So I need to buy used or aftermarket ;(

 

Wait, you saw the gold internals of of the acutal throttle body

or the internals of the tps sensor?

 

Oh, woops. That is what I saw. I guess that part could get wet. I should have taken the sensor off and then washed it. The broken gasket made me not want to try to remove it completely though.

I put it all back together and it seems okay so far. I bled my cooling system for like 30 minutes and it never seems to stop getting bubbles at the neck of the radiator...

 

Ok lol thats fine to see then.

Theres a way to bleed the cooling system with a funnel but i never looked into it cause my car has the bleeding port. Did you make sure the heater was on and the fan set to high?

 

Yeah I turned the heat all the way up. I don't think I need to put the fan on, do I? I remember putting it on for a little bit, to make sure it was hot but then turned it off.

Tonight I drove my car again and I noticed the bad news. My idle still surges from 2k to 1k like in the video, but eventually it slows down and stays at 2k more. When I disconnect the IACV, my idle drops to a steady 1200-1500 RPM. A few years ago when I first set my idle with Hondata, I disconnected the IACV and turned the TB idle screw until the idle was 400-500 RPM. I don't see how a screw could have readjusted itself, and I am not sure if I should mess with it.

Right now, I do not understand how this issue is occurring. I have done nothing wrong but clean my TB and my IACV. Two weeks ago, my idle was perfect. I guess I should not just do things out of boredom and wonder if it will improve my motor's response and smoothness.

 

Maybe the iacv gave out from the cleaner during the first time?

If it was a hanging idle id say you have a vacuum leak somewhere but, surging is usually a sensor not reading right and making the ecu adjust to conditions that arent actually going on.

 

As in, you think I might need a new IACV?

Why is my idle so high when I disconnect the IACV?