I stuck my fingers in my throtle body this weekend and my fingers came out caked with oil. What could be causing this? I guess I need to replace some gasket or seal?

 

i have the same problem. mine isnt as bad as yours sounds but nonetheless i want to fix it. i just had a slight amount of oil. i couldnt figure out how it got there. i cleaned it off and ill see if its there again today.

if you figure it out let us know

 

The oil comes from the oil breather tank. Your pcv valve must be broken. Look for articles on how to make yourself an oil catch can. It's really worth the time and it's cheap.

 

Can any mechanics out there give me any diagnostic tips on how I can troubleshoot this problem?

 

need more info on engine . if its in the t/body then it must be coming from that tube that comes off the valvecover to the intake tube . pcv valve is further down the intake manifold.the pcv valve could be stuck closed adding excesive pressure i the engine and blowing out the valve cover.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fox297 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The oil comes from the oil breather tank. Your pcv valve must be broken. Look for articles on how to make yourself an oil catch can. It's really worth the time and it's cheap.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not to be a d!ck but you have NO idea what you're talking about... that or you have no ability to explain yourself... If you have useful info then explain it clearly... if not then don't say anything.

If there is oil on/in the tb then you are sucking oil through the oil breather (tube that comes out of the valve cover)...

This can be caused by a faulty pcv (located ELSEWHERE (it's generally in/on the intake manifold with a hose running to the intake manifold body)). It's easy to test the pcv valve simply run the car and pinch the tube coming out of it (again this is NOT the tube that goes from the valve cover to the intake tube it IS the tube that goes from in between your intake manifold runners to the intake manifold body)... If it clicks when you pinch the tube it's working fine... if not pull it out and try to blow through it both ways... It should ONLY allow air to pass by it one way... If it allows air through both ways it's bad and if it won't let air pass through easily the correct way (from the bottom part to the top part) it's also faulty... they cost all of 1-5 bucks so it's not a big deal to replace.

But more likely its from excessive engine braking... do you downshift at high rpms?

This is the most common cause of it... you see it's (the breather on the valve cover) meant to suck in fresh air from the intake tube... in order to allow the positive crank case fumes to flow out through the pcv valve and into the intake body more easily. When you engine brake you reverse this flow... there by blowing oil through the "intake"(breather).

Oil catch cans like mentioned DO NOT go in between the valve cover and the intake tube... they go in between the pcv valve and intake manifold.

ALSO if it's soaked there's a good chance your oil is slightly overfilled... check that too... too much oil can be worse than too little.

 

Hey, I'm just trying to give some advice here. If you don't like my advice, you don't have to listen, just don't flame me for helping out this man.

The purpose of the pcv valve is to control the breathing of the engine. If it's closed at the wrong time, it can create positive crank-case pressure which will blow oil out of the valve cover. If the valve is open during engine braking, the vaccum create inside the intake manifold will suck the oil from the breather tank into it.

The idea of having an oil catch can is to eliminate the pcv valve. It route the oil tube before the pcv valve into a filter which will catch the oil and then into the valve cover tube. Your valve cover tube and the pvc tube do not go through the air intake or manifold, therefore no oil goes into the combustion chamber.

My car had this problem before, after I fixed it, no more smoke out the tail pipe.

 

routing it like that will prevent the vacum system from aiding the removal of the oily fumes in your crankcase...

You should run the oil catch can in between the pcv and the intake manifold... that way the pcv still tops reverse flow so it doesn't blow oil out through the valve cover... and the catch can prevents oil from being vented into the intake mani...

I'm sure it'd work ok the way you described but you DEFINATELY want some vacum and fresh air going through there... it should be a recirculating system...