# 1.8t Throttle Body Damaged - Water Meth



## SB_GLI (Oct 17, 2005)

I was driving other day when I got a traction light and flashing epc light on my cluster. Things went downhill quickly from there. Throttle body took a few attempts with vag-com to finally align. Idles were up and down and erratic shortly after. 

Took the TB off an noticed that the flapper was sticking (but the TB was clean). After I drove around a bit more, the TB mostly gave up on life. I removed the TB from the car and inspected. What I found was that the bearing on the electrical side of the TB was starting to rust up, causing quite a bit of drag on the flapper. The o-ring right before the bearing was shot. I noticed the other bearing was just fine, and it didn't even seem to have an o-ring to keep moisture out. 

Car has 77k miles on it, and I've only had W/M for this summer. I feel like the damage to that o-ring and the bearing damage couldn't have happened in that short of a period of time, but I am sure the w/m only helped to accelerate the deterioration of those parts. 

I am running 100cc's after the intercooler and another 100cc's after the TB. It's not like I am spraying a ton in there, and I don't start spraying until you really punch on the throttle.. it hardly comes on at all when driving around town. 

Has anyone experienced this same type of failure with m/w? Is there anything that I could do so this doesn’t happen again? Maybe it was just a fluke, but I am guess it had a lot to do with W/M.


----------



## RadRacer513 (Nov 1, 2010)

I'm running 180cc nozzle right after the IC; the further from the TB you can get it the better. Where is yours positioned exactly? I've been running mine this way for nearly a year (October will be 1yr) with NO problems at all. I'm running 100% distilled water most of the time, but have experimented with different blends from 5%-50% methanol


----------



## SB_GLI (Oct 17, 2005)

I have one 100cc nozzle right after the intercooler, right in front of the washer fluid res. I have been using a 50/50 blend, but I think I will be experimenting with less amounts of methanol, especially after seeing the videos where 40% meth still ignites and burns witha clear flame. 

It's hard to say that water meth is the ultimate cause of failure, but I sure it didn't help.


----------



## kamikaze2dope (Apr 26, 2003)

Make sure to run good stuff.
It happened to me twice running crappy windshield washer.

I got my lesson.

I had a dual nozzle setup and both prior to the TB.


----------



## tedgram (Jul 2, 2005)

SB_GLI said:


> I was driving other day when I got a traction light and flashing epc light on my cluster. Things went downhill quickly from there. Throttle body took a few attempts with vag-com to finally align. Idles were up and down and erratic shortly after.
> 
> Took the TB off an noticed that the flapper was sticking (but the TB was clean). After I drove around a bit more, the TB mostly gave up on life. I removed the TB from the car and inspected. What I found was that the bearing on the electrical side of the TB was starting to rust up, causing quite a bit of drag on the flapper. The o-ring right before the bearing was shot. I noticed the other bearing was just fine, and it didn't even seem to have an o-ring to keep moisture out.
> 
> ...


 I had the same thing happen with the traction control light and EPC on my dash. I had no throttle car would just idle. I turned off the engine and restarted everything has been fine for the last 500 miles. I have a 285cc injector between my intercoolers and a 50cc pre throttle body.


----------



## [email protected] (Oct 6, 2009)

it shouldnt have been "rusty" at all. 

I ran 1100cc of meth for well over a year. (225cc after IC and 375cc after TB) 


pop the cover and clean the electric contacts up nice while you're in there with some rubbing alcohol. 

With the pressure in the piping some w/m will force itself into the tb electrical side over time. 

Electrical errors will occur as the w/m settles on the circuit board.


----------



## SB_GLI (Oct 17, 2005)

It's been a while since this happened, but to clear up the initial cause, I was running only a single solenoid valve and two nozzles, one right after the IC, one right after the TB. With only one solenoid, and a T connector after that, manifold vacuum was siphoning in all the w/m after the solenoid into the manifold, where it would just kinda sit and collect on around the throttle body (since the tb points at a downward angle). This caused the corrosion that lead to the ultimate failure of my TB.

I corrected this issue by installing another solenoid so that no w/m would get pulled into the manifold when the tb plate was closed. I've been running the same TB for a few years now without issues. :thumbup:


----------



## focswagen (Jan 26, 2013)

Good update. Thanks.


----------



## NaSMK4 (Dec 12, 2011)

SB_GLI said:


> It's been a while since this happened, but to clear up the initial cause, I was running only a single solenoid valve and two nozzles, one right after the IC, one right after the TB. With only one solenoid, and a T connector after that, manifold vacuum was siphoning in all the w/m after the solenoid into the manifold, where it would just kinda sit and collect on around the throttle body (since the tb points at a downward angle). This caused the corrosion that lead to the ultimate failure of my TB.
> 
> I corrected this issue by installing another solenoid so that no w/m would get pulled into the manifold when the tb plate was closed. I've been running the same TB for a few years now without issues. :thumbup:


pictures of your current setup would be great pm me if u have time


----------

