# DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals



## i3uller (Oct 6, 2005)

There is already a DIY on removing and cleaning your TB here:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1116399

I have been getting an Angle Sensor 2 implausible signal error lately and thought I might as well tear it open and take a look before I go dump a bunch of money on a new TB. *I'm not responsible if you screw up your throttle body. I am not and don't claim to be a mechanic and my advice should be taken for the amateur work that it is.* Now that that's out of the way let's get started. 
Follow the previous link and pull your TB out and clean the gunk out if you'd like. Mine was absolutely disgusting so I would highly recommend it. So now you have your TB out.

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The part we are going to be working on is underneath the black plastic piece. There are 6 of these metal clips holding the piece on. 

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Use a small flathead screwdriver to gently pry them off without bending them. They should come off relatively easily. Once they are all off use the same flathead and gently pry the black piece off by rotating the flathead. It should come off quite easily. 
The black piece you just took off has the following underneath it.

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Very gently clean the area with a q tip or soft cloth or even better use an electrical cleaning kit. Most of these can be picked up at a computer store etc. On the actual TB you will see the following:

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Now the way the position sensor works is the 4 metal "rakes" on the largest gear drag across the black portion of the black plastic piece that we took off of the TB. Depending on the gear position/throttle position the metal pieces will move across the black portion and send a reading back to the ECU. The red box shows the location of the 4 "rakes" and the other picture shows the way they track across the black piece.

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I did a general cleaning of the gears and the middle sized gear is actually easily removed by pulling it straight up and that allows more cleaning inside. I marked the position of the gearing with a pencil to make sure I could put it back exactly how I pulled it apart. 
I also VERY GENTLY pulled up on the "rakes". That way when I put the black plastic piece back on there would be very positive contact between all the rakes and the black tracking portion. I believe this was the underlying problem as the number 2 rake was not achieving a constant contact with the tracking portion. 
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly but make sure when you put the black plastic piece back on the throttle body that you line up the small gasket in its slot. If it isn't lined up you will see a gap between the TB and the plastic piece and putting the metal clips on will take a LARGE amount of force. It takes a bit of work but it goes back together I swear. 
After that just throw everything back together and see if it works. So far I haven't gotten any of the problems I had during my angle sensor issue. I highly recommend at least giving this a try if you are getting a similar TB code as I have been. Again I don't know much about what I'm doing and unless you are getting a code like I am I don't see any benefit in doing this and don't recommend it. But if you are do this and it just might save you from dumping a bunch of cash on a brand new TB.

Oh and final step:









_Modified by i3uller at 5:28 PM 1-12-2010_


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## PhReE (Sep 16, 2004)

*Re: DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals (i3uller)*

Very good dude! (havent read it all yet, but on a breezer it looks good to me)


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## Veedub_junky (Aug 13, 2005)

*FV-QR*

Very nice work - less intimidating than I thought it'd be, given the sensitivity of the DBW TB's I've heard about. Something I think I'd only try if I was down to either doing that or replacing the whole TB anyway. Many







's to you. Thanks for sharing, and keep us posted if results change http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## apstguy (Apr 3, 2006)

Great info, thanks for your investigation. I always wonder what exactly was in there...


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## ballski (Jun 13, 2006)

*Re: DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals (i3uller)*








for you
Thanks sir


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## dstannus (Jan 27, 2010)

*Re: DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals (i3uller)*

You, sir, deserve all my appreciation. I just followed your step by step, and my VR is now running like a top. The increase in power and smoothness is very, very satisfying.
I was having problems before where my engine would be surging almost all the time esp during shifting and cruising. That's gone. 

My car has a cold air intake, so I'm not so surprised that the throttle was dirty, but it sure loved that cleaning. 

Thanks very much!
Dan


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## i3uller (Oct 6, 2005)

*Re: DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals (dstannus)*

Good to hear someone got some benefits out of it!


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## koko5869 (Feb 15, 2006)

*Re: DIY: Dissasembling and cleaning throttle body internals (i3uller)*

out of need comes greatness http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif 
nice write up.


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## redjettaIII (Feb 6, 2008)

:beer:


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## Soundwave_vr6 (Oct 1, 2007)

thanks :beer: fixed my Sh!t box


:thumbup:


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## 35i 2000 (Jan 27, 2005)

awesome thread mate!


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