Can I clean the throttle body in situ? - 2004 1.2 Clio Dynamique

[ClioSportAccount]

Sorry for the dull question, but I don't think I've had such a hard time with conflicting information from Google.

I was intending to do a proper removal and clean as the car is frequently idling roughly and losing power, but my engine looks nothing like any internet guide or my Haynes and after hours of reading everything I'm so confused as to what is permissible without going that far.

Luckily, access in situ is trivial. Here's what it looks like.

I have some Wynnes Air Intake & Carb Cleaner. I've read that I can't touch the butterfly, so how do I do it? And also read that I shouldn't clean it at all because it's not controlled by wire and I might damage the balance.

Would somebody mind a very straightward idiot's explanation? Can I just spray it in round the edges, let it dry for a short while, idle the engine, do the little timing reset jobbie and see if it worked?

Thank you very much in advance!

 

[cliosscott]

Does you engine have the airbox on top of it ?

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

 

[ClioSportAccount]

Does you engine have the airbox on top of it ?

Hey, thanks for replying, appreciate it.

The airbox is part of the engine cover, comes off with it. I had a look inside the airbox while I was there, seemed clean.

Throttle body is just behind the white sticker, pull the cover off and there it is.

 

[Niall]

You could clean it in place yeah, just makes it more difficult for the sake of 4 bolts holding it on.

 

[ClioSportAccount]

You could clean it in place yeah, just makes it more difficult for the sake of 4 bolts holding it on.

The throttle body removal spiel in Haynes is *long*, only being 4 bolts in this engine hadn't occurred to me.
I'll see if it comes off easy, thanks.

 

[Niall]

The throttle body removal spiel in Haynes is *long*, only being 4 bolts in this engine hadn't occurred to me.
I'll see if it comes off easy, thanks.

Yeah dude, literally just the 4 bolts in each corner and then unplug the sensor, really easy!

 

[ClioSportAccount]

Indeed it was, thank you so much! Amazing what a sentence or two of help will do.

Touch wood, it's been running smooth ever since.

 

[Niall]

Good stuff!

 

[ClioSportAccount]

So much for touching wood. The juddering engine and loss of power is back exactly as bad as it was before, and now the exhaust gas monitor warning light has joined in. Interestingly, the light came on after completely filling an almost empty fuel tank, which seems to have triggered the light for other people also.

So here's my plan, based solely on Google. I can still drive the car, since the light is almost certainly just another symptom of the misfiring fault I've had for a while and there's nothing disastrous going on with the CAT itself.

I've ordered an ODB2 reader which arrives tonight so I can check to see if there's any information about misfiring cylinders. If so, I'll replace the ignition coil/leads/spark plugs, probably in that order since I don't have the plug removal tool. If there's nothing about misfiring cylinders, I'll clean the pre-cat lambda and try swapping it with the other one if cleaning doesn't help.

Make sense?

 

[ClioSportAccount]

Cause of the symptoms turned out to be a bad pre-cat lambda.

Since I didn't find any clear information about the location, I've attached a photo. On my Clio Mk2 Dynamiuqe, you lean right over the engine, it's at the back near the bottom of the car. Can change it without having to jack the car.