Clean throttle body or replace it?!

[BPY]

Runs quite rough when starting up in the morning, but fine once warmed up. Garage want £400 to replace it! I then asked if they can just clean it, they'll do it for around £70 but they said that cleaning it is often only a short term fix.
I have no clue about mechanics, is what they're saying true? What would be the best option - £400 replacement or ~£70 clean?
Thanks!

 

[DaveDreads]

Neither, your garage is pulling your pants down,
cleaning it is one of the easiest jobs to do yourself.

Edit : Just seen you have a 1.2, iirc the TB is in a right awkward place behind the engine,
I was talking about a 1*2, sorry about that.

 

[Carlv8415]

Cleaned the TB on my old 1.2. It's in a s**t place as it is under all the inlet and it all has to come off to get to it. I had to change the throttle position sensor so thought I would clean the TB whilst I was there.

 

[BPY]

so will cleaning it cure it's poor idling or should it be replaced?

 

[Carlv8415]

so will cleaning it cure it's poor idling or should it be replaced?

Depends now dirty it is. You won't know until you get it off. Cleaning it can only be a good think so do it anyways and see what happens.

 

[BPY]

I have completely no mechanical experience, would I be able to do it, if so, is there a guide or anything I can follow so that I don't destroy anything?

 

[LiamR172]

Chip told me not to move touch the throttle body or else it forgets its position.. iirc

 

[Carlv8415]

Chip told me not to move touch the throttle body or else it forgets its position.. iirc

Never had a problem when I did mine.

 

[Carlv8415]

I have completely no mechanical experience, would I be able to do it, if so, is there a guide or anything I can follow so that I don't destroy anything?

There is a video on YouTube iirc

 

[BPY]

Chip told me not to move touch the throttle body or else it forgets its position.. iirc

Sorry but can you elaborate on that, i'm probably going to have a go at this myself, what shouldn't I touch/move?

 

[DaveDreads]

Chip told me not to move touch the throttle body or else it forgets its position.. iirc

LOL, I take it that's a joke?

Because i've removed and cleaned mine sh*t loads of times, car still works perfectly.

 

[Chip-mk1]

I said not to force the plate to open, if its got play in the plastic teeth in the mechanism it can snap them off.

That's on an electronic one not a cable one of course.

Also when it's cleaned it's not unusual for the car to idle lumpy for a while till the ecu relearns the flow versus angle.

 

[BPY]

I said not to force the plate to open, if its got play in the plastic teeth in the mechanism it can snap them off.

That's on an electronic one not a cable one of course.

Also when it's cleaned it's not unusual for the car to idle lumpy for a while till the ecu relearns the flow versus angle.

Sorry if this is obvious, but as it's electric, how do I manually open it to clean it?

 

[Chip-mk1]

Sorry if this is obvious, but as it's electric, how do I manually open it to clean it?

Very gentley if you must open it at all, if it has a problem with wear of the mechanism forcing it to work backwards (ie the plate forcing the cogs to put load onto the motor and against the spring at once) can break it.

And given that you can get to both sides of the plate anyway once you have the body off, I kind of fail to see why anyone really needs to open it in order to clean it anyway, as its not hard to clean it well without doing so.

 

[imprezaworks]

I cleaned mine the other week, really easy. It wasn't that dirty I just fancied doing something on a Sunday apart from cleaning the car lol.