Monday, December 20, 2021

Just cleaned the Throttle Body Valve again and cleaned my new AEM Dryflow filter for the FIRST time!!

 The car's mileage was going way down and the car sounded like an airplane - so I figured I better finally clean out the AEM Dryflow filter. It's supposed to be good for a long time but I was on gravel roads and in the country - and sure enough the filter was very dirty. So first I vacuumed it and then brushed it out and then sprayed and soaked some dishsoap on it - with just plant-based soap. I let it soak in.

THEN I went after the Throttle body valve. I did this before once - as my "first" car repair job ever. I am anti-mechanical. The first time I bloodied up my hand - can't remember how - but when I started the car up - the mileage went up by 1 mpg!!! So it definitely worked. 

I'll look up that blogpost I did - as I posted photos. Then I can compare how dirty it was before compared to now.

https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2020/07/to-really-clean-it-you-gotta-take-it.html

Wow it's been a year and a half!! Time flies.

OH I bloodied myself on that one clip of an electrical connection. That totally makes sense as it was difficult to put that thing back on.

 To reset the computer, place the ignition to the on position and then press the accelerator three times quickly in a row.

Weird !! How come I am just learning this secret now!??

It says to reset the ECM to make sure the throttle body valve is relearned.

Yeah the throttle body was definitely dirty but not quite as dirty as a year and half ago.

Apparently this is a design flaw on these cars - the throttle body valve gets dirty fast.

Hopefully this repair will work. I'll recheck all the connections. 

I'm waiting for the air filter to dry - OVER NIGHT because I really want to make sure there's no water in it.

https://elixirfield.blogspot.com/2021/04/unboxing-50-less-restrictive-ame-dry.html 

So last April is when I put in the new Dryflow Filter...

50% LESS AIR FLOW RESTRICTION based on that fancy filter I got!! 

The engine should run more efficiently as long as I can keep the filter clean. It definitely needed cleaning.

I noticed definitely better torque reaction - no more "delay" when I accelerated!!

But again the big issue now is mileage and the really loud sound. I am missing bolts on the "resonator" box so it must be vibrating.

it’s definitely more guttural at high RPMs.

Mine was more guttural at mid RPMs. I guess because the rpm overdrive had not kicked in yet.

OK so apparently you can lose 3% of mpg during the cold weather.

So that's about a half a mile as I calculated the percentage of my normal MPG.

So my idle rpm is still at 600 which is good.

I thought I had a HOLE in the muffler!! There was cold exhaust out of the "drip" hole in the muffler - so it probably needs replacing. It's just really loud but I think it's o.k. for now.

Once the exhaust heated up then no smoke coming out of the muffler - so it should be ok for now.

I'll take it for a test drive soon as I need to get 10 m bolts for the resonator air intake box.

That could be part of the loud noise also. It seems pretty solid just from the clamp holding it but who knows? The bolt is missing and one of the bolts are too short.

However, continuous smoking after the first few minutes signifies a problem with the engine that you should seek to have identified in an engine smoking diagnostic. If the smoke is white that could be from an antifreeze leak due to a cracked cylinder head or engine block or a head gasket failure. If the smoke is blue, that means there is an oil leak into the combustion chambers from the valve guides, valve stem oil seals (common issue as engine gets older) or the rings. Black smoke occurs if the engine is being flooded with gasoline

https://www.yourmechanic.com/question/i-am-seeing-smokes-from-my-muffler-in-57-degrees-weather-by-justin

It stopped smoking right after the engine warmed up - so I think it's good.

 

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