Maxima throttle body cleaning

Ok, so most of us are driving around 10 year old machines with a bunch of miles. Some of us like going very fast, some like gas mileage. Some like both. Here is a writeup on how to do a real (not dealer cop out) cleaning of your throttle body. This is done on a 95 Maxima SE.

Materials needed:
throttle body cleaner
gray form-a-gasket (sensor safe or a Nissan tb gasket)
maf cleaner
some rags
a flathead screwdriver
12mm socket
pliers
about 2-3 hours (max)

materials i used. carb cleaner is not sensor safe and should be avoided.

Step one, open the hood.

Now, you will see the Mass Airflow Sensor and Throttle Body.

Using your flathead, take off all your tubing. Disconnect the connections on the MAF and TB (easly push in release)

This is easy, just hold open the throttle, push the cable forward and pop out the little connections. Next take off the 4 12mm bolts. Once the bolts are out, you will notice 3 hoses to the bottom of the tb. The small one is a vaccum line. The other 2 with clamps are coolant lines for the cold idle control. Disconnect them, you will spill a few ounces of coolant just man up, and wipe it off.

Now you have a good mess in front of you. This is oil buildup from the PCV.

The intake

Now, the messy part. On the MAF, FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS ON THE CLEANER CAN!!! You are shooting it here.

Now set aside and let dry. Move on to the TB. The smart guys at Nissan (at least my year) made the tps sensor the only one on the TB, so nothing needs to get removed to clean it. I did notice that it has adjustable positions and i’ll do a followup on tps positioning for better performance once i find my ohm meter.

So spray the crap on the TB with the cleaner and wipe off. Make sure to open the TB and get inside it real good. Ok so set the sucker aside for a few, to dry up. The intake manifold has some sensors in it, so I stuffed a rag deep in the sprayed the crap out of it and wiped it clean. Don’t forget to remove the rag.

Now is a good time to check over your fuel filter or change the oil. I like to use a filtermag on my oil filters, it really grabs junk out. just stick it on. i have used these on my commuter car, my 640hp camaro road track car and my 1500hp nova track car.

Ok now its time to reassemble. My TB gasket was in good shape so i just reused it, otherwise use a good amount of the form-a-gasket around the tb and stick it on. Don’t forget to reconnect the coolant lines and vaccume line or……(see below). Also make sure you put the MAF on the right way. It has an arrow to help you not screw it up. If your using the form-a-gasket let it sit for about an hour after bolting everything up to set. Perfect time to grab a beer.

Now your ready to restart. After starting the car DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!! Just let it idle for a min or 2. The computer needs to reset to the faster moving air.Let it sit while you clean up your tools, then take it for a spin, and enjoy.

Article by: flyboy367