Throttle Body Cleaner

[matt_kluger]

Hi

On ToyotaNation Forums, people are using a throttle body cleaner called "Sea Foam"... I did this on my previous Xtrail which seemed to work well, however have not thought about doing it on thje kluger. Has anyone done it and if so, what brand did you use?

Also, is it something that the dealer will do at some point in the service history?

Cheers

Matt

[DJKOR]

Are you saying you did a SeaFoam treatment on your Xtrail, or you did a throttle body clean? Just so you know, SeaFoam is a specific brand product and is different from a throttle body cleaner. If you did a SeaFoam treatment, you would have done so with your engine running and you would have had a lot of exhaust smoke.

A throttle body clean on the other hand is done with the engine off and cleans the throttle body only... and maybe a bit of the intake manifold. Dealer services may or may not include this at one point in the car's life (you typically have to mention it to them), but a SeaFoam treatment is definitely something they don't do.

As for brands, any brand TBC would do, but I generally use Nulon.

[matt_kluger]

Thanks for replying. Yeah the Xtrail was running and lots of smoke. It was years ago and someone guided me through it. It wasn't seafoam, but some other brand that I sprayed (not poured like some of the USA youtube demos).

Why don't dealers do it if its meant to clean out from carbon etc?

Cheers

Matt

[Matty P]

I was offered this by Fyshwick Toyota once when I had my Camry serviced. I think they were going through a "drive" to boost sales of that service at the time because they have never mentioned it again. They were also doing "power steering services" at the time iirc.

Not sure what product/method they use.

[Mole]

Thing is, with these sludge cleaning processes such as Seafoam, if you clear out all that sludge, especially with an older car, and don't replace pretty much ALL the seals and gaskets on it, it'll leak oil like a siv. Some older engines are held together by the sludge and carbon thats in them! You can imagine why some workshops would offer them, charge for a 'carbon clean', wait a month and they'll be back in to fix all the leaks.

If you really wanted to clear it all out properly you need to rebuild the engine and give it a acid bath imo.