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Since i wasn't able to find a thread on anyone doing this i want to share my results.
For the past few months i have been getting the RPM at idle in drive around 400. That causes the car to have the small amount of vibrations. I know a lot of you have commented on this in the past. Since the ECU controls the idle not much we can to do to adjust this part.
So i picked up the Seafoam spray bottle pulled off the throttle body inlet tubes ran the straw the way it says to do. Since i was by myself i had to use a 5 lb bag of cement mix to hold the pedal down enough that i got 2k rpm going. Sprayed the entire bottle in took just over 5 mins. Let it sit for 20 mins. Removed bottle and tightened down the clamps.
It says to drive car hard to burn off the chemical and such in body. When i first drove off it hesitated some had to take 2 quick turns and end of the block. Hit a straight away to next corner and left behind a large gray cloud. Got on a main street so i could hit the highway. Left behind 2 clouds each time. Think i only smoked one car taking the on ramp. Got away fast. Drove on the highway for about 20 or so mins than hit the streets smoking was gone. Filled the gas tank added a bottle of seafoam to tank. I usually add some kind of fuel additive every few months.
Now later that night after it sat for a few hours and again this morning. The idle now sits at just 500 rpm. The vibration i had is mostly gone. So i think it was well worth it and i hope it holds. I will update later and maybe do it again next spring.
Has anyone else tried this. It did take the edge of the issue i was having.
I have not done this to my LS but have done this to my other cars and it does make a difference..... I know a lot of people think Seafoam is "snake oil" but it does work. Keep in mind that you may throw a code while you do this "treatment" to your engine.
TIP! Do this job at night........ The smoke screen that comes out of the exhaust is unbelievable and will pizz off the neighborhood treehuggers!!
I have the opposite problem. My engine idles at 1200-1400. I wish it were closer to 700. Any thoughts? I will mention it on my approaching 60K service at the dealership.
I have used seafoam on ES and GX, yet to do that in LS. Its a good product and makes idle smooth and responsive.
I have used Toyota EFI tank additive in LS. My ES started giving error code on failing IACV. As a part of EFI cleaning step, Toyota EFI tank additive was mentioned in some threads. But its hard to purchased due to being classified as hazardous shipping. Ended up buying few from ebay. When used in ES, gave CEL which later went away. LS didn't give any CEL mostly due to being new and with low miles.
Why not actually clean the throttle body properly? I use MMO in my fuel religiously to help keep fuel system / injectors clean but I never dump that stuff into the intake manifold. You can fowl your spark plugs by doing this among other issues.
Did you change the spark plugs after the seafoam treatment?
No i did not in the past other car didnt either. The plugs were changed last year in August. So far no ill issues still drives smooth and idle is holding at 500.
Where is the throttle inlet tube? is it the tube that connect to the orange funnel in the middle?
2007 LS460
I am new owner of this high mileage LS460. link
I was going to seafoam it before I change the engine oil but came across this thread. People said dont' seafoam because it doesn't help. link Instead they suggest taking apart the intake manifold and clean it. How do we do that?
this is exactly where i did mine. car seems to idle smoother. i plan to replace the spark plugs since im at 60k
Originally Posted by diamente
Where is the throttle inlet tube? is it the tube that connect to the orange funnel in the middle?
2007 LS460
I am new owner of this high mileage LS460. link
I was going to seafoam it before I change the engine oil but came across this thread. People said dont' seafoam because it doesn't help. link Instead they suggest taking apart the intake manifold and clean it. How do we do that?
When I procured my 2003 Camry back in 2016, it needed a new intake manifold. The original manifold was making a rattling noise and Toyota had a TSB explaining the whys & hows. While going through that I noticed the throttle body was all gunked up. And when driving the car, it had a low idle and some vibration. A very gentle touch of the throttle generally produced nothing, but upon further pushing on the pedal the car would lunge forward and drive fine. The lunge was uncomfortable.
So, while replacing the intake, and seeing the gunked up throttle body I decided to take it off (it wasn't necessary, I elected to remove it). I bought throttle body cleaner and sprayed the ---- out of it. It did nothing. I then went and got my toothbrush. I sprayed the throttle body bore and butterfly and "brushed its teeth." The tooth brush made all the difference. The gunk loosened up with the spray and tooth brush and plenty o' towels. I even cleaned the edges of the butterfly. After putting it all back together, it performed so much better. The intake manifold was just an annoying rattle, no performance problem. But the clean throttle body ... man what a difference. My theory is, that at or very near idle, that amount of air flowing past the (all but) closed butterfly was restricted by all the gunk built up. The gunk was built up specifically on the bore and butterfly where the air was squeezed by with the butterfly was (all but) closed. By further restricting the air flow due to the gunk, the engine wouldn't get the air it needed at idle, which slowed the engine down. Same thing when trying to gently accelerate. There wasn't the amount of air expected to flow by a barely cracked open butterfly so it would not speed up or have power ... until further opening of the butterfly which then plenty 'o air got by and the lunge would happen. All that went away by manually cleaning the gunk off the throttle body.
The point is, that in my case (my Camry), no amount of spraying that gunk (even with the throttle body in my hand) was doing anything. The gunk needed to be touched with a brush. Not saying the seafoam is not working. Not at all. But, if our throttle bodies are getting gunked up (I don't know), and someone had the gumption to pull it off and brush its teeth, I bet the difference would be dramatic. I checked my Corolla throttle body thinking it would be worse due to all the miles, with 205k miles, the throttle body was clean as a whistle. I hear the LS engine builds up a lot of oil in the intakes, so I would have to guess our throttle bodies are building gunk.
P.S. My toothbrush went back to tasting normal after 5 or 6 uses...
I did the same thing with a 2000 Avalon. It was so gunked up that it wouldn't idle. I took the throttle body off and scrubbed it clean. Ran like new after.
When I procured my 2003 Camry back in 2016, it needed a new intake manifold. The original manifold was making a rattling noise and Toyota had a TSB explaining the whys & hows. While going through that I noticed the throttle body was all gunked up. And when driving the car, it had a low idle and some vibration. A very gentle touch of the throttle generally produced nothing, but upon further pushing on the pedal the car would lunge forward and drive fine. The lunge was uncomfortable.
So, while replacing the intake, and seeing the gunked up throttle body I decided to take it off (it wasn't necessary, I elected to remove it). I bought throttle body cleaner and sprayed the ---- out of it. It did nothing. I then went and got my toothbrush. I sprayed the throttle body bore and butterfly and "brushed its teeth." The tooth brush made all the difference. The gunk loosened up with the spray and tooth brush and plenty o' towels. I even cleaned the edges of the butterfly. After putting it all back together, it performed so much better. The intake manifold was just an annoying rattle, no performance problem. But the clean throttle body ... man what a difference. My theory is, that at or very near idle, that amount of air flowing past the (all but) closed butterfly was restricted by all the gunk built up. The gunk was built up specifically on the bore and butterfly where the air was squeezed by with the butterfly was (all but) closed. By further restricting the air flow due to the gunk, the engine wouldn't get the air it needed at idle, which slowed the engine down. Same thing when trying to gently accelerate. There wasn't the amount of air expected to flow by a barely cracked open butterfly so it would not speed up or have power ... until further opening of the butterfly which then plenty 'o air got by and the lunge would happen. All that went away by manually cleaning the gunk off the throttle body.
The point is, that in my case (my Camry), no amount of spraying that gunk (even with the throttle body in my hand) was doing anything. The gunk needed to be touched with a brush. Not saying the seafoam is not working. Not at all. But, if our throttle bodies are getting gunked up (I don't know), and someone had the gumption to pull it off and brush its teeth, I bet the difference would be dramatic. I checked my Corolla throttle body thinking it would be worse due to all the miles, with 205k miles, the throttle body was clean as a whistle. I hear the LS engine builds up a lot of oil in the intakes, so I would have to guess our throttle bodies are building gunk.
P.S. My toothbrush went back to tasting normal after 5 or 6 uses...
I can second this. I teach automotive so it's pretty common for us to take apart donated vehicles; we'll have all the engine's parts on a bench and perform little experiments on them. One thing I've been doing the last few years is debunking seafoam and other carbon cleaning solutions. I'll pour the seafoam right on the dirty/carbon buildup pieces of the intake or throttle body...let it sit for a while, then come back and have the students whipe it down with a rag. It does virtually nothing. You have to scrape it off with a wire brush. If you don't do that it is worthless.
I used to run seafoam regularly through my Honda Accord, I'd do it a few times a year or so. It did NOTHING to reduce carbon buildup. Had that intake off because of an EGR code...the amount of carbon buildup in that intake was astounding. Seeing as how I had always used a seafoam maintenance program I figured it'd be clean. Lol. It was as dirty as any other manifold that never received any sort of treatment. Sad but true.
The only thing I've ever seen remove carbon - without scrubbing - was from Safety Kleen. But this is nasty stuff and it's more of a soak tank solvent; you just put your engine parts in this drum filled with this solvent, the parts go into a metal basket, you shut the lid and the basket rotatates back in forth in this solution for a half hour. You take the parts out and there's nothing on that metal...it looks new. You don't want any of this tuff on you, and I doubt you'd want to spray any of this stuff anywhere.
I can second this. I teach automotive so it's pretty common for us to take apart donated vehicles; we'll have all the engine's parts on a bench and perform little experiments on them. One thing I've been doing the last few years is debunking seafoam and other carbon cleaning solutions. I'll pour the seafoam right on the dirty/carbon buildup pieces of the intake or throttle body...let it sit for a while, then come back and have the students whipe it down with a rag. It does virtually nothing. You have to scrape it off with a wire brush. If you don't do that it is worthless.
I used to run seafoam regularly through my Honda Accord, I'd do it a few times a year or so. It did NOTHING to reduce carbon buildup. Had that intake off because of an EGR code...the amount of carbon buildup in that intake was astounding. Seeing as how I had always used a seafoam maintenance program I figured it'd be clean. Lol. It was as dirty as any other manifold that never received any sort of treatment. Sad but true.
The only thing I've ever seen remove carbon - without scrubbing - was from Safety Kleen. But this is nasty stuff and it's more of a soak tank solvent; you just put your engine parts in this drum filled with this solvent, the parts go into a metal basket, you shut the lid and the basket rotatates back in forth in this solution for a half hour. You take the parts out and there's nothing on that metal...it looks new. You don't want any of this tuff on you, and I doubt you'd want to spray any of this stuff anywhere.
I like what you are saying!
i use throttle body cleaner on the TB and Mass Air Flow (MAF) cleaner only. The TB requires a tooth brush or wire brush but Don’t use a wire brush if the TB is still on the car...you don’t want wire bristles in the combustion chamber.
As for the MAF, only use MAF cleaner, anything else may damage or leave a residue on the electronic sensor.
I have just bought 2 cans of Seafoam from Wal Mart. It looks like I should return them since they don't do anything?
I don't' want to **** off my neighbors anyways with the smoke. However, last time when I seafoamed my Camry, no smoke came out. After the Camry sucked in seafoam through brake booster line, I waited about 45 minutes to turn on the engine.
09-30-17, 12:51 PM
Seafoam Spray and throttle body.
