What would you use or not use to clean your airflow meter? I have heard that pure rubbing alcohol may damage the unit, but you can use denatured alcohol instead and it is much better for the unit. Some have suggested Carb. cleaner, Mopar brake parts cleaner, etc...

What is good/bad for cleaning the airflow meter and getting the grime off of it?

Brake dust cleaner is the best stuff. I recently had to do this, and this was exactly what Lexus suggested, not carb cleaner.

onelasttry,
Intake cleaner is your safest route. Carb cleaner is NOT sensor safe and is too powerful. Brake cleaner should work, but I am not so sure how safe it is for sensors. Electical connection cleaner can be used, it's more expensive but is the mildest cleaner for your sensors.

regards

I'm trying to figure out what carb cleaner does to a sensor. there doesnt seem to be any lining it can eat away on the sensor tip. any idea's?

Brian,
Technically speaking, Carb cleaner is not good for the rubber/plastic parts of the various sensors. It tends to swell the rubber and weaken the elasticity. It is also not good for the O2 sensors as it can wear away the platinum tips. In this particular case, if you remove the Air Flow meter for cleaning and allow it to dry before reinstallation and engine start, there shouldn't be a problem. I usually clean the throttle butterflies with the engine off ( since most of the intake tract needs to be removed) but clean the air flow meter by spraying down the throat of the intake while the engine is running. I would also run a bottle of GM Top engine cleaner or BG intake cleaner to clean the intake plenum, manifolds, valve ports etc etc.

Regards

Ahh, very good.

My intake has a very nasty look to it inside. like everything that could gather has in triplicate. along with a little grease to hold it all together

Brian,
The whole intake? Usually the air flow meter and intake tract don't get that dirty. It's the throttle butterfly that gums up. Be sure to clean any and all of the small orifices you see.

Regards

I'm talking from the meter ALL THE WAY to the intake and the butterfly is nasty. I didn't expect it to be so rough inside. i'm being extremely thorough on this one.

I get grime on my airflow meter from using a K&N air filter. I finally took a little thinner and wiped very gently the top of the filter to remove that oil since it will never come in contact with the direct air flow.

Brian,
Interesting, technically only filtered air should be there and so no real dirt/grime should build up. The intake butterfly might get a little build up of grime from fuel/oil reversion in the intake manifold/plenum. I am at a lost, but would definately investigate further as to WHY your intake tract is dirty. Possibly previous owner never changed the air filter? Small hole/crack in the piping?

Luck

If i were standing in front of it and just blurted out the first thing that came to mind i'd say "blowback".

looks just like blowby on the pcv, but in this case it is in the intake. Car runs great

One thing I have also noticed is that the air box does not securely prevent engine air from entering. I think it does a better job with the Toyota OEM fitler, but with my K&N there are still slight entrances. Could be letting dirty engine air in.

I have purchased a decent camera now, so here's the pics.

Yuk, I think I'll be cleaning my intake some time during this 3 day weekend after seeing those pics.

Brian,
That's actually your throttle body, the air flow meter would be close to your air filter. From the picture, it does look like you are getting a little more then normal blow-by. How long since you changed the PCV valve? Are you burning oil? I would DEFINATELY not use anything buy intake cleaner to clean your throttle body, unless you plan to remove the throttle body from the intake plenum to clean. Any brake cleaner, carb cleaner, even electrical cleaner that gets into the intake system will be sucked into the cylinders and out the exhaust to the O2 sensors and there's no telling what it could do to the combustion chamber.

Regards