While changing the intake gaskets on my 2002 Bonneville 3800 series 2, I started cleaning the intake side of the throttle body with carb and choke cleaner then I saw a YouTube video that said not to do this because you could damage the throttle body. I haven't worked on my own cars for 25 years. Back then we used carb and choke cleaner on almost everything under the hood.


Is it true that carb and choke cleaner can damage the throttle body? Is there a special product that you are supposed to use?

I think the concern would be that carb cleaner can damage the delicate electric sensors like the MAF for example. I remove anything that could be damaged before I
clean the black gunk out of my throttle.

Never had a problem with carb cleaner....

like previously mentioned the concern there is people using it on todays more delicate sensors and such,So avoid sensors and any rubber gaskets and o rings and youll be just fine

Thanks guys for the replies. The YouTube video I referenced said something about a coating on the throttle body. They must have meant another brand of car.


All is good (mostly). I finished the intake gasket replacement last week, including the cleaning of the throttle body with the carb cleaner. When I took the car for a test drive it ran so smooth and quiet, every light I found myself looking down at the gages to make sure the car was still running. it hasn't isled that smooth and quiet since I drove it off the lot 13 years ago.


I am watching the oil pressure. The gage seems to be fluctuating a lot more than normal. I just did the first 100 mile oil change yesterday to flush out any remaining moisture from the gasket failure. I switched from the cheap store brand oil to a name brand to see if that has any impact on the gage. If the problem continues I'll start another thread.


also trying to track down a tapping noise that developed. kind of like a lifter tap. Not sure yet what it is. I believe it is coming from area near the alternator. I hear it mostly when I first start the car, goes away completely after a few minutes, till the car is started again. it goes away quickly (10 to 20 seconds) if the car is started while still warm. May turn into another thread subject if I can't figure it out.

Just thought I would post an update with a discovery I foundafter the fact.
With the store brand oil and Fram Filter my dash oilpressure gage was dropping almost into the red when idling at traffic lights. For$3 more I switched to a name brand oil and AC Delco Filter. The gage now staysat or above the first bold white line (not sure what pressure the white linesrepresent) at traffic lights. While driving the pressure stays at or above 40depending on Tac position.
The tapping sound went away with a bottle or Rislone enginetreatment added during the first 100 mile oil change after the intake gasketreplacement. The tapping started to quiet seconds after starting the car wentsilent in less than a minute and hasn’t come back.
No signs of water remainingin the oil at 100 miles. Just did second post gasket oil change at 250 milesfrom the first (wanted to give the Rislone a chance to do its work). I added abottle of MMO to second oil change and plan to run that through the winter or2000 miles whichever comes first. After that I will return to normal oil changeschedule with no additives.
Shopping at my local Walmart the other day I stumbled acrossa small package put out by CRC. It had two small cans. One was a throttle bodycleaner. The other was a mass air flow sensor cleaner. If I had seen thisbefore cleaning my throttle body with Carb cleaner I may have used it. But thenagain the carb cleaner was less than $3 for a big can. The CRC stuff was justunder $7 for the two pack of small cans.
What I learned is as long as you keep it away from thesensors carb cleaner is just fine to clean your throttle body. If you just haveto do the job completely by the book the right products are out there but theyare going to cost you a little more