I have a 2004 F-150 Super Crew with 93,000 miles on it. A couple weeks ago it started giving me trouble when idling and even started quitting at red lights. I took it into a mechanic today and they said the throttle body is filled with crud and needs to be replaced. They also said I need a fuel system service to keep this from happening again. Total estimate came to $942. Seems steep. Is this right?

 

hahaha. you can either remove it and clean it all urself, or spend 200 bucks and buy a bigger throttle body, and gain a little better performance out of it. 900 bucks is a joke.

 

Remove the throttle body
Clean it with some kind of TB cleaner
Reinstall it
Don't go back to that shop

 

Question on TB cleaning---Do you have the engine running when you spray the TB cleaner?? or is it better to do it with the engine off? Reason I ask is I cleaned my TB on a Bronco II I had and I did it with engine running---just making sure theres no set way---DirtySCREW

 

You take the throttle body off the engine and clean it with the spray and a rag.

 

Thanks for the replies. The shop is saying that the sensor in the throttle body is busted and must be replaced (versus cleaning). They say I need a fuel system cleaning because that's what caused the throttle body to fail in the first place. Any thoughts? Thank you!

 

How much are they charging? Take it to another shop or 2 and get their opinions

 

There aren't any sensors in the throttle body, just the drive-by-wire system. You can do all this stuff in your garage with basic tools and common sense.

Remove the throttle body and elbow off with a socket wrench
Remove the electronics off the side of the TB
Clean the TB and elbow with TB cleaner and a rag
Reinstall and go

The carbon buildup is because of the EGR system sending burnt air back through the engine. The whole fuel system cleaner isn't going to do jack ****.