Maintaining your vehicle is something you must do frequently. This will prevent you from having an accident due to a technical failure. Avoiding accidents is important to take care of our lives and that of our passengers, but also to achieve a convenient $20 down car insurance plan.
The Idle Air Control system is something of a metered air leak. The IAC servo is a valve that opens and closes to allow air to flow into your engine and go around the throttle blades when the throttle closes. The IAC is something of a replacement for the old-school choke blade and allows your computer to adjust air and fuel independently to maintain a steady idle regardless of the conditions.
The problem with the IAC system is that, at idle, every bit of air going into your motor goes through the channel. This can be a problem if you’ve got a bad positive crankcase ventilation valve (which keeps oil from the engine from escaping from the valve cover and going into your intake) and/or a bad air filter.
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When oil and dirt combine in those tiny IAC channels, they can create a wall of hard sludge that blocks the channel and impedes airflow around the IAC valve. Once enough stuff builds up, the engine will fail to idle steadily and may stall when you suddenly lift your foot off the throttle to shift or hit the brakes.
Cleaning the IAC and throttle body
Cleaning the IAC and throttle body is easy once you get the throttle body off. On the left, you can see the throttle body bolted to the intake manifold. While all cars differ, the basic procedure involves removing the hose clamp that holds the plastic intake tube to the throttle body, then removing the throttle linkages and unbolting the wiring harnesses that go to the throttle position sensor and IAC. This part can be a bit tricky since different cars use different mechanisms to secure the throttle linkage and transmission kick-down linkage to the throttle body.
On many modern cars, you’ll pull the throttle cable forward around the semi-circular throttle cable guide, and pull the little cylinder on the end of the cable out through the side of the guide. In other cases, you’ll need to carefully remove a small, metal C-clip or E-clip from the end of the throttle cable. This requires a bit of caution since it’s easy to break or lose these little clips.
From there, unbolt the throttle body, and remove the two or three bolts that secure the IAC servo to the throttle body, and carefully wiggle the IAC out. Be careful not to damage or lose any of the rubber O-rings that seal the IAC to the TB. Remove the MAF sensor (more on that in a second) and the throttle position sensors where applicable. The throttle body in the picture to the right is pretty clean, as are the IAC channels in the throttle body. But “clean” is a relative thing here; you can see a certain amount of black junk built up inside the IAC channel and soot in the servo valve head.
First, liberally spray the inside of the TB with a dedicated throttle body cleaner and let it sit for five minutes. Note: make sure to use a throttle body cleaner, not a carburetor cleaner. Carb cleaners are designed to penetrate fuel varnish and then evaporate very quickly; they don’t hang around long enough to break through caked-on sludge and soot-like this.
After a few minutes, re-spray the inside of the TB and scrub the insides of the passages with a wire bottle brush. Repeat with the IAC valve itself, but don’t soak the thing; you don’t want solvent working its way into the electronics in the servo itself. Just make sure to clear out the little holes in the center of the valve.
Once you have everything squeaky clean, give the TB another spray of cleaner, allow it to air dry, reinstall the IAC onto the TB, and then the TB onto the manifold. The detergents in the throttle body cleaner will help to keep more junk from sticking to the passages. All the more reason to use a proper TB cleaner instead of a carburetor cleaner.
Note also that many cars use an IAC valve mounted to the manifold instead of the throttle body. This is nice because you don’t have to remove the TB to clean the IAC. When cleaning the channels in the manifold, resist the temptation to poke a screwdriver or anything long in there; some cars have a screen in the IAC channels, and you do not want to shove that into your intake manifold.
Seeking Cheap Insurance
If you have found car insurance under $100 a month, try to keep it by checking your vehicle properly and avoiding accidents. If you still do not have the cheap car insurance with no deposit policy you need, you can buy it through direct providers like Rodney Young Insurance that can get you covered for less money.
