Hi guys,

Have been suffering the infamous wandering revs at idle with my 1.4 v8 w reg fabia. Have been trying to solve this for a while until i leanred that 'it's characteristic of these cars'. So I've left it until now....

Few days ago It became markedly worse, so having searched the forums I decided to try giving the throttle body a clean (as advised by people on here). However, and I know this sounds stupid, I don't know where it is! :confused: Have looked in Haynes and all i can find it the throttlle control unit. Is this the same thing?

Just wondered if some one could talk me through the process, e.g. cleaning products, where to clean etc.

Maybe this would be a good place for a technical guide since lots of people seem to be doing it!

Cheers:thumbup:

Tim

How come 36 people have looked at this and not replied! Does nobody know or is nobody bothered?:(

No expert but I feel guilty now.

It's under the big black engine cover on the top of the engine. Google images throttle body and then take the cover off and have a look. You can't miss it.

Also have a look under the underside of the engine cover see if theres much oil in it. The air filter is in there too.

To clean the throttle body properly you'd probably have to take it off? but i think you'd can probably spray carb cleaner in it. Never done it myself so don't know for sure.

You could take the cover off and have a look how oily/ gunky the flap looks for starters.

Ah, brilliant thanks. Thouhgh it would be quite obvious when i found out!

Yeah its the cleaning side im not too sure on now - didn't really want to go spraying unknown cleaning products in, but if its called carb cleaned, suppose it'll be alright!

Any other hints/tips from people that have done it?

Seems like you may have already found it, but if not, it's the metal butterfly valve under the back plastic slug-shaped thing towards the top of this picture (ignore the yellow circle - the picture's from a technical guide I did!)

I cleaned my wife's in situ with some carb cleaner and a microfibre cloth. but then it wasn't all that dirty in the first place. A really manky one would need to be removed, in which case you will need to replace the gasket and reset its position once you've cleaned and refitted it.

You are supposed to use VAG-COM or another diagnostic tool to do this (a member nearby you may help you out here), however rumour has it that turning the ignition to the 'lamp test' position but not as far as actually starting the engine, and keeping it there for a couple of minutes will put the throttle body position back to factory settings. I have no evidence that this actually works, although it did seem to reduce the delay on my wife's car between taking my foot off the accelerator and the revs dropping in neutral. It may have been a placebo effect, however!

Anyway, it may not be necessary to go as far as removing it to clean it, in which case there shouldn't be an issue. Just remember to use something that won't shed lint into the intake manifold ( :eek: ), and not to drench it in cleaning fluid!

Oh, and don't take it personally that quite a few people viewed your post before anyone replied. I for one will glance at any new posts that come up when I'm online, although I don't always want to / am able to reply...

Hey! that's fantastic, just the info I was after, thanks. I've got my carb cleaner and lint free cloth to give it a go this weekend. Will let you know how I go!

Cheers, tim