Carb cleaner?

Can I spray carb cleaner into the thottle body of my 2001 F-150 XL 4.6L with the engine running to clean it? And how often is this required?  

Why would you want to do that with the engine running?

I'd take the throttle body off the truck and then spray it clean.

And cleaning the TB should rarely (if ever) be needed unless you're running an oiled-type air filter that causes what dust particles that get through to stick to everything.  

Don't use "carb" cleaner. Get a Throttle Body cleaner. Carb cleaners may potentially harm electronics such as the TPS.

To answer the question, yes, you can spray it in with the engine running. And it's not a terrible idea, you just have to be smart about it and not over do it. Doing this will help clean the crud out of the intake tract.

But if you want to get the thing really clean a bench cleaning is in order like sfr said. It's super easy to do too, take maybe 15 minutes to get the TB off and cleaned.

And they do need to be cleaned from time to time even with a paper filter due to the fact that the crank case vents back into the intake over time depositing an oily residue. It's not just from oiled filters.  
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Long Travel 4WD - The best of Both Worlds

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I'm going by what I saw when I had a buddy's truck over here not too long ago. His TB was almost spotless after 12 years & 115K miles with a paper filter (just a very light whitish coating of fine dust in a few spots). Mine, (same truck, 4.0L Ranger but had a K&N filter and only 70K miles) had black sortof fluffy crap all over the TB and inside the intake that turned into goo if you touched it. Only difference was the filter (the MAF sensor would get all cruddy with the same junk too, I was always having to clean it). Since switching back to a paper filter, it's been staying much cleaner in there.  

Thank you.  

What was your buddies truck SFR? It could be a difference in intake manifolds causing it. I know my Rangers TB gets real dirty real quick, and always has.

I pulled the TB off of my F-150 at 35,000 miles it it was pretty gunky too.

The reason your buddies may have been clean could have something to do with a coating that they put on the TB from the factory. There are some manufactures, Ford included, that on some models coat the TB with a sort of teflon type coating so that junk won't stick. These usually have a sticker or stamp saying "Do Not Clean" on them.

Have you ever had a problem with your MAF? If the gunk is being caused by the filter it will get screwy before the TB.  
-------------------------------------------------------------
Long Travel 4WD - The best of Both Worlds

Questions? Comments? Concerns? PM Me!

Hi, what is MAF? I've never had problems but think the engine would run better with a clean TB. I've seen them dirty before. Thanks.  

4WOR Web Editor:
What was your buddies truck SFR? It could be a difference in intake manifolds causing it. I know my Rangers TB gets real dirty real quick, and always has.

I pulled the TB off of my F-150 at 35,000 miles it it was pretty gunky too.

The reason your buddies may have been clean could have something to do with a coating that they put on the TB from the factory. There are some manufactures, Ford included, that on some models coat the TB with a sort of teflon type coating so that junk won't stick. These usually have a sticker or stamp saying "Do Not Clean" on them.

Have you ever had a problem with your MAF? If the gunk is being caused by the filter it will get screwy before the TB.


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'93 vs. '94 Ranger 4.0L. Virtually no differences between them.

MAF = Mass Airflow Sensor. It's located in the intake plenum after the air filter, but before the throttle body.