I am planning to use the maintenance procedure "cleaning intake manifolds without removing them". Mechanics charge $150 to do it (as part of some procedure that also cleans the injectors, apparently). "Cleaning intake maifolds without removing them" suggests also cleaning the throttle body with aerosol cleaner and a soft brush.
Today, I familiarized myself with the parts + tools, and noticed a sticker on the throttle body under the intake hose (not normally visible): "Do not clean inside throttle body or adjust hard stop screw. Special coating on throttle plate and bore."
Should I NOT clean the throttle body? Was this some aftermarket thing that was put on the car before I owned it? Has anyone else had experience with "special coating?"
The plate and the front inner part didn't look too bad (in terms of buildup)... There was some discoloration, I think.
My car is a 1998 SVT with 70k miles. I bought the car at 50k in 2002 (living close to work = not a lot of miles racked up). I have changed the air filter twice. My mileage is not good, so I am going to change plugs and fuel filter, plus any promising maintenance I can do. I welcome any other suggestions (to improve mileage, that is).
David Frank
