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Loosing a LOT of coolant whilst trying to remove throttle body. Advice please.

Messy

Messy

Messages
229
Issue after issue for me at the moment. My idle is playing up to the point it has stalled a couple of times. I'm aware it's most likely the idle control valve that needs cleaning. I followed the guide on here and tried to remove it (looks simple enough). The issue I have is after disconnecting one of the coolant pipes from the throttle body I had no coolant coming out of the pipe but lots running out of the throttle body connection. I expected to loose some, and waited for it to stop but after 700ml and with no signs of the flow stopping (or coolant available) I had to reconnect the hose and call it a day as low coolant is much worse than an idle issue!
What am I doing wrong? Should I disconnect both hoses as quickly as possible? (Suspecting by only disconnecting one I maybe creating a vacuum pulling more coolant out). If this is normal losses how much coolant can I expect to loose as will be purchasing some tomorrow when honda are open.
Thanks in advance, sorry for the noob questions the car gods have not been happy with me this week, so trying to avoid extra costs/problems after fully rebuilding and bleeding brakes, needed drop links and getting rattle on cold start (timing chain tensioner)
 
Am pretty sure my mistake was only disconnecting one hose and thinking that it would just drain what's in the throttle body as opposed to sucking more coolant out through the other hose. Bought some coolant today and gonna try again tomorrow.
Thanks for the response mate it's not been a good week for me.
 
Small mole grips on the pipe sorts that out. Use some blue towel / cloth between the jaws and the pipe so you don't damage it.
 
I got a second pair of hands to help out the other day and plugged both hoses with bolts and lost about an egg cups worth. Seems it was creating a vacuum and sucking the coolant through.
Throttle body removed, cleaned and idle control cleaned. My idle issue is now a thing of the past, thanks guys.
 
Just a note for anyone doing this in the future. If you are trying to clamp the pipe with mole grips, use 2 deep sockets over each of the mole grip jaws, this creates a lovely blunt edge that won't damage the pipes! You can clamp them before removal and minimise coolant loss.
 
is it an easy job removing and cleaning the throttle body, 90,000 miles so thought it would help a little
 
Yea was really easy, just plug the coolant hoses one at a time as you remove them and you avoid the issue I had above.
 
I did mine because I was having issues with my idle. If your idle is ok there's no need to do it but may avoid the issue in the future by adding it to a service regime.
 
thats it, no harm in a good engine clean. Was considering BG44K as well as always used it on previous cars with good effect.
 
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