The wife's '06 TB with the 4.2L I6 engine has been giving her a check engine light (or the 'money light' as Eric O. from South Main Auto Repair https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthMainAutoRepairAvoca likes to call it). The code it gave was a P0506, idle speed lower than expected. I had a pretty good idea it was a dirty throttle body causing it. I would have cleaned it last weekend, but she needed the truck, and it hasn't been causing any driveability issues. I did clean the throttle body on my '04 TB last weekend, though. I pulled the throttle body off of hers this morning. I don't know, I don't think it's THAT bad! I can still see the throttle plate in places.
That's the engine side. Here's the air box side:
After some TLC, some Valvoline Heavy Duty Carb & Throttle Body Cleaner, and some scrubbing with an old toothbrush, it looks much more gooder!
I also put a new gasket on it, and changed the air filter since I had it apart anyway. Once I was finished I took it to get gas and gave it a test drive. No more money light, and it drives sweeeeeeet!
For those of you who have never cleaned the throttle body on you GMT360 vehicle, a few tips:
1. Do not disconnect the battery. Doing so will cause the HVAC actuators to do a relearn calibration, and you run the risk of having one of them strip the plastic internal gears. Then you have something else to fix! Open up the fuse box in the engine compartment and pull the fuses for the PCM. On the wife's '06 and my '04 they are fuses #10 and #28, the PCMB and PCM1 fuses. Leave these out for at least 30 minutes. If you pull them at the start of the job, you can put them back in when you're done. This will erase the compensation adjustment settings that the PCM has gradually built up to compensate for a slowly grunging-up throttle body. Make sure that all electrical components inside the vehicle are off (radio, AC, etc).
2. Do not try to open the throttle plate until the throttle body has been removed from the engine, or at least had the electrical connector unplugged. You could damage things that way.
3. I really recommend removing the throttle body from the engine. It's easy to do and you can get it a lot cleaner than if you try to clean it on the engine.
4. Replace the gasket. They're cheap.
5. Once you have the throttle body cleaned and re-installed, replace the two fuses you removed. Turn the ignition key to the run position, but do not start the engine. Leave the key in the run position for 2 minutes. Turn the key off for 1 minute. Start the engine and let it idle for 10 minutes. Do not touch the accelerator pedal during this time, you want the engine to do nothing but idle for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of idling, take it for a test drive and see how much nicer it runs!
That's the engine side. Here's the air box side:
After some TLC, some Valvoline Heavy Duty Carb & Throttle Body Cleaner, and some scrubbing with an old toothbrush, it looks much more gooder!
I also put a new gasket on it, and changed the air filter since I had it apart anyway. Once I was finished I took it to get gas and gave it a test drive. No more money light, and it drives sweeeeeeet!
For those of you who have never cleaned the throttle body on you GMT360 vehicle, a few tips:
1. Do not disconnect the battery. Doing so will cause the HVAC actuators to do a relearn calibration, and you run the risk of having one of them strip the plastic internal gears. Then you have something else to fix! Open up the fuse box in the engine compartment and pull the fuses for the PCM. On the wife's '06 and my '04 they are fuses #10 and #28, the PCMB and PCM1 fuses. Leave these out for at least 30 minutes. If you pull them at the start of the job, you can put them back in when you're done. This will erase the compensation adjustment settings that the PCM has gradually built up to compensate for a slowly grunging-up throttle body. Make sure that all electrical components inside the vehicle are off (radio, AC, etc).
2. Do not try to open the throttle plate until the throttle body has been removed from the engine, or at least had the electrical connector unplugged. You could damage things that way.
3. I really recommend removing the throttle body from the engine. It's easy to do and you can get it a lot cleaner than if you try to clean it on the engine.
4. Replace the gasket. They're cheap.
5. Once you have the throttle body cleaned and re-installed, replace the two fuses you removed. Turn the ignition key to the run position, but do not start the engine. Leave the key in the run position for 2 minutes. Turn the key off for 1 minute. Start the engine and let it idle for 10 minutes. Do not touch the accelerator pedal during this time, you want the engine to do nothing but idle for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of idling, take it for a test drive and see how much nicer it runs!
