What could go wrong with the faulty throttle body?

The faulty throttle body won’t be able to play its role as part of the car’s transmission that is responsible for power production for the engine. The throttle body sucks in air that goes to the combustion chamber for the purpose of power production. Incase something is wrong with the throttle body, the dashboard will display a check engine light. But in some other cases, the dashboard will display a reduced engine power warning light. This depends on the onboard computer’s programming.

Further, the throttle body works alongside the accelerator, the onboard computer, throttle position sensor and the butterfly valve. Lets find out what is a throttle body and how it works.

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What is throttle body and how does it work?

The throttle body is part of the air intake system for the engine. It controls the amount of air that goes into the combustion chamber. The throttle body consists of a butterfly valve which rotates on the throttle shaft.  It’s purpose is to open and close as the accelerator is pressed in order to allow the flow of air into the combustion chamber.

The air that goes in combines with the fuel to produce power that serves the acceleration capacity. Some cars that have small engines in terms of power production can undergo modifications to help boost their acceleration. On the contrary, other bigger engine cars have more than one throttle body. This helps them get more air into the engine for higher acceleration.

Throttle body is located between the air filter and intake manifold in order to control the air flow for facilitating spark ignition. Further, the throttle body temperature sensor measures the temperature of the air entering the combustion chamber to mix with fuel. This sensor communicates with the onboard computer and the accelerator to help achieve optimum fuel efficiency.

Air flow control by the throttle body depends on the butterfly valve and the accelerator. The butterfly valve allows air into the combustion chamber on the basis of communication from the throttle sensor and the driver’s acceleration. Hence affecting the engine’s RPM and the power output.

What are the signs of a faulty throttle body.

1. Check engine light.

The onboard computer will be responsible for monitoring the car’s systems. You usually get an alert when something is wrong with the car’s systems. This dash board warning light is a tricky one to interpret. Simply because there are quite a number of things that could lead to it’s origin. Usually, the normal cause is faulty sensors within the system. In this case, a faulty throttle body sensor could be the cause.

2. Rough idling.

There are occasions when the car idling is smooth without unnecessary vibrations. During these occasions, it is usually because the car’s engine is receiving a balanced ratio of fuel and air mixture. A faulty throttle body can cause rough idling because it leads to an imbalance in the fuel and air ratio. The rough idle is because of insufficient engine power because the fuel isn’t burning as it should.

3. Poor Acceleration.

As we mentioned above, the accelerator coordinates with the throttle sensor to facilitate engine power production. Now if the throttle sensor is faulty, the will be a breakdown of the data transfer between the accelerator and the throttle body. Hence reducing the amount of air taken into the combustion chamber. Meaning that the fuel will not be burnt to the optimum. So if your car has a problem accelerating, there is a problem with the throttle body.

4. Engine Misfires.

When the engine starts, it usually relies on the spark plug and the car battery to provide an electric spark that ignites the fuel and air mixture. Misfires come about because of an imbalance of the air and fuel mixture. Further, a weak spark from the spark plug can cause the engine to misfire.

Spark plugs are usually at fault when they are worn out. Alternatively, when the car starts and it is turned off immediately. This act causes the fuel that goes into the combustion chamber not burn completely. Hence, it comes in contact with the spark plug and damages it because fuel should not come in contact with the spark plug.

You may detect misfires when you try revving the engine as soon as it starts.

5. High Engine RPM.

The throttle body is part of controlling the engine’s rotations per minute RPM. When the engine is idle, the throttle body ensures that the engine maintains a steady RPM. Further, a steady engine RPM depends on the fuel and air mixture being at a balance. This balance is dependent on a fully functional throttle body. But if the throttle body is faulty, the engine RPM usually increases more than it should, because the engine is struggling.

6. Engine stalls and dies during idle.

Apart from a throttle body causing the engine RPM to be high, it also causes it to be low. Such that during idle time, the engine will start going off at random intervals. When the butterfly flap has a lot of dust, suit and carbon accumulation, it will fail to rotate to the right angle. This will cause the air going into the engine to fail and become minimum.