A loose upper rad hose clamp, lead to coolant in the valley, which lead to a sticky throttle body, which lead to me shooting a couple of squirts of WD-40 (straight shot with straw end) on the throttle body spring, which brings me to my question:

I have smoke coming from under the intake by the TB. I am fairly certain it is the WD40 burning off. Is this something I should be concerned about? I don't see how I can clean it without removing the intake (again).

Overall, I can smell the WD40 burning and the under-intake area around the throttle body is pretty smokey. I did not see it coming from the hood while driving. I can only smell it while stopped. I looked for flames, but did not see any. The engine did not feel noticeably hotter for its running/driving time/type.

The good news is my throttle is no longer sticky.

 

Careful:

 

The flammable part of wd-40 evaporates pretty quickly I believe. If you are still getting smoke, it’s probably stuff the wd-40 cleaned off.

 

No you shouldn't be concerned.

 

What in that area would be so hot as to make anything resembling smoke but perhaps steam?

 

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I need not be too worried.

Bill, I got most of the coolant out of the valley, at least what was reachable with the intake on and without risking disconnecting any vacuum lines, but it is entirely possible there is still some liquid in the valley from the coolant leak. Maybe the two mixed together as fall-off is making the steam as suggested. I will keep my eye on it.

As an aside, the thought of removing the intake for the 4th time since August drove me to this less than stellar decision.

 

Use a shopvac with a small hose to get all the coolant out of the valley and I wouldn't worry about the WD40.