plymouthcolt

I am trying to find the easiest way to remove what I think is a damaged throttle body. If I remove the air filter housing will I be able to unscrew the Tb by feel, or am I forced to remove the whole varioram?

bobt993

I would absolutely remove the varioram. It is really not that big a deal. Mark your wiring connections if your not familiar to avoid mixing the resonance flap and the varioram runners. I can send you some picts of what to get to.

You should also remove the very top of the fan housing which leads into the blower motor. It is very hard to get the varioram clear of the engine bay with this in the way and you can damage the rubber on it.
Remove the blower motor.
Remove the vacuum lines off the tree on the lefts side.
Unclip the cyl 3 temp sensor, flywheel sensor, knock sensor wires.
You also have the cruise control clip and the throttle clip on the back side of the throttle body. There is also a check valve wire at the very top of the tree on the left and it is on the backside where you cannot see it.
Remove the air filter and MAS air flow sensor.
You also have a couple of tank oil lines on the far right back side to unscrew.
At the base of each intake you need to unscrew the very top clamp on the rubber collars.
You may need to work a flat blade screw driver gently at the top of each collar and lube a small bit of oil on them to free them up.

If you have a tough time getting the varioram out I suggest dropping the engine a small bit by loosening the back bolts and putting a jack under the engine. You can get a about an inch of clearance which is enough to take the assembly out. If this sounds like a lot of work I can tell you after doing it a bit it is 30min to 40min job getting it out. When you take it out cover the intakes and inspect them with a flash light to make sure nothing dropped in!!!

geolab

what makes you think so ?

bobt993

I would be surprised also if the throttle body is damaged, but here are the picts requested. BTW I replied to your email but received a spam block message.

The throttle and cruise are next to each other. Throttle has a cable while the cruise has a solid arm that comes up into the clip. I deleted the cruise on my race, but left the clip in place for a spare should I loose the throttle clip. (not something you find kept in the paddock very often).

The backside of the vacuum tree is the clip that is hard to see.

Right side of the motor next the oil breather line(s) is the throttle position which is easy to miss.

Bottom of the throttle linkage is the collar that holds the base of the throttle cable (rubber grommet). You need that push through after releasing the clip.

plymouthcolt

When the engine blew a valve head was forced up the intake and actually bent one of the flaps inside the varioram.

The engine was totally rebuilt and the flap was replaced. Code p1140 (signal implausable, TPS sensor or false air) appeared and the ISV was replaced-code reappeared.

Smoke test and no vacuum leak was found-code reappeared

At this point most likely that valve head did damage the throttle body when it took it's richochet journey inside the varioram.

bobt993

Howard, You should also take the plenum completely apart and look for debris. Hot metal inside the varioram will stick pretty well to the side walls . Very easy to take a apart and you can see all around the chambers. You also want to look at the tuning runners. They have some small pockets on the bottom that debris can end up in and of course eventually into your engine. I would also remove the resonance flap and fully clean the rubber gasket etc looking again for metal debris. You cannot over clean the varioram.

geolab

I don't think something is broken, but personally would take the Vram out.
Bob explained pragmatically how to take the Vram out, and if you follow the points,
you would be good.
I would add one thing that would spare you an hour of cursing and a great deal of bruises,
is to detach the throttle cable from the pedal first.
After that, you follow the above steps, you pull the Vram out of the rubber sleeves, and let it sit
20 centimeters to the back outside, and then detaching the throttle cable from the Vram
is so,easy.
When mounting, in reverse. VRam slightly in, plug throttle cable, introduce Vram in sleeves,
Attach throttle cable, on pedal.

plymouthcolt

Thank you everyone. I have the project planned for this weekend. I'll update you with what I find.

I reviewed the engine rebuild sheet and see that the rebuild was in April. In September there is another invoice for "remove intake and disassemble. Replace resonance flap in lower intake plenum. Scan car for faults. Bad IAC motor. Replace."

plymouthcolt

Hi everyone,

I finally had a weekend with no rain and removed the VR. I took some pictures and my visual inspection reveals no damage to the throttle body. I was hoping that was the issue (grasping at straws) as I now have no clue why this P1140 code continues to haunt me.

I noticed the resonance flap doesn't close all the way-it that normal?

I didn't get a chance to take apart the VR as the Loctite won't release it's grip. Any suggestions on seprating the pieces without damaging them?

Vorsicht

Loctite will release with heat added. I once used a kitchen butane torch that did the trick (or regular torch). Try heating the bolt itself for a few minutes then try. Be careful. Make sure nothing flammable is nearby and obviously keep the flame away from rubber and plastic!

KMASS993

It is normal that the resonance flap does not close all the way. I would replace the seal on it before you reinstall as they often leak. Additionally, check the health of all the vacuums the operate the Varioram unit.

Vorsicht

I recommend doing a search for "1140" . This code appears to come up a lot and is hard to diagnose. Might just be a dirty MAF sensor or a loose hose.

plymouthcolt

I'm debating on taking apart the VR. The engine rebuild sheet has the following work performed:

"Disassemble intake manifold and clean out all debris from upper and lower plenum. Reassemble"

Maybe there was an error during reassembly?

I'll replace the resonance flap seal and find out how to test the vacuum units.

bobt993

The tuning chambers will come apart with a an easy tap of plastic at 90deg to the joining plane. Light taps. I would not use heat. You have rubber seals on the trumpets. Did you check for vacuum leaks prior to removal?

plymouthcolt

The pcar mechanic ran a smoke test and couldn't find a vacuum leak. I can't remember which ones but when I pulled some hoses there was a sssssssss.

The pcar mechanic is sure it's the throttle body and wanted to drop the engine replace and replace the whole intake. I saw the estimate for that and nearly had a heart attack. After looking at the TB and finding nothing I'm beginning to think even he doesn't know what's wrong.

He's tweaked the idle so many times. Set very low idle and there is no code but the car stalls all the time. Adjust idle higher to avoid stalling and the code appears 25 miles later.