So a couple of weeks ago, I cleaned the front of my throttle body because my idle was real rough. It looked almost as if it hadn't ever been cleaned (it's an '88) and this was certainly the first time I had done it in the 4 years I've owned it. Today, I went in to finish the job. I cleaned the back of the throttle body, as far into the plenum as I could reach and I used a Q-tip to get down into the opening of the IAC (and that was just as filthy). So I finished, clamped all the hoses back into place, and plugged the throttle position sensor back in. I go to start the car and it starts for a half second and turns off. I try again and same thing. So the third time I opened the throttle a bit and the car went until I let go of the throttle. I held it there for a little while and eventually the car began to idle without shutting off and its still a little rough but now idles back around 900 rpm in park (still a little rough but not as bad). Is this normal after cleaning out the parts I did or did I make a mistake somewhere?

To clean everything, I used a regular throttle body cleaner that I picked up at pep boys and wiped it out with shop towels or Q-tips depending on where I was cleaning.

 

Sounds pretty normal. Sometimes there is some residual cleaner in there and it makes it run/start rough, Also, could be some pieces of buildup that washed into a passage, I'd run it a day or so and put some injector cleaner in the tank too. It should work itself back to normal.

 

Ok, that's what I thought but just wanted a second opinion on it. I'll keep driving it around and see how it does. A fresh tank of gas probably won't hurt either.