BOARDPARADISE

I was cleaning my engine bay up a bit and started to take the stock intake off and removed all of the hoses. And after I took the intake tube of, I noticed that the throttle body was rather dirty, so I proceeded to just remove it and clean it, as i figured it wouldn't hurt to have a nice and clean throttle body. I removed all of the sensors and the coolant lines that go to it and removed the throttle body however the gasket was torn after removal, and the manual states to replace it. So, i ordered a new gasket from Honda as well as new coolant lines and nuts to hold the throttle body on (i like replacing rusty stuff with nice new hardware). Gasket went on smoothly and i cleaned off the old gasket as best as I could. Now, when I start the car, there is a LOUD whistle coming from the throttle body area and the idle is all over the place. Goes up and down very quickly so after hearing that, I shut the car off and rechecked all of the sensors and everything is plugged in and all of the coolant lines are back on. I torqued the nuts and bolts on the throttle body to 16 lb/ft as the service manual stated. Could I have not taken off all of the old gasket material and there is an air leak where the throttle body and the intake join? I had a friend who has an s2000 state he had the same issue and he doubled up on the gasket and it solved his issue. The new gasket seems awfully thin, like a piece of paper. Car is a 2002 with 52k miles on it. Thoughts?

windhund116

Sounds like a vacuum leak. check your hoses for correct placement. And any new cracks.

Good luck!

jwzimm

You have a loose vacuum line somewhere. That is why your idle is surging. There is un-metered air entering the intake manifold from somewhere. Double and triple check that everything is hooked back up exactly as it should be. There shouldn't be any open ports on the TB either.

BOARDPARADISE

Could the vaccum leak be from the unmetered air entering between the intake manifold and the throttle body?

jwzimm

Possibly but I doubt it. You replaced the gasket and that is a machined surface joint. Unless the TB or the Manifold interface surface was damaged I do not see how you could have a significant leak there.

BOARDPARADISE

Well, to give an update, I took off the throttle body and noticed that i did leave some of the old gasket still on the intake manifold. I used a razor blade to carefully scrape the remainder of it off. I put it back together and no whistle and the idle is normal! Thanks for the feedback!