Throttle body electrical plug

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Swanny
Started learning about 480
Posts: 70
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2014 11:40 am

Throttle body electrical plug

Post by Swanny » Sun Jul 03, 2016 11:03 am

Sooooo, I was changing my alternator and cleaning out the throttle body on my Turbo (B18FT) yesterday and I noticed that the 6 pin electrical plug to the throttle body was not there (!) :wall: and sure as hell it was just hanging below. I thought that maybe I'd knocked it loose but I doubt this very much.

I resealed the TB and ran the engine, and to my amazement - the lumpy idle that I've been chasing for over a year has gone! I was obviously pretty chuffed but also felt pretty stupid for not spotting this when I bought the car.

I wouldn't have thought that the car would have run without this connected, any thoughts? I've already got my dunce cap on so I don't need reminding how silly this all is. The previous owner fitted a thermostat to kill the AC compressor as I think he couldn't solve how the car was struggling when the engine was loaded, so I'm guessing this plug has been off for a while. Or is it impossible that the car's been running this long without it connected and I did in fact knock it off yesterday?

A bit of a "d'oh!" moment quickly followed by a "woohoo!" moment. Now for a test drive :D :D :D

Swanny
480 Turbo S/R 'Matilda' - '89 red - Norfolk

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dcwalker
480 Is my middle name
Posts: 1522
Joined: Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:30 pm
Location: York

Re: Throttle body electrical plug

Post by dcwalker » Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:52 pm

Interesting one!

It shouldn't be that easy to just knock off unless it has lost the metal retaining clip. If it's lost that perhaps it's been making a loose connection and you finally properly dislodged it?

Others will probably know whether or not the ECU can adjust for no throttle position sensor signal so as to keep the car running (albeit not that well), but perhaps that's what has been happening? Anyway, it's being unplugged certainly won't have helped the idling!

How was the test drive? Did Matilda seem better overall? Could be a simply thing you have finally found that answers a multitude of issues...

At the end of the day don't feel silly for missing it; feel pleased as spotting it and (hopefully!) making your 480 run better :wink:

David
Current: 1994 480 GT, 1996 460 CD & 1997 440 LE with lots of optional extras & 2007 V50 SE Sport
Previous: Celebration 331 (re-homed with Richard S), Celebration 467 (returned to Martin Mc); Celebration 346 (re-homed with Alan480); Celebration 269 (scrapped abandoned project), Celebration 73 (sold on after 6 years), 1992 ES, 1988 ES - and numerous other non-480 Volvos!

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