Introduction
In this article, we are going to remove the position sensor from the throttle body and clean it.
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Remove the throttle body from the engine. Remove the cover plate by prying up on the edges with a small screwdriver. It is glued down with silicone. Under the cover plate you will see a computer module that is also siliconed in place.
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Dig the silicone sealer out of the right side to expose the position sensor wire terminals. The terminals are spot welded (yes, WELDED) together to the leads from the computer module. Use small sharp diagonal cutters to separate the terminal leads.
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The inside of the housing and the position sensor will both have an oily mess. Clean them by spraying with carb spray or contact cleaner.
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Carefully pry out the metal ring that protects the sliding contacts. You can clean them with some spray cleaner.
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Reassemble the metal ring. Apply silicone adhesive around the outside edge, then reinstall the sensor into the throttle body.
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Wrap some wire strands around the terminal ends to help hold them together tightly. Solder the terminals together (but NOT to each other!).
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Use silicone to reattach the cover plate and to seal up the side access hole. Allow the silicone to set up before reinstalling the throttle body to the engine.
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6 comments
Brilliant solution - I have a 2001 V70 here in Yorkshire,England - thanks to HemiBill!
My Volvo has passed on to the great junkyard in the sky, but here it lives on forever.
Bill
HemiBill -
Hey, thanks for the tutorial. I have a 2002 S60 that is surging. Was this fix to resolve similar behavior?
DaveK -
Surging is usually caused by the engine running too lean. Check for vacuum leaks at the intake manifold, vacuum hoses, brake booster, and anything else that's vacuum powered.
Also try cleaning the throttle blade, especially the edges. Some idle air does go past the throttle blade (normally) and if it gets gunked up, the engine won't be happy.
HemiBill -
I have a 2001 Volvo S60 Turbo that is in limp mode. I hooked my OBDII scanner to it and it said the acceleration pedal position sensor was bad and the throttle body. I replaced the accelerator pedal position sensor, but I was told if I buy a new throttle body it would have to be taken/sent to a Volvo dealer to have specific software programmed into it. Is that true or is there any way to avoid having to do that? Thanks for any help you can give me on this!