Over time, your car’s throttle body can get a build-up of carbon deposits, which can lead to issues such as rough idle, poor acceleration, and decreased fuel efficiency. From time-to-time, it’s a good idea to clean your throttle body to improve the performance of your vehicle. On the 2000-2006 Audi TT, the throttle body is located at the front of the engine bay close to the passenger side, so it is easily accessible.
The best way to clean your throttle body is to clean it while it is removed from the car. This way, you can easily clean it from both sides of the throttle body. You might be able to clean it while the throttle body is still on the car with the intake hose removed, but you won’t be able to do as good of a job as if it were removed from the car.
While you’re there, you might as well replace the throttle body gasket as well. Over time, repeated heat cycles can cause the throttle body gasket to harden and potentially cause a vacuum leak. A vacuum leak could result in metering issues with your vehicle as it struggles to match the fuel to the air coming into the engine.
Parts & Tools Needed
The main parts you’ll need is the throttle body gasket, some cleaning solution, and something to clean with like a microfiber towel and/or scuff pad. For cleaning solution, the safest option is to use a throttle body cleaner, but if you have mass air flow sensor cleaner, that also works (plus you can safely use it on your mass air flow sensor as well). And finally, a microfiber towel or rag works just fine, but if the carbon deposits on your throttle body is really caked-on, you might need a scuff pad for some extra cleaning power.
Throttle body gasket for MK1 Audi TT (Part #028129748): FEL-PRO 61092 / MAHLE G31613
Throttle body cleaner or mass air flow sensor cleaner
Microfiber towel or rags
Removing the Throttle Body
Use a flat head screwdriver and loosen the bolt clamp to the intake hose. Pull the intake hose off of the throttle body. Also loosen the bolt clamp for the smaller hose on the throttle body and remove.
Use a size 6 hex key or allen wrench to remove the (4 qty) hex bolts from the throttle body. You’ll be able to separate the throttle body now. Remove the old throttle body gasket and clean off the surface of the throttle body if any bits of the throttle body gasket are stuck to it.
Cleaning the Throttle Body
Use a throttle body cleaner (or mass air flow sensor cleaner) with a mild scuff pad. I’m using a white scuff pad here, which is pretty safe to use while still having the ability to clean off old carbon deposits. Remember to clean from both ends of the throttle body. Also, manually open up the throttle plate so you can clean on the edges of the plate as well.
You can also use a rag or microfiber towel with throttle body cleaner or mass air flow sensor cleaner to clean the surface of the throttle plate. Normally, a microfiber towel with cleaner alone will enough to clean the throttle body adequately.
Installing the Throttle Body Gasket
After cleaning the throttle body, install a new throttle body gasket and reinstall the (4 qty) throttle body bolts. Torque these bolts down to 7 ft-lb (or 10 Nm) with a torque wrench.
Reassemble everything else back onto your TT and reconnect/tighten up any hoses removed. Start up your car again and allow it to idle for a while. The vehicle’s idle may be a bit erratic at first, while the car makes metering adjustments. This is due to the change in the amount of air entering the throttle body since you’ve likely cleared up some of the carbon deposits that were previously blocking the slight opening of the throttle plate.
