Throttle body GM 55561495 OEM vs NEW disassembled view

[HeavyDuty]

Compared the OEM throttle body to the new one I just bought today. Not to much changed by eye, but the new one looks to be better made than the OEM in terms of machine work at least, no sharp edges ect. The large black plastic module on the side has a slightly different design. I did note the OEM one has a needle bearing in one end which is bone dry....I did not open up the new one to see if anything changed under the hood or not. There are a couple of connections inside the OEM one that are far from solid and I could sure see a poor connection on either one of those. I would conclude by review that cleaning the throttle body does nothing other than perhaps making the butterfly valve operate smoothly...no IAC in there that cleaning fluid would hit. Pics to follow




To gain access to this needle bearing, one could in theory drill a tiny hole in the "frost plug" that seals it from view....add some oil, then reseal the hole that was drilled with a weapon of the do-ers choice. Oil will reach the bearing if applied to the shaft inside the throttle body housing, if the angle is correct, but certain oils may cause the seal to swell as may any cleaners used to clean the TB. This bearing was lubed but the lube had become "gummy" in mine. I am more apt to think there is issues under the black plastic "hood" causing these TB's to fail....but well lubed bearing and shaft could help those with the unstable idle issue.

[HeavyDuty]

[Daox]

Interesting pictures. I'll have to see if I can get some shots of my 07 throttle body. It came off the 07 engine I have in my 05 which is cable driven.

[HeavyDuty]

Interesting pictures. I'll have to see if I can get some shots of my 07 throttle body. It came off the 07 engine I have in my 05 which is cable driven.

I have more pics Doax---I took it right apart, could not post all pics at once will get the rest up here before Monday am out of the hosue atm.

[HeavyDuty]

Here is the rest of the pictures - Sorry for the wait time



Attachment 5879
Attachment 5880

[Daox]

So, those pictures are of the failed TB? Did you find anything that might be the cause of the failure?

[HeavyDuty]

On the black plastic cover there are to female electrical plugs...on the TB there are two male electrical plugs...that connection is very loose but I can not say for certain that is the cause of the failure. If that connection degraded, which I think it did, it would cause intermittent loss of power to the TB and result in the throttle closing....a stall. Also varied electrical flow through the poor connection could cause idle surges, erratic idle.

The needle bearing on the TB is also "gummy" whatever was used to lube it doesn't stand up to the heat. This again could cause some issues.

The plastic gears which transmit movement from the electric motor which controls the butterfly, very cheap I could see them binding very easily.

I may one day, clean and lube this one all up and reinstall it to see if it works as it should. If it fails to do so that would certainly indicate the little electric motor in there is the problem.

[Daox]

So, it could have been multiple things. No real smoking gun eh?

[HeavyDuty]

So, it could have been multiple things. No real smoking gun eh?

Well the smoking gun in my opinion is the overall poor quality I am afraid. My car would stall without notice, it doesn't do that anymore, but your right nothing jumps out as "broken"........If I had of taken the new one apart to see what has been changed in it......that would very likely pinpoint the problem. The black plastic cover is redesigned on the new one, it houses the female electrical connection.....that's were I put my money.

[Daox]

I found my 07 throttle body in the garage and brought it in the other night. As far as I know it was working when I pulled it off the engine. I'll take it apart and add to the images in this thread and hopefully someone else with a failed throttle body can figure out what is going on.