Everyone here is guilty of letting their throttle body go unloved for far too long. Heck, some car owners might never clean theirs. Throttle bodies are just one of those things that can live at the ...

Dear Car Talk: What the heck is a throttle body? We have a 2007 Toyota 4Runner with 85,000 miles and a 2011 Toyota Venza with 45,000 miles. Our local Toyota dealer is pushing us to service the ...

Boy, do we get questions about the need for a throttle-body cleaning. Most come from people wondering whether the work is needed or the service shop is just trying to reach deeper into their pockets.

Q: Recently my car began stalling occasionally and was difficult to start. My repair guy diagnosed the cause as a “dirty throttle” and cleaned it. This helped some, but the problem persisted. Next he ...