Just wondering if anyone's tried cleaning a throttle body themselves. I thought of doing it to my 99 a4 2.8 but it looks really hard and i don't know if I should attempt it myself. Does anyone have instructions on doing this task? (Mostly taking it off looks hard - not the actual cleaning) Thanks!

yea i'm planning on doing this too, but scared to mess up the overly sensitive sensors. lol

The sensors arent the main concern. The big concern is all the vacuum lines on top of it. It really is a pain to get off and install. Do you want to clean it because of a drivability concern. If not your best bet is to leave it alone.

I cleaned my 98 2.8. It would shut off when I came to a stop. You have to unbolt the vacum bracket on top and disconnect the lines. Mark them if you need to remember where they go. Disconnect the air intake might have to take some of it out. The hard part was the four bolts that hold it on three are easy to find the fourth was at the bottom and I think they were allen head. when you put it back together just make sure that rubber grommet goes in right. Mine had a layer of black gunk on the inside. I wouldn't take it off if the car is running fine.

clean it in the car if its not running poorly, just use a rag and water, any kind of metal parts cleaner will probably screw up the sensors.

The reason I need to clean it is because my battery was dead for a long time and the settings for the throttle body got erased. ( Have check engine light showing 2 different codes for the throttle body) So I need to reset the settings with a VAG but it is recommended to have the throttle body clean so that the reset would be right.

You can reset the throttle body with out a VAG. Just turn the car to on and leave it for 5 minutes without touching the gas or starting the car. Turn it off, and the TBA is complete.