Throttle body and EML repair

[Kibokojoe]

Cleaned the throttle body on my son's 7 yesterday. Followed the instructions on http://www.e38.org/e32/e32_throttle_body_cleaning.pdf

I know this is on a 7 but I understand these are also found on the 5 series. Is this true? Took about 2 hours As with the author the motor brushes were stuck. Sprayed them down with electrical cleaner and washed away all of the brush dust. It was pretty caked on the windings, armature and brushes.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/kibokojoe/armaturesmall.jpg

Brushes look like they are just about gone. Anyone know of a source for these? I think you can file brushes down to make them fit. But not for sure.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/kibokojoe/brushessmall.jpg

Cleaned the rest of the throttle body with carb cleaner, making sure not to get any of the spray on the electrical components. Drove the 7 yesterday and today and the EML light has not returned :) Don't know how much longer the brushes will last so I need to find them now. Pretty easy job really but I did not take out the swiper. That thing looks so fragile I was afraid of damaging it. All I did was spray it liberally with electrical cleaner. Besides I knew I had found the problem with the brush being stuck. Why mess up a good thing.

[632 Regal]

Brushes look like they have a lot of life left from the picture. Have to figure the brushes dont see a lot of action like an electric motor so the brushes should last a long time. Sure looks like a mess though, I should check this on the 850 now that I see how ugly they can get.


http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/kibokojoe/brushessmall.jpg

[Bill R.]

Cleaned the throttle body on my son's 7 yesterday. Followed the instructions on http://www.e38.org/e32/e32_throttle_body_cleaning.pdf

I know this is on a 7 but I understand these are also found on the 5 series. Is this true? Took about 2 hours As with the author the motor brushes were stuck. Sprayed them down with electrical cleaner and washed away all of the brush dust. It was pretty caked on the windings, armature and brushes.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/kibokojoe/armaturesmall.jpg

Brushes look like they are just about gone. Anyone know of a source for these? I think you can file brushes down to make them fit. But not for sure.
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj225/kibokojoe/brushessmall.jpg

Cleaned the rest of the throttle body with carb cleaner, making sure not to get any of the spray on the electrical components. Drove the 7 yesterday and today and the EML light has not returned :) Don't know how much longer the brushes will last so I need to find them now. Pretty easy job really but I did not take out the swiper. That thing looks so fragile I was afraid of damaging it. All I did was spray it liberally with electrical cleaner. Besides I knew I had found the problem with the brush being stuck. Why mess up a good thing.


Yes you can file them down to fit, I frequently can get the exact size or pretty close by going to a power tool repair shop or an alternator starter repair shop... with the smaller ones like the throttle motor has i'd call some power tool rebuilders with the brush dimensions .... Check here also with the dimensions (http://www.graphitestore.com/index.asp)

[Kibokojoe]

Electrical contact cleaner made quick work of the brush dust. Kind of gooey though. Remove the three screws and it all comes off as a nice little unit. Wiper and coder is under the connector socket. I was real careful with the coder and wiper assembly. Look at the little finders on the wiper, looks like if you touched them they would break. I used a gel silicone lube on the ends of the armature. Ha, son just came in he reports no EML light, I would have to say that the repair has been a success. At the price these babies are going for it would be worth repairing them as a hobby. If I did I would get a 4 volt power source so I could bench test them.

[shogun]

Nice pics. I think the brushes still work a long time. No real need to change them now, but also no problem to find some and to make them fit, as Bill R. said.
I have the original data for testing the throttling valves
http://www.750i.de/pix/DK2.jpg
http://www.750i.de/pix/DK1.jpg

working on the translation and will ad that on my website. But not easy to translate that electric stuff from German to English for me.