oil inside throttle body normal?

[xjeeper]

:confused I took off the inlet piece at the throttle bldy looing for leaks toda and peered inside the tb/intake manifold and its got a decent bit of oil in there, is this normal?

[ICTBMW]

you sure it is oil?

I bet it is a mixture of moisture/coolant.

[thejlevie]

It could well be oil. It isn't unusual to see a bit of oil in the intake on a higher mileage car. As the intake valve seals harden with age (or wear) a bit of oil can get sucked back into the intake. Another source is the positive crankcase vent system (bad PCV valve or a bit more blowby on a higher mileage car). Unless there's a lot of it or it is reaching the MAF it won't really be a problem.

[JamesM3M5]

you sure it is oil?

I bet it is a mixture of moisture/coolant.
I would hope it was oil, not coolant. There shouldn't be any way for coolant to get INTO the throttle. The cold-weather throttle body heater doesn't actually have any way to leak coolant inside the throttle.

Yes, oil is normal inside the throttle, but a lot of oil indicates either a bad PCV system or a vacuum leak. Vacuum leaks can suck oil and oil vapor into the intake manifold. Same with a bad crankcase vent system. A small film of oil inside the throttle is normal, esp if you drive at full throttle quite a bit. The PCV system doesn't work very well at full throttle, which is why race engines usually vent the crankcase to atmosphere. It's harder to keep oil out of the intake of a race engine.

[Don Nguyen]

I've seen oil in the TB of my car and many other cars I have worked on before, so I think it might be normal? The oil could be coming from the tube that connects to the back of the intake manifold right behind the TB. I forget the specific name for it right now.

[xjeeper]

so a vac leak could cause this? interesting.....

i keep getting an o2 sensor code even after a new sensor was installed. I read that a vac leak could actually trip the o2 code (dont know why though) so could a vac leak possibly be causing both this oil buildup and be tripping my ce light with a code 1221 (obd1 oxygen sensor)???

How do i find where the leak is occurring?????? there is a shit ton of vac lines!!

[JamesM3M5]

so a vac leak could cause this? interesting.....

i keep getting an o2 sensor code even after a new sensor was installed. I read that a vac leak could actually trip the o2 code (dont know why though) so could a vac leak possibly be causing both this oil buildup and be tripping my ce light with a code 1221 (obd1 oxygen sensor)???

How do i find where the leak is occurring?????? there is a s--- ton of vac lines!!
Can't curse on the public forums, FYI...

But if I had to guess, it could be a bad valve cover gasket set (hardened and brittle), bad PCV valve o-ring (the one on the front of the valve cover), cracked PCV hose, bad ICV hoses or fittings, or simply a hose left off from previously working on the car. Just gotta remove the intake boot and start looking under and around the intake manifold.