Project E30 / Ep. 28 / Throttle Body Shaft Bearing Replacement

In this video we replace the needle roller bearings that seal the throttle plate shaft in the throttle body. This is the one vacuum leak repair that I haven’t seen documented before, so here it is. It’s a finicky job, but it certainly pays off with a smoother running engine.
/Needle roller bearings (Qty Req: 2) : amzn.to/3jxRwg9
/Dremel Tungsten Carbide Cutter: amzn.to/3dzl5wI

[@CGCLevelDesign]

I know you wished your e30 was issue free, but man do I learn a lot from your videos. Hope something else brea- er... Keep up the good work!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thank you Curtis!

[@stanmarsh912]

Dude just made his own gasket. That's some next level DIY. Great video.

[@ethanhall6037]

Glad to see you’re back I missed your videos!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thanks Ethan! I took a bit of a break, but I plan to get a few more vids out soon.

[@baileyleggett9633]

Awesome video man. Replacing some throttle body bearings in a 82 380sl this week. This was super helpful

[@julesgueib]

Hey, thanks a lot for all your content! Just extracted my bearings, it worked like a charm after having heated the throttle body (blowtorch) prior to hammering it out. Putting the new ones in the freezer before install is also a great help! Thanks again!

[@gbkny1]

What brought me here was my e28 had the same issues which turned out to be a few. But this was one of them. Sad is that most shops don't rebuild throttle bodies anymore. You have to get a rebuilt, replacement (new) or rebuild it yourself. The shop ordered the parts to rebuild it and also bought extra just in case. Now my Throttle Body is like new. The idle control valve, coolant temp sensor and clogged injectors were all culprits. It also had a few leaks which were hoses. Now it runs nice and smooth. Oil pan and valve cover gaskets were replaced. Also had tie rod and control arm suspension issues which are being addressed but that had no bearing on how the car ran but rather how it drives. I can't wait to hit the hwy. It'll be like 1986 all over again.

[@TheDasbull]

Great video! I am going to have to make a smoke tester for my e30. I have the same off idle stumble, and have chased every vacuum leak except the throttle body. Thank you for the step by step and the link for the bearings👍 Cheers!

[@garrypienaar5883]

Hi, thanks a lot for the series of fix on the E30 i watched every single episode. Not trying to wish you bad luck but please upload any and all new issues or repairs/restore on the E30. Loved watching it and you make it interesting to watch. Carry on.

[@bubhed720]

Hey man! Love your videos!! Very inspirational!

[@patrickobrien9751]

Hey brotha. I followed your advice, now my E30 M20 has never idled smoother! Since I owned it anyway. Thank you!

[@frankalt172]

Excellent video. Actually, I have an f150 w/ throttle body linkage vacuum leak. You explained the whole process. Thx🙂

[@mezo6453]

Good job. I need to do that to my E24. It catches a little at idle / dead stop effecting my idle speed. The INA part numbers are very helpful. Thank you

[@Belozw]

Thanks for more e30 content!

[@EB240]

great video! new project time!

[@saewagkun5280]

man i love these, theyre a toooon of help

[@davidbimmer5909]

Hi great work and great videos. Ive just bought an 87 e30 and I binged all your videos and learned a lot. I think that I’m a bit lucky because it’s fairly clean. Thanks for everything. God bless you for all your hard work. By the way lm sure you have checked it but just in case, if you still own the car check the gas pedal. Changing the bushes was my best fix so far. Take care and stay healthy. Thanks again

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Hi David, thanks for the nice comment. The bushes suggestion is a great! Take care.

[@UA_VITAL]

Nice work 👍

[@massivesaint1415]

Also be VERY careful with the metal elbow fittings on the TB because you can't find them to replace them and they are VERY tight in there. I broke mine off. Again thank you for the transmission man🤘🏻

[@bigilworth]

I'm having the exact same problem! In addition to an air leak at the throttle positioning sensor, a lot of oil is coming out from that point too.

[@Doctor_X]

thanks for the step by step!

[@poching0521]

It's great to see you post another E30 video! I enjoyed watching the details. I was amazed that there was very little to no oil in your throttle body or on the throttle position sensor (TPS). I assumed very low amount of blow by your engine produced. My 170k mile M20 which always accumulated some amount of oil at the bottom of TPS even after using oil catch can.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I had previously cleaned the throttle body and TPS prior to this procedure - there used to be plenty of oil in the TPS! However with these new seals, I doubt oil makes it into the TPS anymore.

[@Carlos-hb4gu]

Hola, yo instalé un separador "MANN+HUMEL Provent 100 Oil separator for closed and open crankcase ventilation" y mantiene libre de aceite el cuerpo de aceleración y el múltiple de admisión; funciona muy bien.

[@jp2246]

13:17 Hmmm, bringing back memories of being at the dentist! Seriously though, thx for the video. I have never had great success with the blind bearing pullers either, though admittedly I'm not using the pro grade versions.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

There are applications where bearing pullers certainly work, but this was such a small and difficult area that I'm not confident even a high-quality puller would be successful.

[@user-ts2cy6tw7s]

Thanks !

[@krzysztofm7298]

Fantastic video, I wonder if those bearings are same for E36.. Ill give it a shot.

[@scottmcintyre9710]

Great video. Great content. Do people really complain about length? Had a bad feeling about the bearing puller. Don't mind repairs on things that are popular and have parts available. My current project/heartburn has a smaller following than past projects and it can be a bit frustrating figuring stuff out on your own. Yes, admitting the internet has made me lazy. Thanks again! Great job!

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Thanks Scott! The KZbin analytics have shown me that most viewers watch around 30% of the video's length. I'm sure when a 10+ minute video comes up, many skip around to the end to see the final result. I really like to figure out how to rebuild something, especially if it hasn't been well documented. This is one of those situations, and it seems like every project has a few of these kind of issues lying about!

[@user-xt8lv4br6k]

thanks

[@ghost4030]

Try the heat treatment to help pull out bearing...

[@peterlewis7714]

what size is the screwdriver?

[@RadeonMasterRace97]

16:14 TAPPY TAP TAP

[@DaVinci-uh4tr]

Thanks for the tutorial! Also, what's that red car in the background on 12:45?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

It's a 1990 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo.

[@ozzyfreeman2619]

Hi mate, so It's helping to fix the problem? Some thing is really changing? Many thanks for your comments and video's.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Yes, this fixed a considerable engine speed stumble that had developed when giving throttle off idle. Also, it helped with idle smoothness.

[@ozzyfreeman2619]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Many thanks!

[@stanmarsh912]

I need to replace my throttle position sensor. Am I able to just put the new one on or do I have to do something to it first. I read a comment somewhere saying you need to calibrate it first?? I've been having trouble finding any information on it

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

You do need to make sure it is positioned correctly. It is held in with 2 screws that allow for the sensor to be rotated to get it positioned correctly. There's a way to measure the position if you want to be "precise", but I just listen for the click of the sensor when the throttle plate is just barely opened. Look at 21:46 in the video and you can hear the click of the sensor. Once year year that with a tiny bit of throttle opening, then it's good. Tighten the screws down.

[@stanmarsh912]

Awesome. Thanks for the quick response. That looks like a good method. I saw someone else leave it loose and run their car while listening for the right idle but obviously the placement of it on the e30 makes that nearly impossible. Thanks again. I appreciate your videos. They've helped me a couple times now and are fun to watch.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

@@stanmarsh912 you're welcome, glad the videos are helpful!

[@nicolaslangel5522]

I have replaced anything that would cause a vacuum leak, the only vacuum leak remaining seems to be this, per my smoke test (smoke coming out of this location). Prior to seeing this video I bought a Professionally Remanufactured AFM (still waiting for it to arrive), now it seems I need to do this as well. Did replacing the throttle body bearing cure your idle stumbling/rough idle? This is the last thing that is completely bothering me is this rough idle. RPM is steady but it certainly stumbles and rough while idling.

[@oscardeltoro898]

I'm in the same boat, though I have to push significant mount of air to get this leak to show out of the shaft it makes me wonder if this is significant enough. Rule of thumb is no air leaks on a AFM car however I wonder how significant this leak is since vacuum works a bit different than pressure. In my opinion the amount of pressure I input to get the leak to come out of the shaft might be excessive something vacuum will never get to do.

[@jarrettperkins1886]

do you know if these fit in the TB from an E car?

[@gonzalo.carrara]

i have the same question! did you manage to find out?

[@mikej5404]

I noticed in this video it looks like you have replaced the c109 connector with a deutsch connector but I didnt see any video on you doing this work? Is that something you documented and I just missed it? I recently did the same thing so mosty I just wanted to compare notes :)

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Good eye - my car didn't have the C191 round plug connector. Some previous "mechanic" cut the plug out and directly wired the fuel injector harness to the engine harness. I installed the Deutsch 6 Pin connector so that I could remove the fuel rail to service the injectors. It was an in-the-moment installation and I didn't think to record it. I did end up buying 2 of the Deutsch connectors so I had extra parts (there were no assembly instructions that I could find). That ended up being a good idea because I definitely screwed up some pins while figuring it all out.

[@mikej5404]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Thanks for the response! Nice to know I'm not the only one who had trouble with those pins! :)

[@ALXG]

Awesome material as always. Thank you! Don't you regret about buying it yet? 😅 I'm also happy e30 owner... Well.. The rusty version of it 😊

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Much regret and occasional happiness. It's a strange mixture of emotions owning this thing :)

[@ALXG]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Indeed) Some days you play with it and some days (most of the time) it plays with you)

[@jarrettperkins1886]

Any chance you could comment back with needle bearing part number or website to purchase also do you know if it's the same size for an E car

[@jarrettperkins1886]

Or the dimensions

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Check the video description.

[@jarrettperkins1886]

@@PracticalEnthusiast thank you

[@DfensFailed]

I would have used Loctite on the screw inside, or they could fall off.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Loctite is a good idea!

[@DfensFailed]

@@PracticalEnthusiast A good way to prevent engine damage!

[@DIYskate]

Could you have threaded a bolt into the bearing? Then use the slide hammer to pull the bolt?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

The internal cage of the needle bearing is somewhat fragile but that might work. Using this method with the internal cage removed could also be a possibility. On the other hand, I could see inserting a bolt creating some outward pressure on the bearing's outer casing, in turn causing more resistance when extracting it. But who knows, it's worth a shot.

[@DIYskate]

@@PracticalEnthusiast Good to know. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. I've used several as reference and will surely come back to this one if the issue presents itself

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

@@DIYskate You're welcome, I'm glad to hear you've found them useful!

[@dannyws696]

Where you get your fog machine??

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

I picked it up on Ebay - search on vacuum leak smoke machine and you should find them.

[@dannyws696]

By any chance do you got the part number for the washer lock that goes on the rear cv axel?

[@user-be9yg7du1d]

Hello, my name is Stepan, I'm from Russia. Please tell me the number of the shaft bearing or where to buy it?

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Hi Stepan, check out the link in the description of the video.

[@McNasty43]

HI PETER.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Hi!

[@amxum]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/h16umWd3aZ2te7M ...for pressing out that bearing next time. Thanks for these videos.

[@PracticalEnthusiast]

Unfortunately that won't work for this application. These are "blind" bearings, meaning the backsides of the bearings are walled off preventing anything from pushing them out. They must be pulled out.

[@peter_griffin7201]

New challenge, put a v8 in it