What's the best way to do this? I just cleaned my washable air filter and noticed the throttle body thingy was dirty.

 

There's absolutely no reason to clean it unless it actually has buildup on it (not just a light layer of dirt and oil) which is almost impossible. If the air filter side of the throttle plate has junk on it, you need a better air filter.

The only thing that can suffer is idle and it would have to be extremely dirty to cause an erratic idle. Power is unaffected.

The only properly way to clean it is to remove the throttle body. The back side is usually dirtier than the side that you can see. If it has enough junk on it to warrant cleaning, you don't want it being sucked into the engine.

 

Thanks for the info. My intake tube was cracked and it let dirt in that I can see. I'm scared to do it alone, i'll leave this to the mechanic. I suppose it will need some sort of gasket, right?