Does look pretty well caked up too. Good on you for cleaning her up though

 

I was looking at theses spots as well as that blue tint.

 

Based on the gasket shape in post #28, it looks like the seal line would be like the picture below.
Don. The 2 upper spots you show may have had a slight leak. That lower area doesn't appear to be an issue.

 

It started up perfectly this morning, like it used to. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow morning.

I'll replace the gasket when the new one comes if you think I should. Should I coat it with a little grease (silicone? Super Lube synthetic?), or leave it dry?

After two short drives, it's running very well and smoothly; although, it always did. The DIC shows 13-14 avg. MPG, but I expect that is because the battery was disconnected, and will rise.

 

NEVER use silicone if there is a chance it can get into the combustion chamber. Silicone eats catalytic converters for breakfast.

Not required, but a bit of grease won't hurt, I'm a bit old.

 

Thanks, Don, I didn't know that; I don't want converter problems. What about that Super Lube Synthetic? I don't know if that has silicone in it.

 

If it were me I would re clean up the whole gasket area both sides to eliminate any possible interference from gunk etc.
Pull old gasket and clean that area then install new gasket. Then clean throttle body side again and re install.
I installed my new gasket dry.

That whole area is very cruddy looking from no cleaning until this mileage.

Silverfox

 

Thanks, I'll do that. I didn't clean the outside of the body, just mating surface and the inside.

 

Started up fine this morning, but I'll give it one more day to be sure.

 

Started fine again. I guess cleaning the throttle body was the solution. I'm guessing the deposits could have hardened up while I was away for the 2 1/2 weeks in January causing the issue? When it warms up again, I'm still going to pull it again, clean both mating surfaces, and put the new gasket in.

Thanks, everyone, for your untiring help.