When I look at the throttle body, the possibility that it get jammed is on the axles. Throttle jam is quite common with carb since it is mechanical drive versus electric drive with DKs.

The gum in the throttle is quite possible at some stage went into the electric connection that caused the EML light on.

About opening the butterfly manually I feel confident that this will be OK. It looks very sturdy (of course with DK switch off). I did it manually to feel how much restriction comes from butterfly gummed up situation which I conclude it is negligible, and when the DK is on you can feel the power of this thing and technically if calculate the force of the DK you will see how strong it is.

The DK adjust throttle position (open/close) by sending the appropiate current and also by changing the polarity.

This changes of polarity requires an excellent contact!!! My first DK dead a year ago and I notice at the time if I manage to get in on it will switch off when I release the pedal-->polarity change. And it is the same case a year later with the second DK.

For the first one I changed it according to the dealer suggestion but I always thought that I can fix it. The second time I fix it myself including fixing the first dead DK that I kept.

So currently I am running with the old couple DKs for almost two months with no problems at all and keep the new one as spare.

I guess since you keep your throtle body clean then this should prolonged the chance of dirt went into your electrical that keeps your DK alive for that long. This is a good preventive maintenance but when it is dead (intermitten dead) with the 'limp home mode' then the throttle spray is useless. I tried it :( , I also try the coast-down calibration when the DK runs for sometime and it is only good for few minutes since the DK contacts got heated up a bit by full open throttle current.