I posted about a week ago in one of the other threads about my heater working "hit or miss" and finally had some time to investigate around under the hood. All of the hoses in my 2003 Disco 2 appear to be in excellent condition with the exception of one area noted in the picture which I believe to be the two smaller hoses that run to or from the throttle body unit. There was a small puddle of coolant on the manifold region underneath this as well which makes me think this as one potential source of loss. As stated while driviing, inside the cabin from mid dashboard there is a sound resembling air flowing through a tight space(almost like cracking a window while driving 50mph would sound) and after filling the coolant reservoir to where it needed to be(my reservoir was empty ) the sound has diminished to about 80%+ of what it used to be and in fact I now also have heat inside the vehicle. So I believe I have at least determined that part of my cabin heating issue could be related to coolant loss and low levels, but I also suspect there is air in the system based on the whistling air sound eminating from the mid dash region slightly to the right. I also checked the oil dipstick and found nice clear, golden colored oil to the full line on the dipstick as I had a n oil change 1000 miles ago. Any input is very welcome with regards to the abnromality seen in the picture in the throttle body region......

 

yeah that tbh is leaking...bypass it by connecting those 2 hoses.....then you can get a gasket and fix it if you want.....optional.

 

Dusty would that defect possibly contribute to the cabin heater malfunction I referenced earlier? I am traveling 2 hours North in the am and have brought some additional coolant with me to keep that level up but certainly will go the gasket route you mentioned.

Question: in lieu of replacing the throttle body(which may be fine) is changing the gasket the first step in treating this condition?

 

Correct. The Throttle Body Gasket is leaking, not your Throttle Body housing. You just need to replace the gasket.

I don't believe the leaking TB gasket is related to your on again off again heater issue. Unless, you ran the coolant level down real low.

 

amytime you have a leak. levels get low and air can enter system and you can lose heat;;;;not sure on that air noise.
the gasket should fix it, but you can also bypass it.

 

Thanks Coors and Dusty, I just read a bunch of threads on here on bypassing the tb which imo seems to be the easiest fix on these vehicles to date . But of course my next question is , what function do you lose by bypassing the tb?

 

You don't loose any feature, most intake systems have similar heating system of some sort it's to prevent trottle body from freezing in high humidity conditions, it's not likely that your trottle freezes for not having it. So don't worry.

 

Excuse my naiveness but the system obviously needs to be purged of coolant prior to disconnecting the two smaller hoses form the pegs on the tb while performing the bypass?

 

no. just pull the hoses from the tbh pegs and connect them together with bent 1/4 copper. there is only about 2 oz of coolant in that little thing. it is just a leak prone 2 piece shell....shouldn't even be 2 piece.

 

awesome advice, I will get to this later in the week and post pics much obliged.