Always nice to see shade tree mechanics know more than auto manufacturer engineers who have years and years of knowledge and data at hand. At least have the responsibility to notify future owners it has been disconnected for their safety. I had an 86 Ford Ranger throttle body freeze up on me while on the interstate. Scary feeling to have your throttle stuck open.

 

Yah, I have seen post that mentioned that about that throttle body problem that froze and none of them were discovery related. I dont know why tree shade mechanic here use 180 degree thermostat which is not designed originally to be used for the discovery by the auto manufacturer engineers who have years and years of knowledge and data at hand. To many questions imho.

 

Funny reply Jwe, as I'm anything but Shade Tree...

If you think the LR engineer's are completely brilliant and their designs have zero flaws off the assembly line you are VERY VERY badly informed..... Or someone failed to "notify" you.

Front Drive Shaft with only one Zerk fitting quickly comes to mind... I never was notified it could completely explode and take out my transmission, transfer case, fuel lines, and leave a soccer ball sized dent in the floor. I guess that is a shade tree mechanic fix if I modify it with a properly made drive shaft with grease-able zerk fittings??? Or taking the 195F thermostat and slapping in a 180F unit so my P38/D2 doesn't get a slipped sleeve, or a cracked block.... Don't even get me started on the 3 Amigo's, or any other item that us Shade Tree Mechanic's actually umm fix.

I invite you to come inspect every single LR I own Jwe. All my D2's do differ completely from the one's from the assembly line as they're completely reliable from top to bottom.

That comment about notifying future owners ROFLMAO.... That made my evening right there... I've bought all of my LR's except for 3 of them used and 99% of them off of Craigslist. I didn't need the owner to notify me of a thing. Being so shady I was able to spot all the flaws, call the owner out on them, and walk away with a good deal, or walk away completely.

The STUPID Throttle Body Heater Plate is a **** poor designed part. 3 bolts holding it on vs a bolt in every corner, and one side has two 5/16 nipples outside the bolt in the center = weak link in a properly sealed gasket surface. Do RRC/D1's have this problem? Nope because it's completely different. It's not just my Shade Tree Mechanic opinion. It is a **** poor design, and even "if" you get it to seal it's then connected in OEM form by a plastic hard line tube that gets extremely brittle and cracks = coolant leaks, slow death to the 4.0L or 4.6L as the leak is not massive like a larger coolant hose leak so eventually the coolant level gets down far enough that the red light of death comes on and that lovely LR engineered part causes a perfectly good running engine to bite the dust.

I'm not a rocket scientist nor am I claiming to be, but I have been around Land Rover's since I was 15 years old and I'm telling you with probably way more years under my belt vs the **** poor lazy engineer that spent maybe all of 5 minutes designing that plate, that it's a serious weak link in any P38/D2 cooling system.

If using a high quality 5/16 coolant hose from the intake to the reservoir with 2 nice stainless steel hose clamps, and a black spark plug wire boot protector over the hose is Shade Tree, then I guess I really need to step up my game to zip ties, and duct tape...

The Throttle Body sticking might as well be on myth busters. A lot of vehicles on the road today DO NOT have throttle body heaters. H3 Hummer 3.5L/3.7L/5.3L V8 all come to mind. I was a member on a Hummer Forum and not a single post/thread/person ever had that issue, and like I said earlier several of them lived in Alaska, and Canada. You've got a bigger chance of winning the 467,0000,000.00 Lottery vs having a cable controlled throttle body with a massive spring on it failing. You could have a sticking throttle body cable, or maybe just maybe a sticky throttle body plate if it's been completely abused and never cleaned, but a properly working throttle body with a good throttle body cable, and good spring IS NOT going to stick regardless of the darn weather. Electronic Throttle Bodies stand a higher chance of failing due to the motor inside failing. Since you're a "Ford" man look up the recall on the 2013-2016 Ford Explorer's that had throttle bodies fail leaving you at idle either going 75MPH or just starting it up in the morning.

Show me a single LR Recall for a sticking throttle body caused by the Throttle Body Heater Plate leaking or not supplying enough warmth to it... Get a laser temp gun, and aim it at your throttle body after sitting at idle for 5min. As well all know heat rises so all that heat from the non shielded exhaust manifold travels straight up and basically right onto the throttle body.

You had other issues at play there sir, If it stuck open either it was filthy, the spring broke, or the cable stuck/jammed it open. By design a throttle body is meant to be in the closed position. When you push the gas pedal it expands it open, so if it failed open something was holding it shut be it debris, a cable, or spring, but that's just my Shade Tree "opinion". If it would have been a Prius I'd have recommended making sure your floor mat was properly fitted with recall clips preventing it from wedging itself under the gas pedal....

Sorry for being blunt, but this stupid subject has been run into the ground. Most that stick up for the throttle body heater plate were still under warranty (just how long I've seen this discussed). Or they don't work on their own vehicles. Then you have people like me that actually work on their LR's and know them from top to bottom. There will always be improvements well after the warranty is up and the people that keep them on the roads are the ones that discover them, NOT the engineers. I'm here to help people not spread FB drama or "False News" lol.

 

No argument intended. You sound like a person with a good understanding of mechanics and knowledge of Rovers. From reading most the questions on these forums most people do not have that same knowledge base. With any modification the owner needs to decide for themselves what is acceptable risk. Too many people read and do. I have my opinion, you have yours. My heater plate was bypassed and it was something I hooked back up. Given my previous experience I wasn’t willing to accept the risk.

On my Ford it was maybe a perfect situation. Heavy fog, below freezing temps. Whole truck was covered in hairy frost. When I lifted the hood the throttle body was completely frosted over. At high speed I stomped the gas pedal hard several times which freed it up. Had my wife been driving I’m not so sure of the outcome. Rare, definately. Do almost every car manufacturer have a heater in the throttle body, yep. I assume there is a reason. Something about the air being cooled as it comes into the throttle body is my extent of knowledge. Just like my air compressor freezing at the fittings when lots of cfm passes thru.

 

Yeah I not meaning to argue either. It's just so many variables at stake. I tossed an entire throttle body in water & then into a deep freezer. I had the plate held open, and once I yanked out the rod I had holding it, the plate moved, then I grabbed the actuator and it quickly snapped closed. Was it the same as driving no, but it showed me the spring would return it to closed if it was actuated like hitting the gas pedal.

On a properly maintained D2 I doubt it'll happen, but if the woven air intake hose was cracked or the airbox connection wasn't sealed properly and not repaired, then yes you could suck up lots of cold moisture, and it could collect eventually, but the amount of air your engine pulls at cruising speed would rarely cause the moisture to collect unless it had a rough surface like a filthy throttle body with lots of varnish/oil deposits for the moisture to collect on, so in that situation I could see blobs forming, sticking, and possibly causing a sticky throttle.

Since the throttle body is right up top and easy to get to I clean it every other oil change. If I really wanna go nuts I quickly remove it and completely clean it inside & out.

I bought my first used 04 a few years back, and it drove fine, but when I got home and started to do some maintenance I was shocked at the throttle plate!!!! it was easily 3mm wider at the edge on both sides due to oil deposits!!!! You could see the shiny path where it had been opening/closing. After I just swapped it out with a spare throttle body I had (LR used to completely replace the throttle body for a leaky heater plate so I have like 4 spares) I then adjusted the cable slack down to 2-3mm max and man did it respond better.

I had a friend with a Prius who went nuts over himself crashing so we did some test runs. He was like OMG OMG OMG, but pop it into N turn it off (position II), and ya stop no problem. Engine can't run away if it's off lol.

 

FYI - Ford was 3 years old, maybe 40k miles when it happened.

 

Throttle body bypass? I just disconnected the hoses and shoved some bolts in em to cap them off. No leaks, no issues. Ready for another Wisconsin winter.

 

YES! That’s all that’s needed! If you look at the coolant flow diagram in the RAVE the entire circuit has no purpose or value other than the TBH. Plug ‘em and be done!

 

Here's how I see it: the throttle body "heater" plate requires hot coolant circulating through it in order to heat up the butterfly valve (or whatever you care to call the intake air throttle), so it's no good for a cold start.

OK.

And the Rover V8 runs dang-hot, so heating the air intake is superfluous...

...except if you are vulnerable to high winds, humidity, and deeply sub-zero temperatures.

If those conditions apply to your driving, then you might want some heat on that intake valve.

Otherwise, no.

On aircraft, it's often a pull switch so you only operate it under certain conditions. Gets cold up there. You are flying fast (same as high winds), and clouds = floating water in the sky (sort of).

So all of the conditions are there for aircraft to meet, sometimes. Some extreme driving conditions could see it, too.

Just not many.

 

Still running my heater plate for 5 years, leak free. Glad I don't have the common problems as everyone else.