I'm in PA. Its 15 degrees here. My Rover with the heat on, won't go over 177 degrees. Next week it will be 3 degrees. If your Rover was out in the snow, wet etc, and you happened to get moisture on your throttle and then drove in our climate its very possible it would freeze.
You're treating the river like a highway vehicle and although that's how most of you drive them, others use the off road capabilities of the truck. It was designed to not have a problem in this scenario...lawsuit etc.

 

Also...

The air entering the intake is cold. Warm parts sweat, the more air the more moisture, the more moisture, the more ice forms.

Rovers aren't made just for Texas. They are made for multiple places and places that are colder than where you might be...especially if youre in water, snow and ice that can cause the freeze.

 

I have never once said a LR was made for TX.... When you drive in colder climates all sorts of things are different from oil weight, gear oil weight, air in the tires, running the hottest thermostat possible (OEM 195F), blocking the airflow into the radiator to help keep it warmer.

I could certainly see the woven part of the Air Intake allowing moisture into the intake. I never said it's impossible. I said I'd just like "someone" to catch it on video or with some pictures.

I have owned probably 13 D2's so far, and not a single one of them could I keep the OEM Throttle Body Heater Plate from pissing coolant out eventually. I tried gasket/rtv, making sure both surfaces were flat and they all leaked. It is a **** poor designed part, and it's a ticking time bomb as to when it will fail and not if it will fail.

The Jeep Wrangler 4.0, WJ Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Hummer H3 Alpha all are without a throttle body heater. The Jeep's are cable activated vs the H3's electronic controlled, but not a single failure with any of them, and sadly there are WAY more of them on the roads vs Land Rover's (especially up north).

I've been in Jeep's in the mountains with 2-3ft of snow on the ground with it still falling at idle, on the road, and on the trail. They never acted up. However we did prepare them for the trail with cardboard cut out's and the Efan was turned off. They do run a little warmer than a LR (200-210F), but most TJ/LJ's don't even have any hood insulation vs a D2 which does.

Do what you gotta do for your climate is all I'm gonna say.

 

RTV is garbage. I never ever use it. Ultra black, e6000, or the right stuff is all I use.

Spray both surfaces with brake Kleen, coat both sides of the gasket, install.

There's a science to the composition of sealants, I personally listened to a loctite chemist laugh at me when I gave him the part number for a sealant we were using to seal oil pans. I got the whole run down. There's a small few that will work for this application.

 

I've never used this on a gasket, but for quite a few other applications...and it is awesome. Weather stripping, water sealant and such...works great! Actually glued up a tear in my CV joint boot...and it is still holding fine...after 4 wheeling in Ohio.


Brian.

 

Below 32 F? Glad you survived.

Maybe you should rethink your TBH removal recommendations. Preventing gasket leaks, re-plumbing and doing a visual for for leaks occasionally will prevent most of your worst case scenarios of engine damage.
....

 

Yesterday, -14 F when I got up, went out let the dogs out (heated kennel) and fed them, out there ten minutes and it was miserable, wind blowing and felt like -20 something. Went to work, trans temp was 18 degrees after running twenty minutes in the driveway, stayed at 45 degrees most of the 32 mile drive. Came home and it was 10 degrees, that's a 24 degree swing...and it felt tropical. Started the heater in the garage and eventually got it up to 32 F...worked out there with no coat...and actually broke a sweat while working on my rovers storage/sleeping compartment...lol.

Couple years back, we had two days of -25 F, actual temperature, not wind-chill. That was the coldest temps I'd ever experienced, without wind chill, and there's only one way to describe it... and that's... ****ing cold! (please, excuse my french) We've had -45 before, with wind chill...there are no words to describe that...even in french.

Brian.