Fifth throttle body heater finally started leaking and I've had enough! I sanded the surface of this one flat using a sheet of 320 on top of my band saw table before installing and that definitely helped it set a new record of Longest Living TBH. But alas, it still succumbed to its design flaw in the end.

Anyway, I live on the California coast and this truck won't ever touch snow. I'm ready to bypass the TBH after putting it off long enough. Any parts recommendation for joining the two hoses together? I'd like it to appear factory-ish and function well. Some older archived posts mention copper tubing. Others just use a hose splice. Just wondering if over the years since those were posted, anybody might've run into a more elegant parts solution.

 

If you trust your throttle body hoses you can pull them off the TBH and connect them together using something like this: U Bend for 3/8" ID Vinyl Hose - Stainless Steel

I found that mine were in poor condition and used the Best4x4 method:
1. Purchase ~3ft of 5/16" transmission cooler hose
2. Remove the fan shroud, serpentine belt and move the AC compressor to get good access
3. Remove all the throttle body hoses with glee
4. Soak the 5/16" hose in hot water and connect it from the coolant bottle to the nipple on top of the engine.

The advantage to this method is that it greatly simplifies the hose routing and several potential leak points are removed.

 

Done. Doing tomorrow.

 

Yep not a single D1/D2 I own has a TBH and never an issue in hot/cold climates.

 

My eyes are finally open.

 

You can also just plug the lines.

If you look at the coolant flow diagram, you'll see that the ONLY thing in that circuit is the TBH. There's no reason to connect the two lines together.

I just plugged mine several years ago and all is well.

 

Just run a hose from the intake to the overflow, and eliminate the other hose, simple. No need to plug them (which is not a great idea anyway) or to connect them together (just results in a longer hose doing the same thing as going straight from the intake to the overflow with more points for future failure).

 

Why is plugging the lines "not a great idea"? Facts, please. Thanks.

 

Simple explanation...Because coolant needs to flow thru the intake to eliminate a possible hot spot, it needs to flow back to the overflow to help reduce overpressurization in the area, and not be stuck and stagnant due to being blocked off. Make sense? That's my opinion and thoughts on it anyway, YMMV

 

I plugged those lines off at both ends and never had a problem. And I go to the snow often.