Hey everyone. I'm going through the checklist of things to get my disco ready for the winter and freezing temps. One of the first things I did when I bought my disco was delete my throttle body heater. I was leaking coolant here (more was leaking through my busted head gasket, but I didn't discover that till after) so I rerouted the hoses to bypass the TBH. Wasn't much extra work to reroute the hoses instead of capping the ends. This seems to be a super common issue and remedy on the forums, but heading into winter, I'm questioning whether or not I should spend the extra time / money / whatever to actually get it working with no leaks instead.

What are the opinions on how necessary the throttle body heater is? I do remember reading some old threads where people go back and forth about it. For those of use who live in the PNW, what's your experience? It's only $20 on amazon to get a replacement so it seems like a no brainer to have one on hand just in case so I can swap it in if necessary. Also, for anyone crazy enough to spend the over $200 to get the bronze TBH, how is that working out?

 

I have similar concerns, especially wanting to go up and around the passes to play in the snow this winter, but I've deleted the throttle body heater coolant circuit five years ago without noticing any drivability issue. Should be okay.

 

I've deleted it on every single one of mine in the last 8 years. Had in all kinds of weather, all the way down as low as -12F. Never had a problem.

 

For whatever reason I decided to keep mine. I've used the clear silicone gasket from BPU for bout a year and a half and it's worked well. $8 for gasket and about $20 for new plate, vs like $240 for bronze one.

 

I kept mine as the passes in CO I'm not willing to risk it being an issue. I just saw in another thread if you decide to keep it to take some 220 sand paper and a flat surface and smooth out the plate some before reinstalling (thanks Brandon, I think it was his suggestion). Good news is it rarely fails in a catastrophic way and if you notice a leak while out either monitor it or then bypass until you get home.

 

I have had mine deleted for about 3 years with no issues, also PNW, Vancouver, often in the mountains in the winter.

 

The TBH was leaking when I bought mine and was one of the first things "under the hood" that I tackled. I went back and forth on the bypass option but decided to keep the heater, the gasket job is easy and I haven't had any problems with my new gasket, just take the time to do the job properly, smooth out the faces with fine sandpaper, use some hi-tack and maybe replace the hoses while you're at it. This is one of those things that is probably overkill, given the high under hood temperatures of the D2 probably act as an ambient TBH anyway and, not gonna lie, if it fails again I'll probably just do the bypass. I didn't want to find out the hard way. It's supposed to be an especially cold and wet winter here in the PNW this year!

 

in certain weather conditions the throttle will stick a bit open, not fully open but you can tell , specially on the highway, at least thats my experience

 

I've said this for years & the D2 TBH is a POS plain & simple!! Very poor design & it will eventually fail. A TON of vehicles on the road today DO NOT have TBH and they are sold all over the world like that with zero issues.

I highly recommend at least once a year to fully clean the TB on a D2. Removing the TB plate and cleaning the trailing edge makes a HUGE difference. It's kinda like the old Navy saying "She looks clean, but is she?".... The TB plate can look spotless but if the trailing edge is dirty it can stick no matter what the weather conditions or temp. Once clean then check your cable adjustments and you will have a very responsive and smooth throttle response.

This subject is like what oil to use, what tires, what lift, what spark plugs so each to their own, but I have owned enough LR's and other vehicles to know the TBH on a LR is overkill unless you are driving on a Top Gear Special & they used a Toyota anyways.

 

Ok thanks everyone. I definitely feel a lot better staying with the delete. I should have done this when I did my head gasket, but I'll go ahead and clean my throttle body before winter hits.