Here is the real reason for having a throttle body heater...when you are driving in cold humid climates you are sucking in moist air into the engine, that air is really cold and will form ice on the inside of your airbox, your intake tube and throttle body.
If enough ice forms on the throttle body then the butterfly plate on the throttle body will not beable to move, it can freeze open and you can loose control of the truck.
For example, you are driving for 3 hours on the expressway and want to slow down so that you do not rearend the car infront of you, but you cannot slow down because your throttle is frozen.
This DOES happen, if all you do is drive in the city...not a problem, the heat bulds up under the hood and keeps everything warm.
If you drive on the expressway the air under your hood is VERY cold, the "ram" air does not allow the heat to build up under the hood, it blows it away as fast as the engine can make it.
It is a $5 fix, the dealer has the gasket, $5.
We just drove 183 miles in dense fog on Sat, the whole truck was covered in ice when we reached are destination.
The truck looked like Hans Solo frozen in carbonite.

 

Spike,

I've heard of that (freezing) problem - in theory - but it leads me to these questions

If warm dry air is that important then why

A. isn't the heater at the beginning of the system - the filter element could block because of ice, then the vehicle would just stop

B. isn't this "heater" on all the other cars I've owned

Not trying to split hairs with ya - just curious

Robert

 

I would imagin that in order to heat the filter box, because if its size it would have to be a electric heater. That would be alot of drain on the electrical system.

Yes this is on other cars, no I do not know which ones.

I didnt design it, I just know that it has its purpose and it is there for a reason.
LR does not know where your truck will be driven, it might come off the ship in the Sahara and 20 years later live in the Artic Circle, they have no idea.
Neither do you, when you sell it who knows what will happen with it.
If you want to by-pass the heater, fine, its your truck. I would fix it.
The truth needed to be told, so I did, what you do with the information is up to you.

 

Spike,

Thats cool - I was trying to understand the significance of said device.

Thanks for your input

Robert

 

night, I by-passed mine. I think its only beneficial to keep the throttle body heater in really cold climates.

 

thanks spike for clarifying that point. i do believe the throttle body heater is there for a reason otherwise it wouldn't be there.i mean why not fix it right and let it do what its supposed to do.its not like its going to cost you an arm and a leg unless your too cheap to do it right.its only going to cost you about $5.00 for a gasket.take you about five to ten minutes of your life to replace it. it would probably take you just as long to bypass it than it would just to replace it.spike i was also driving in the dense fog sat night.temps were freezing,people driving 30-40 miles an hour.truck had ice all over it.thank god i replaced my throttle heater.but your right,its not my truck.you can do what ever you like with yours.thanks again for clarifying that issue spike.

 

Ever notice that engines tend to get better gas mileage in warmer climates? I would venture a guess that the throttle body heater is not only there to prevent freezing, but also to improve mileage. Warmer air = less dense air which means less fuel for the intake charge... better mileage typically.

There was a university professor that not long ago experimented with a heated intake charge and was able to improve fuel efficiency substantially. If I remember correctly, he devised a system to recoup heat from the exhaust and apply the energy to heat the intake charge. Unfortunately, this also robs engines of power.

 

im sorry night train but the throttle body heater device is there to prevent a hazard from happening.i will loan you $5.00 if you need it.

 

After replacing my Throttle Body Gasket TWICE in the last two years I went ahead and by-passed it. Unless you live in Fairbanks, whatever benefit it provides will be outweighed by its liability IMHO.

Another item of note, be careful when removing the connecting hoses, particularly the hard plastic line that connectsover to the coolant overflow (Disco II). This linegets very brittle with age and heat and will shatter quite easily. I replaced mine with regular heater hose.

The Throttle BodyGasket is a weak link and needs to be monitored closelyif you retain it. For a guy in Texas it's more trouble than it's worth.On the otherhand, perhaps it was designed to leak so it would take some pressure off the head gasket????Sorry, 86Kon my Disco and I'm getting nervous.....LOL

Have a Happy New Year everyone!

 

if heated intake air is so beneficial then why do people spend hundreds of dollars on intercoolers?
colder air = more dense charge = more power = less throttle

if you believe everything on a LR is perfectly engineered then you should leave your original U-joints in your D2 front drive shaft.