I replaced the TBH yesterday, just 2½ years and ~20,000 miles after I last replaced it. I ordered the kit from Will and noticed that the gasket was made of a different material than the last one, even though the last one was supposed to have been the "new and improved" version at the time.

The new one is a soft neoprene or silicone material about 1 mm thick. I thought it looked different, and sure enough when I removed the old one it had a metal core coated with a rubbery material, like the gasket for the throttle body itself.

Has the preferred gasket for the TBH changed again, or are there just different versions of it on the market depending on the supplier?

Last time I installed the TBH without removing the throttle body. This time I removed it and carefully filed the gasket mating surface as P.T. Schram recommends. That also gave me the opportunity to thoroughly clean the inside of the TB. I guess I'll see how well the new gasket performs.

 

The ones I have seen with that gasket are made by APA/URO.
I have installed a hand full of them so far, but I guess time will tell if they really hold up.

 

If you are still running Dexcool it is not helping the situation.

 

No, Dexcool has been gone since I did the head gaskets about a month before the last TBH repair.

 

Now that I'm on my second "redesigned" TBH plate is there any reason to buy the full $20-$30 kit if the gasket fails again, or can I buy just the gasket for $3-$4? Does anyone sell the gasket only? I can find only the full kits online.

 

I replaced mine today with the kit from British Pacific, gasket is rubber and not the same material as the previous one. I used some permatek gasket on both sides and tightened the bolts, still leaking. I have seen people saying to bypass it, if that works and is a good fix, why not. Any help on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm sure there will be people that disagree with what I'm about to say but....bypass that dude! I bypassed the one on my 99 over a year and a half ago in some little town in BFE after it decided to start leaking like crazy on a family vacation. Fixed it with the "newest design" right after getting home just to have it start leaking again, so I went back to the bypass route and haven't worried about it since. Haven't seen any side affects other than the loss of the burning coolant smell.

 

Is there a write up for this?

 

what causes the burning coolant smell?

 

coolant on a hot exterior surface, or escaping from somewhere it shouldn't, like edge of head gasket.