Hi all,

Got up this morning, topped up the coolant overflow tank, took a ride out on the beautiful Old Mission Peninsula and was gone for about an hour. When I pulled into the drive I noticed 'smoke' coming up from underneath the hood. Opened it up and saw that the hood insulation had a little burn mark on it and there was residual floating around on top of the engine (plenum). Figured that was the issue, left the hood open, went into the house and complained to my husband that Bertha was acting up again.

Decided to go back out and check temp gauge (as I was planning on switching out the coolant reservoir this weekend - crack in it) and turned her on. I noticed coolant dripping off a hose by the throttle body heater, dribbling downward all over the engine and then onto the ground. Steam was coming off of the hot engine due to the coolant. Hubby came out and said it appears that the coolant is leaking above the hose and I said 'that's the throttle body heater plate'.

Question...

How often do these things go bad? I had it replaced 4 years ago this December. What makes them go bad? I had an episode last week where the coolant level was low and I had to pull over quickly before I overheated. I'm assuming I could have done some damage then?... the gasket could have gone bad from my episode?

..also wonder why these things always seem to happen to me on holiday weekends?

Many thanks for your input,

Christina

 

I replaced one myself and it leaked a week later, had to do it again only better. It is known to be finicky which is why some people in warm climates bypass it.

In my case the gasket did not stay perfectly aligned when I first installed it.

After doing it a few times I now know that it really is pretty easy and should only set you back a half hour at worst case to redo it. It would probably help to use some sort of sticky sealant/RTV type substance on that gasket to hold it in place while you install it.

 

Just grab this at home depot and connect the 2 hoses together and bypass the body heater.

 

You don't need to connect the two hoses together. You can plug each with appropriately sized bolts and small hose clamps. The lines that serve the throttle body heater serve absolutely no other purpose.

As with many topics, there are two camps here. One camp says keep the throttle body heater connected. The other camp says bypass it (or as I have described, plug the lines.) I was always a purist until I was faced with needing to replace the throttle body heater gasket a third time. I plugged it a couple or three years ago and haven't looked back.

But that doesn't answer your question about why it's a trouble spot. I don't know an answer to that. Bad design, I guess.

 

Temps in OP's location get below zero on rare occasion. No way should she bypass.

 

Not to pick a fight or anything but my temps get to minus 20 every winter. I have 5 of these. They have all been bypassed. All have the inline thermo mods. All have ultragauge.

 

It's not only about temps, but also condensation levels. I know it works out for a lot of people, but throttle body heaters weren't engineered to be useless.

 

They were engineered by the same fools who brought you the original cooling system plus a dozen other FUBAR engineering oddities. It is so humid here my instant coffee turns into a chunk. Trust me. Low temps plus high humidity everyday. That heater plate is a joke

 

Right, but it's not just Rovers. Throttle bodies freezing is not a myth by any means. https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C...k1.zNojFOVZ2yU

 

im in the east coast and i bypassed all my discos and so far nothing related issues doing the bypass. Even during winter, i guess the engine runs really hot anyway so it does not matter. Before the coolant warms up, the entire engine bay get hot. I guess when tou live somewhere below freezing temps, then its needed.