Throttle body coolant passage leaking, bolt snapped, take of TB or bypass - how to?

[clydesdale]

That little darn throttle body passage is leaking. I snapped one of the 3 small bolts holding it in place. I did not want to render the car useless. So, I am planning on either removing the throttle body or bypassing it. Does anybody have directions on how to bypass it and also, will the throttle body come off fairly easy or is that usually a problem?

I think I will need a TB gasket. Would I need anything else?

Directions on how to bypass? On edit - Do I just connect the two small hoses? Is that larger center hose just a vacuum hose? So I could leave the center attached and connect the two small ones?

Thanks.

[sweet6e30]

you can just attach the 2 hoses together with a coupler and some clamps, the larger center nipple is for vacuum.

If you live in an area where frost is an issue and cold temps happen , you risk building up ice on the throttlebody butterfly and pivot parts thus freezing the throttle at a position. This happens from condensation and static cold air and moving cold air moving through and around these parts.

If you live in a place where cold is an issue , repair it, dont bypass it.
If you want to take the throttlebody off, disconect intake boot and all the little shit thats attached to the throttlebody. unclip the throttle cable, and take off the 4 10mm nuts that attaches the throttle body to the intake manifold.

clean it up with some parts cleaner and a rag, Leave the TPS attached, no need to fuck around with it. Take the remaining coolant plate phillips/or torx screws out, and once that plate it off you may be able to remove the broken one with a pair of vise grips. maybe use a little propane torch to heat around the screw encasing. clean up the surface, get a new tb cooland plate gasket and a NEW set of 3 screws to re-install the plate. Get a new TB gasket also, unless the original one comes off in one piece and is not brittle, then u can spray some gasket maker on the same gasket and reuse, only if it is still good.

Re-install everything and add coolant to as much as may have leaked out when taking off hoses, BLEED the System once everything is back on and started.

good to go.


all in all if you choose to replace the 2 gaskets and screws, parts will be arund 10 bux.

hope that helps

[clydesdale]

Is there anything attached to the TB that will likely break during removal? I saw the TPS, but you say just leave that attached. I saw the throttle cables. Is there anything else? I don't want to end up laying the car up. Believe it or not, with 289k, this is still my daily driver. Sincere thanks for the help.

[sweet6e30]

just disconect the tps connector and the evap sensor vacuum hose that is connected underneath. you will see, it is straight forward and easy

[clydesdale]

Do the throttle cable linkages just snap off? The barrel retaining clips that sit inside the plastic notches seem to be in there pretty good and I do not want to break them. Do I just use a small screw driver and they pry out?

[sweet6e30]

just pry them out gently depressing the locking tabs