I'm thinking about bypassing the coolant to the TB, but I have a question I want to ask first: does anyone that drives their car up north in the winter get any icing? That was GM’s logic behind making the throttle body warm - to prevent icing that would potentially make the throttle stick.

Unfortunately, it's a daily driver so it will see another winter use this season. Fortunately, I just fixed all my rust spots (2 1” holes in front wheel well and 1 in the rear – both on the drivers side) and will be stripping/por 15ing the entire underbody/wheel wells shortly.

 

I'd leave it if you drive in the winter. Mine is connected and stuck about 2 years ago when the car was just started. Scared the hell out of me. Road had a fresh coat of freezing rain. Could barely walk without breaking your neck.

 

Yeah, you should probably leave it for a winter driver. Mine will never see snow so I just bypassed it though.

 

It's not worth the minimal horsepower gain. If it came from the factory with it like that then there is a reason to leave it like that.

 

if the car came with a stock muffler theres a reason for it. So dont put a aftermarket on your car?

 

I bypassed mine when I first flushed the coolant in the car. I drove it in the winter without a problem at all...even when it was cold enough to turn my coolant into slush (yeah...that's what I get for not having a high enough concentration of antifreeze for a while....fixed that BEFORE it got cold this year). Never had a problem. Granted, we don't see the kind of weather in Chicago that the northeast does, so it'd be different if I lived over there. I don't even have heat in my car anymore after my engine swap this past summer. Needless to say, the car gets to sit during the winter months this year.

 

why not leave it for the winter then disconnect for the summer?

side note:
I've ran carbs without chokes and blocked off heat riser ports and have never had a problem (Long Island, so it does get nippy here)

only thing i've had to do was play with the timing a little

i guess it could also depend on what T stat you are using.
if you are using a 180 i'd leave it, then think about it in the spring.

 

Ok how does it keep your tb from freezing up. The coldest it will ever be is on start up. And how cold it the coolant? As cold as everything else on the car. The reason it is there so it heats the air up going in for emissions. Cause that way the cylinders burn hotter. This is better for burning all the gas.

 

True, the throttle body will be the coldest on startup regardless of whether or not the tb has coolant flowing through it, but the coolant defiantly brings the temperature up faster than it would go up without it. Convection through the air in the engine bay and the intake/runners/etc would take a long time to heat the tb up and it would probably never reach the same temperature a coolant heated tb can get to. I’m not sure how well water would be able to cling to the sides of the throttle body giving the moving air, but the vacuum like state along with whatever else would lead to some condensation, which could theoretically freeze in cold weather.

I’m defiantly not arguing that the heated tb is also more emission friendly and that emissions didn’t play a role in GM’s decision. I just want to make sure that my car will remain as safe as it can be while I drive it in the upcoming months.

 

I understand your thoughts on this. I personally haven't had a problem with this. I have driven my car in cold months to and from storage and didnt have a problem. I would deem this a safe modification.

 

The problem isn't in the REALLY cold, it's when it's 32-40 degF. Then there's still some water in the air, and when it goes through the throttle, the expansion at the smallest points drops the temp and freezes the water. The temp recovers on the other side of the throttle -for all you ME's out there that will say there's no temp drop across a throttle by definition, hehe (I'm an ME too - and an EFI engineer).