Question for all Mechanical Theorists!

having never heard of such a thing I went straight to Google;-)
The very first hit after typing in 'throttle body heater' has an explanation and detailed instructions how to bypass it.
Hopefully its useful to your application.

Some of the toyo 2h engines had an electric intake heater that came on brifly at startup. this application makes more sense to me than a permanent heater.
Klaus

These ideas are not uncommon.
They stop the inlet manifold from icing up.
My FJ40 (2F Motor) had the inlet and exhaust manifolds bolted together. It used the exhaust gas as the heating source. This created another problem.
In the exhaust manifold was a deflector plate that after a while broke away. It'd turn turtle and block the exhaust pipe where it left the manifold. Very effective exhaust brake.

Your quite accurate, they are really only useful in very cold climates.

When my mate had fibreglass kitted VW's he'd fit extractors and a different inlet manifold. The original exhaust and manifold passed exhaust gas across the base of the inlet manifold just under the carby stopping manifold icing.
On real cold nights, I'm talking down to zero the inlet manifold would ice up and the car would stop. Most effective way to cure it was get out and pee on the inlet manifold.

Geoff.

There you go, done! Now I might be able to rev the car while I'm working on it without burning my friggin fingers!! :-)

I wonder if I'll see an improvment in fuel economy...

VW motors had pre-heater pipes coming from the exhaust system and running to the carby mounts. I had a 1600 twin port which had the pre-heater pipes removed and blocked and coming down from Toowoomba one year in winter the carby was one big block of ice when I got to the Helidon Petro station.
Thats what the pre-heater pipes do.......... keep the carby nice and warm.

Reiner

So long as there is no sensors in the throttle body that rely's on coolant.
Most japanese cars have them and even magnas have them.
In a petrol they have been using it for years. Even the old HQ holden had either the preheat coming from the exhaust manifold or had water running through the inlet manifold. In them cases it helped with atomisation of the air fuel mixture aiding in stoichiometric (spelling??) but in a diesel there is no air fuel ratio only air so no harm done by by-passing it.
Let us know if it makes a difference.
Cheers
120scruiser

If you plan on removing hoses and plugging with silicon rubber make sure it's reliable - if the plug comes off it will be very expensive for the engine.

An easier and more reliable way to stop throttle body heating is to fold a piece of aluminium into a U shape and use it to clamp the water hose to the carby. If it falls off - no damage.

Mike

Although carburetor icing is frequently associated with winter, it can be a problem any time of year. Conditions favourable to icing are a combination of moist air and temperatures in the range between -13º C and +38º C. The temperature range most conducive for the formation of intake ice falls between approximately -5º C and +15º C.

Given moisture in the air—a relative humidity of at least 50%—and the correct temperature range, the formation of ice is likely.

Carburetor ice forms as a direct result of activities taking place within the carburetor itself, given the right conditions. The function of a carburetor is to vaporize liquid fuel, mix the vaporized fuel with air in correct proportion for combustion and deliver that mixture to the intake manifold for induction into the cylinders.

The process of vaporizing fuel—converting it from a liquid into a vapour—requires energy. That energy is available as heat stored in the fuel itself and in the air being used to transport it. As heat is used to assist the vaporization process, the temperature of the fuel and air decreases.

It takes energy to produce change.

Incoming air can decrease as much as 30º C in temperature as it passes through the carburetor.

The drop in temperature resulting from vaporization of fuel may cause water vapour carried by incoming air to freeze onto the carburetor barrel or the butterfly valve, also known as the throttle valve, which regulates the amount of fuel/air mixture being drawn into the intake manifold. This type of icing is called fuel vaporization ice because the icing results from the heat decrease of fuel vaporization.

from http://www.principalair.ca