hudsonce

What is this? Coolant is leaking out from the lower hole on those 2 holes facing straight out? Is this part of the intake manifold? What are the 2 plugs that looked pressed in here? Are they expansion plugs? Most importantly, why are they leaking coolant, and can I just JB weld over them?

qdeezie

That part is your throttle body.

fltdriver

Yes they are expansion plugs, no you can't JB Weld them. Depending on where you live you have one of two options:
1: Warm climate (mild winters) just remove the coolant lines going into the TB, they are there just to warm it up it the winter.

2: Cold climate (harsh winters) find a donor TB from a junkyard, they will be fairly cheap and are usually left on most trucks as these TB's only really have one problem-which you are unlucky enough to have.

Chris_1

iTrader: (1)

You can bypass the throttle body coolant circuit for now just to buy yourself some time and take your time shopping for another throttle body.

hudsonce

Well I went to the local pick & pull on Sat. I think they actually had underground heaters under the gravel to make it even hotter out there! The first truck I found with a suitable throttle body for replacement looked like this.




Notice the nice coat of JB weld over the throttle body right where mine is leaking.

I didn't have much time to look around the junkyard, so I just got a piece of new hose and bypassed the throttle body completely. I will try and find a new one before I have to deal with any cold starts (no time soon.) Won't I also need new gaskets?

fltdriver

Honestly the coolant through throttle body is good in theory but in actual reality I'm not sure how much it truly helps. By the time the coolant is warmed up enough by the engine to be of any use in the TB the truck has already been running for a minute or two so everything is already starting to warm up.

You could always try using JBW on it, since you have it bypassed now anyway it would give it plenty of time to cure. The coolant system has a 13psi relief valve so it wouldn't be getting that much pressure. I personally wouldn't trust any "patch" job on something as vital as the cooling system but that doesn't mean it wouldn't work. I guess it never hurts to try as long as you keep a close eye on coolant levels and temp.

qdeezie

Why don't you drill out those expansion plugs, take a tap, tap threads in those two holes, screw a shallow bolt into it with thread sealant on the threads? Better yet, if you can't find a super shallow bolt, just cut off the excess threads.

A fine thread would work likely best.

That way, you'd never have to worry about it again, ever.