bypassing throttle body gasket

[athorp]

I have a coolant leak at the throttle body. I searched the forum and several have said to simply bypass the throttle body by connecting the coolant hoses to each other with a small piece of pipe. Seems reasonable as others have said trying to replace the gasket often results in broken screws which can be a problem.

Questions:
1. What size pipe fits the hoses?
2. Do you need to plug the holes that the coolant hoses previously went to?
3. Any long term problems doing this?

[TJ]

1) Either 5/16" or 3/8" I forget
2) not really
3) during cold weather ice can build up in the throttle body (it actually happened to me once, I had to turn the ignition off and pull over because the throttle wouldn't close all the way)

[jackbaggins]

So it's fine to go around it. I did so with my ex 90 325i years ago, never had a problem....