Thermostat housing issue...

Hi guys,

I was working with a friend of mine replacing the timing belt, water pump, valve cover seal, and thermostat on my 86 LX today.

Got the timing belt, water pump, and valve cover seals all done without any problems, But when I went to take off the thermostat housing cap the lower bolt on the housing snapped.

So now I have a bolt in the housing with no head on it, so I can't reattach the upper radiator hose to the thermostat housing.

I have a very temporary fix (vice-grips holding it together), but how do I get that housing off of the engine with those metal hoses right in the way so I can take it to a machine shop?

Any help would be great!

Thanks!

Machine shop? I'm not sure how much that will cost, but it's probably a lot more than a $6 can of PB Blaster and a $10 extractor set from Harbor Freight. The inlet tube is held to the head with two nuts. Trace the inlet back and you'll see them. One is very easy to get to, the other is a lot more difficult. I think the only way to get it out is with a box end wrench and a liberal application of patience. Take off the inlet, soak the bolt fragment in PB Blaster, buy the extractor set and read up on the web about removing broken bolts. Then give it heck. You'll save money and time.

Nice work with the Vise-Grips by the way.

I feel your pain. This worked for me.Thought I would have to remove the EGR piping, but I didn't after all.
https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71441

You have a few alternatives:
1) Get another inlet from the junkyard. You'll need to remove yours from the car, and make sure that you can remove the bolts from the one you get.
Drill the f... bastard! and re-tap the hole.
2) Snooz's way. OK unless you get unlucky enough and break the extractor in the hole; if so, read #1
3) take the inlet out and drill the bolt, then retap the hole.
You need a variable speed drill, a couple of drill bits, a tap of the right size (metric). I would start with a smaller one and then follow with a larger hole closer to the diameter of the broke bolt (minus 2mm. approx. so I would have enough room for the tap). Oh, the tap may break if you are not careful (taps are as brittle as extractor bits)

Your choice. Whatever way you go, get some thread compound to prevent the bolts from seizing again.

Good luck

My 1" c-clamp has been in place for a couple of years now.

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Originally Posted by Dr_Snooz

Machine shop? I'm not sure how much that will cost, but it's probably a lot more than a $6 can of PB Blaster and a $10 extractor set from Harbor Freight. The inlet tube is held to the head with two nuts. Trace the inlet back and you'll see them. One is very easy to get to, the other is a lot more difficult. I think the only way to get it out is with a box end wrench and a liberal application of patience. Take off the inlet, soak the bolt fragment in PB Blaster, buy the extractor set and read up on the web about removing broken bolts. Then give it heck. You'll save money and time.

Nice work with the Vise-Grips by the way.

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x2 this is how I had to do mine when bolt broke but mine got a little messed up so I had to retap threads an go with over size bolt.

PM me, how much of a hurry are you in? i can probably get the bolt out, it's broken off in the housing itself correct? I'll figure out something. I can clamp it in the bridgeport and center drill right on that broken bolt.

When I snapped both of my bolts off, I just replaced the housing, not too big of a deal.

look at it this way - you could be talking about the oil filter mount housing - then you'd know real pain.

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Originally Posted by w261w261

look at it this way - you could be talking about the oil filter mount housing - then you'd know real pain.

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why does everyone think that is so difficult? i can have one on or off in ten minutes. There should be no reason you should break one of those bolts unless you are over torquing it. if it's corroded you need to keep spraying PB blaster or kroil in it for a couple of days. both of those will get down into the threads and help to loosen the bolts up, they creep on the bolts.

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Originally Posted by lostforawhile

why does everyone think that is so difficult? i can have one on or off in ten minutes. There should be no reason you should break one of those bolts unless you are over torquing it. if it's corroded you need to keep spraying PB blaster or kroil in it for a couple of days. both of those will get down into the threads and help to loosen the bolts up, they creep on the bolts.

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Once you drill the first bolt through, the rest are easy. I know it sounds intimidating if you never did it before. One of my distributor cap screws broke and it got drilled and re-tapped.
It is more difficult when you do not have the "facilities"... I do not even have room for a bench vise.:sadwave:....