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I'm in trouble, broke the upper bolt for thermostat cover


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Hi all. I previously left a thread asking about how to get the rusted bolts out. Well, I did tried to turn the bolt back and forth, but I ddin't get much with it. So I decided to ask at the Shuck's, and they gave me this PB rust bolt loosener, and they also said this spray is the only way to get the bolt to loosen up. I combined to methods together; spraying the stuff on the bolt and tried to turn back and forth. It didn't feel so good when I was turning little by little, it felt like I was rather twisting the bolt, but not unscrewing it out. It finally broke off :mad:. Though the bottom bolt one came out easy. Now I have little piece of the upper bolt sticking out of the block that holds thermostat. It is so small that I can't get a good grip with a wrench and twist it out. I need help getting the out, or sell the the block if one of you guys have extra. It looks like it is interchangable.(Eyes of the newbie) Well, I still replaced the thermostat, but it is leaking quite a bit and seems like it is causing the temperature to rise. I have replaced almost all the parts that might cause the overheating: Radiator, Thermoswitch, Thermostat, Thermostat gasket, Water pump, and got to two of the fans to work(for the first time I saw them work at the same time)Some might say that is waste of money, and I should find the problem that causes overheating before getting new parts, well I need to change the parts later in future, so mind as well, get the new parts right now when I have money:lol:

Anyways, I need some advices.

Thanks so much

Dan

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hey dan i cant tell u how to fix ur problem but i can tell u not to drive it or run it no more till these guys give u some help!!!!!!! cause it sounds like u got all the other problems taken care of and after they help u with that bolt hopefully ur over heating issues will be resolved,so just hang on till u get the advice u need and dont run it like that:drunk:

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sounds like the board has offered you some good advice. Very carefully drill enough for an "easy Out" to fit. The easy out will turn to the left and act as a new head on the bolt. It really may be of some help to spray that sucker a few more times too. Please post here and let us know how or what you decided to do. If you were removing the thermostat housing I'd think after you take it off that there would be a stub sticking out.... if so give vice grips a try.

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Thank you so much for so many advices, I haven't decided which method to follow with, but I will decide and post on this thread, also will post the result.

Flowmasthered87GL: I do think that is another cause of overheating. One time before I got my water pump fixed, I overheated so bad that engine wouldn't start and had to call up my friend to tow it up to the shop. When I got new water pump installed, and drove around for awhile, from the exhaust, I smelled something sweet, and my friend told me I might have blown HG.

 

Here is another question. (:lol: sorry for asking so many questions) I have an extra engine, hydrualic lifter that is. Current engine isn't, I'm planning to rebuild and put mods on the hydrualic lifter engine, but I'm not sure when it will done, probably two to three month from now. Should I get new HG for current engine, or just drive it around until rebuilding is done?

If you guys think I should get new HG, will it be okay if it is from ebay?

I know those aren't great, but it will only be temporary solution, so I don't think I need those expansive OEM or OEM equivilant

Thanks

Dan

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I got these things from Sears, they were like $40 for the set, but basically it is a set of nuts with teeth on the inside, you drive the nut over the end of teh broken bolt or stud with a hammer (Only works if the bolt's not broken off flush) and then take it out with a wrench. Nice part is that unlike an EZ-Out, you can turn this both directions.

 

Also, with the penetrating oil, spray it on, and let it sit for 5-0 minutes before you try to loosen the bolt, as it will need time to penetrate. If you just spray it on, it won't have time to penetrate and loosen the bolt.

 

The torch thing, another method that works good is to heat up the bolt red hot, this will cause it to expand, and (hopefully) crush and loosen the gunk in the threads, then when it fully cools down, sometimes they will come out by hand. Not sure how well it works on steel bolts in an aluminum block, but it works great on oil gallery plugs on a cast iron V8 block..

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HG's from Fel-Pro are $14 each from:

 

www.pickproparts.com

 

I've bought from them several times and had good experiences.

 

Carefully check out your intake manifold gaskets, and your carb base gaskets - they leak often, causeing a loss of coolant and cooling system pressure.

 

I blew a heater hose on my Brat shortly after doing the HG's on it. The Fel-Pro gaskets held. I lost EVERY drop of coolant, the guage pegged, and it was pinging so badly that I couldn't go over 35 MPH. It was 90 degrees that day, and I drove about 2 miles with NO coolant. If you had your engine so hot it wouldn't run then it's probably toast. Either the HG's are blown or the heads are cracked. I would lay money on it.....

 

As for your intake manifold - try to get it off, but take your time. If you can't get the bolts out it's better to cut the heads off them and slip the manifold off the bolts. This way you can get some penetrating oil (not WD40 - something like PB Blaster) on there. Let it sit for a day or two and spray it down several times a day. Nothing good will come of a broken intake bolt, and it's better to cut the heads off than try to remove them as they always seem to break off nearly flush with the head. At least if you cut the heads off and slip the manifold off, you will be able to use vise-grips to turn them out once the penetrating oil has got them loose.

 

Get another manifold if you can. I have one you could have for free but I'm in OR....

 

GD

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while you still have a nug of bolt hanging out, try heat + vise grips method. Or welding a nut to what's left. If you shear that off, then try the easy-out method. Note: I have had almost no luck with easy-outs, and i will try pretty much any other method before i resort to using them.

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while you still have a nug of bolt hanging out, try heat + vise grips method. Or welding a nut to what's left. If you shear that off, then try the easy-out method. Note: I have had almost no luck with easy-outs, and i will try pretty much any other method before i resort to using them.
You got my vote
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When i can get away with it, I will bring whatever part w/ broken bolt to work. That way, i can tig weld a nut to it. I'll do it real slow so i can get the broken bolt extremely hot.

 

 

To date, this has worked every single time. Then i run a tap down in it to clean it up, and I'm on my way.

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i did the same thing on my s-10

on the thermostat housing

my solution was to drill a 1/8 inch pilot hole down the center of the offending bolt then follow it up with a bit that would allow me to retap the hole to the next size up then drilled the hole in the top part of the thermostat housing to take the bigger bolt

and poof

it worked

but then again there is enough metal to do that trick on a chevy 2.8 i am not sure if you have that option

 

if not try the 1/8 pilot hole as straight as you can and then get a bit that is on-2 sizes smaller than the broken bolt drill out the center and u can sometimes use a small punch to fold the left over bolt into the area you just drilled and take it out that way

and usually leave the threads in the metal still fairly good

just my .0000000002 cents:) good luck

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Ace hardware and True Values around here carry stainless steel bolts that make excellent replacements for those bolts; no rust, no problems. I still use antiseize as it makes them come out that much easier when its time, although its hardly necessary with stainless.

If I want to get replacement bolts, how do I determine the length of the original bolt when it is broken off?

Thanks

Dan

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