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Tried replacing my thermostat today. Thermostat housing slides onto 3 bolts,the bolts have threads on each end.2 of the bolts screwed  completely out when taking off nuts. Put some thread locker on ends of 2 bolts and screwed them back into engine block. One went back in fine and tightened up, the other I was turning and turning forever and it wasn't going anywhere or getting tight, so tried unscrewing it, it's just spinning in place and will not come out. It will wiggle back and forth pretty good, It's hard to get my arm down where its at, but I can grab the end and put some leverage on it by pulling back as I'm trying to unscrew it and it will not screw out, WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so pissed off right now, been jacking with this bolt for 2 hrs and can't get it to move.

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Your dealing with cast aluminum. Too much torque will strip the threads.

Try removing the two bolts that will come out. This should give you some slack between the head and the thermostat housing. Tap a small wooden wedge(or something similar) between the two surfaces to create upward pressure while removing the stubborn bolt. Be careful not to gouge the mating surfaces.

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29 minutes ago, fred heath said:

Your dealing with cast aluminum. Too much torque will strip the threads.

Try removing the two bolts that will come out. This should give you some slack between the head and the thermostat housing. Tap a small wooden wedge(or something similar) between the two surfaces to create upward pressure while removing the stubborn bolt. Be careful not to gouge the mating surfaces.

The thermostat housing is off,the 3 bolts are screwed into block,2 are fine.Third bolt,which came out fine the first time when taking thermostat housing off,is the problem.Could have been stripped before by PO I dont know,but when pulling nut off it had tension to it,it didnt just come off real easy.Like I said,with housing off I put thread locker on end of the 2 bolts that came out and screwed them back in,the one went in fine but this 3rd one only went in a little ways and now is in purgatory and wont frickin move.And even if PO did strip it,that doesnt explain why it just spins in place now and wont go in or out no matter if Im pulling back and turning it backwards or pushing on it while trying to screw it in.I can see its not in as far as the other 2 so if it was stripped seems like it should go in as far as other 2 then spin in place, I can wiggle the crap out of it back and forth but it will not twist out.

I have to take it back to storage, just going to go ahead and put it back together with housing being held on by 2 bolts, thats all I can do for now.

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Remove the other two grab the outlet end and pull up whilst turning the nut go to the store and get a 6MM helicoil kit. 

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Vice Grips, lock, pull, turn.

Plan b. If you can get a nut screwed down enough to get some threads out the top. Then take a stack of washers put them on the stud and then install the nut. Grab the threads on the top and use the nut to pull the stud out.

NOTE THIS WILL DESTROY THE THREADS, you will need a helicoil

Edited by WME
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51 minutes ago, WME said:

Vice Grips, lock, pull, turn.

Plan b. If you can get a nut screwed down enough to get some threads out the top. Then take a stack of washers put them on the stud and then install the nut. Grab the threads on the top and use the nut to pull the stud out.

NOTE THIS WILL DESTROY THE THREADS, you will need a helicoil

I think threads are already destroyed or I wouldnt be having this problem.My arms are all red and scratched from trying to fit thru rad shroud and hoses,I can get vice grip on side of bolt but cant really get any leverage to pull from the side and not enough room to turn it with vice grips on it from the side.I'm not sure what you mean about the nut and the washers.

Heres video of how bolts look,it's the bolt thats closest to the top of the screen in video,I say theres the other 3 bolts but I mean 2

 

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Its an old hot rodder trick to pull out rocker arm studs. You can use a stack of washers or a socket that will go over the stud. When you tighten the nut it will pull up on the stud. IF the stud turns grab the top and use a wrench to turn the nut. After a turn of the nut try a double nut on the stud and see if it turn out, if not then go back to the single nut and keep tighten it until the stud comes out.

You may need to add washers as the stud gets longer as it comes out.

After all this can you get a drill. tap and an helicoil into the hole????

 

 

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2 hours ago, WME said:

Its an old hot rodder trick to pull out rocker arm studs. You can use a stack of washers or a socket that will go over the stud. When you tighten the nut it will pull up on the stud. IF the stud turns grab the top and use a wrench to turn the nut. After a turn of the nut try a double nut on the stud and see if it turn out, if not then go back to the single nut and keep tighten it until the stud comes out.

You may need to add washers as the stud gets longer as it comes out.

After all this can you get a drill. tap and an helicoil into the hole????

 

 

Ok I'm pretty sure I understand you on putting the washers over the stud and getting it out.As far as fitting a drill in there,not enough room,barely enough room to fit socket wrench.Maybe if I pull radiator and some other stuff ,what a pain the arse

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Ya your pic looked tight. That's why I said to try to unscrew it after a turn on the nut. If it will unscrew then there are some threads of some sort in there. Get the stud out and run a tap in, clean things up and JB weld the new stud in the hole. It might hold. Use antiseize on the nuts.

What size are the nuts and studs??

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3 hours ago, WME said:

Ya your pic looked tight. That's why I said to try to unscrew it after a turn on the nut. If it will unscrew then there are some threads of some sort in there. Get the stud out and run a tap in, clean things up and JB weld the new stud in the hole. It might hold. Use antiseize on the nuts.

What size are the nuts and studs??

i think the bolt is 8 x1.25

The JB weld thing was something I thought about also

thanks

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M8x1.25, well there goes plan D.. Some times you can put a slightly larger SAE bolt in place of a metric bolt. But the Size diff between 5/16 and 8mm goes the wrong way...;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well tried putting washers over it and I cant get it out.Ended up leaving some washers on there and just putting 2 nuts on threads and tightened it up best I could.Put everything back together and now I think radiator is broke.I wanted to replace radiator shroud also so I needed to remove top rad hose.When twisting it off looks like pipe coming out of radiator that top hose attaches to is leaking,and I dont know if that can be fixed without replacing it?

And to top it off I think my overheating problem might be head gasket,just not a fully blown one because it's not showing the usual signs.The reason I'm thinking this is because of what I'm finding in the coolant when I drain it,finding lots of black specks and a few slivers of some black material

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6 hours ago, redskinman said:

Well tried putting washers over it and I cant get it out.Ended up leaving some washers on there and just putting 2 nuts on threads and tightened it up best I could.Put everything back together and now I think radiator is broke.I wanted to replace radiator shroud also so I needed to remove top rad hose.When twisting it off looks like pipe coming out of radiator that top hose attaches to is leaking,and I dont know if that can be fixed without replacing it?

And to top it off I think my overheating problem might be head gasket,just not a fully blown one because it's not showing the usual signs.The reason I'm thinking this is because of what I'm finding in the coolant when I drain it,finding lots of black specks and a few slivers of some black material

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When I had mine apart for some work, I flushed the block and the amount of crud that came out out of there was shocking.

As long as it is not radiator or head sealer in a can, it should be no problem. 

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22 hours ago, jjrbus said:

When I had mine apart for some work, I flushed the block and the amount of crud that came out out of there was shocking.

As long as it is not radiator or head sealer in a can, it should be no problem. 

Well I hope your right.Stopped by Harbor Freight this morning and bought some aluminum welding sticks,gonna see if I can fix the radiator instead of buying another one.Never pulled radiator before or used these sticks,we'll see how it goes

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2 hours ago, redskinman said:

Well I hope your right.Stopped by Harbor Freight this morning and bought some aluminum welding sticks,gonna see if I can fix the radiator instead of buying another one.Never pulled radiator before or used these sticks,we'll see how it goes

When I was flushing my system it appeared the heater had never been used, the heater core was full of black gunk and took multiple flushing to get it all out

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Well pulled radiator today,deciding to go ahead and replace it.Removed the fan while I was at it to give me more room to work on bolt that wont come out and long story short got bolt out.Cleaned up hole with same size tap and found another double threaded bolt at Ace Hardware that was same size but not quite as long but still enough room to screw nut on.It went in and tightened up with no problems so I'm good to go now

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