Car is overheating sometimes.. broken thermostat bolt

[getnasty]

Hi guys.. thanks for looking. Well sometimes my car runs hot while riding down the road and sometimes it runs around about the half way mark. So It scared me last nightso today I decided to replace the t-stat. well somebody must have installed one of the bolts incorrectly because I rung the head of the bolt off trying to get it off. so can a machine shop re tap and die it? Also to fix my overheating probs what should I check? it dosent seem to lose any antifreeze. except I have to keep putting some in the plastic tank. but the rad stays full.. can somebody give me a idea? I have also searched.. thanks fellas

 

[bill302]

did you just break the bolt at the head if so you can remove the waterneck and you should still have enough of the bolt left to remove the bolt with a pair of good vise grips....and if so spray bolt with PB blaster and heat bolt slightly with a small portable propane torch... and you are loosing water if you are having to add water to overflow tank look for cracks in the overflow tank or some small coolant leaks and do you ever smell coolant after driving car if so you have a small leak somewhere and if there is no external leaks you may have an internal leak bad intake or head gasket... but i would replace the thermostat with a good quality thermostat like a stant super stat or mr. gasket...and see what happens and i would also drill a small hole at the top of the thermoststat to help purge system if you don't know how to do that let me know i'll inform you how...and welcome to stangnet....

 

[brothergoat5]

Those bolts have a tendancy to start corroding after extended time periods. Take the T-stat housing off, grab whats left with vice grips like bill302 said. After you get the bolt out, run a tap through the bolt hole to make sure the threads arent cross threaded or worst yet sitting on the bolt threads in the form of corrosion. When you go to install new bolts dont over torque them. Shouldn't need more than 16-18ft lbs of torque.

 

[bill302]

here is the location to drill the 1/8th in hole in the thermostat if it does'nt have one but some thermostats come from the factory with a bleeder valve if it does'nt have this bleeder valve at the 12 o'clock position its good to drill this hole it will help when it comes to purging all the air out of the cooling system. and remember the hole should be drilled at the 12 o'clock installed position....and good luck.

 

[getnasty]

thanks guys. the stat that was in it had the hole but the new one dosent. So I will drill the new one out.. 1/8 hole? also the bolt is broken off so close that I cant get a pair of vise grips on it. I already tried. I just got off the phone with a guy who has a stock intake and he wants $150 for it.. I said he is fxxxxxx crazy. So im sitting here going crazy about my car.. Its my dd and I love it so much.. any other ideas?

 

[bill302]

buy a good drill bit and drill the bolt out and buy the next size tap and bolt and tap it...but if you have no experience at this you may need to take it to the shop....thats about the only thing left...

 

[89 Saleen#455]

Ebay is your friend. Both Upper and Lower intakes are going for $20-$40
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/5-0-...36474QQitemZ8072441856QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW