Damnit.

Got the car all detailed on the outside with the Meguiars 3 step and decided to play hero. Got a bit chilly here and the tstat housing was seeping a bit, so what do I do? I over tighten one of the bolts and it snaps off. The bolts are a few years old and thankfully I ordered an extra set for some odd reason.

From measuring where the one snapped off at it looks like I hopefully have a bit of clearance to get something on the end of the bolt to weasel it out.

Worst case scenario is that its snapped off flush in the block. What are my options then? Drill it out? How difficult would that be?

Im trying to take this in stride and trying not to get too worked up about it.

Encouragement and tips? Its the bottom most bolt, BTW.

It was kind of easy it just took a little time because you don't want to hit the threads. Three of manifold studs broke off in the head and they were way less than flush and the tops were coned.

Havnt used an easy out for a while.

not

not

and its not too tough.

You want to get a small center punch on it before you drill and then using a carbide drill bit, slowly drill down the center of the broken bolt. Then use the easy out to pull the bolt.<ul><li><a href="http://www.toolprice.com/product/1218A">what an easy out looks like</a></li></ul>

But I really dont appreciate the past few comments you have made.

This isnt a funny issue to me, sorry if it is to you.

I appreciate the help though, lets keep the comments that way, please.

And no, the car sits, I'll have to check things out Saturday.

don't overtorque lil 6mm bolt on t-stat housing!

Yeah, like the others said there, mikey, easy out if you can't get a bite on it. I'd say you'd be able ot get it out though w/ a set of vise grips if there's something to bite on.

Guess you get to rebleed the system again? lol

Heh, more coolant fun! :)

Well, in the past I thought I was bleeding the system correctly when in fact I wasnt. I was leaving the cap off too long, allowing it to boil over out of the coolant tank, oops.

Now I know to put the cap on after letting it run a while.

Tomorrow I get to drain the coolant (again) and fix this thing (hopefully). Drilling it out would be the pits, but as long as I get it fixed I dont care. The hope is for a bit of the bolt to be exposed, which I think there is.

*fingers crossed* :)

Slot the end of the bolt and use a screwdriver to get it.

What I was told this morning via email from a guy in town. Im thinking its gonna be close. If its flush, is there a chance I could still cut a small groove in there and get a screwdriver on it?

My thing is that I dont wanna cut a groove into the block. It would be a small groove though? Unsure if thats a safe or smart move, or would it matter?

Guess we both have some time on our hands this morning at work...

Of course being I.T. dosen't hurt in my case.

I'll be here til 8-10pm on Mondays. Tuesday-Friday I'll be here til 6 at the latest usually.

Im liking corporate america :)

i cringe when I'm here till 5 :-P

generalyl I'm out the door and heading home between 230 and 330 most days (depending on whether I do an 8 or 9 hr work day :))

drill a small hole in your thermostat at the very top. Makes bleeding the car so easy you don't even realize you're doing it.

I did that and never had a single issue bleeding my 4ktq... at all.

weld a nut onto the bolt and get a socket on it.. if its not goin anywhere, grind it flush to the block and start drillin, which might just be faster to begin with if you start with a tiny bit and work your way up

A few of the jobs Ive had have had overtime, I thought that was the norm! My good friend doesnt get OT, he gets paid time off (PTO) instead of OT cash! I was unaware of this ever happening, seriously.

I get OT and some pretty spectacular benefits, as well as professional looking women around me all day.

If I snap a bolt, I like to heat it up with the oxy-acetelene torch next..

That way, a good chance that it won't still be stuck, and will probably just undo. Otherwise, you *still* have to deal with whatever was locking the bolt from turning in the first place, when you snapped the head off. It doesn't help that the themostat cover bolts always seem to get some coolant on them, to help 'seize' them into the block..

Using the torch on the bolts is what I did when I had both thermostat housing bolts snapped. After a good blast with the torch, one remnant just undid by hand, and the other one came out with the help of visegrips.

I'll do almost anyhting to avoid the fun of drilling, and using "un-Easy" outs!

then youcant drill the damn thing if the easy out gets stuck in there because the bit wont chew it up and keeps wandering off into softer metal.. i will forever hate "easy" outs

the "corporate" women here ain't much to look at :-X

And yeah, with salary, OT isn't always a given. Sometimes it's just "part of the job" and a requirement by the company. I'm salary, but I get OT or Comp time (PTO), whichever I choose to earn that day, basically.