Doh! Sheared off thermostat housing bolt!

joshm · Post by **joshm** » 19 Jul 2006, 19:39

I was doing a cooling system overhaul today and stupidly overtightened a bolt on the thermostst housing in my 205GT (TU3) engine.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get the sheared bolt out or to seal the thermostat in now that the bolt is sheared?

Drilling? Sink another thread into the bolt and pull it out? Are there any botch job solutions (e.g. use some kind of liquid sealant/adhesive rather than rely on the tightening of the bolts)?

Thanks, JoshM

pug_owner2002 · Post by **pug_owner2002** » 19 Jul 2006, 21:38

Hi,

I did the very same thing on my first car (a Mini).
Went to the local parts shop and bought some easy outs.
All you have to do is drill a hole in the sheared off screw and put the easy out (its a bit like a reversed drill bit) in the hole and undo.
Hope this helps.

Adstar · Post by **Adstar** » 20 Jul 2006, 08:31

If its a bolt you have put in that has sheared off, can you not undo the other bolts which will then allow you to remove what ever it was that you bolted on.

This should hopefully give you something to get mole grips on, hopefully it will just undo from that point.

If its still tight, try a blow torch to heat the area up.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 20 Jul 2006, 12:23

Following Adstar's advice :

You need to get the thermostat housing off completely to acces the bolt stud.
YES - I KNOW - more bolts to shear possibly

- but thats how it is : a nuisance to work on steel bolts in alloy housings

Once you have access to the bolt remainings you must use a tool with a sure grip on the bolt stud.
Soak the bas***s in wd40 for at least over night.
And then you GENTLY and PATIENTLY wriggle and jiggle that bolt stud until it comes loose in its thread.
During work until the stud is out : keep the bolts wet with WD40 - dont let it dry out.

You can forget about drilling the bolt remainings out. Thats really a NO-NO

Only alternative is to weld a nut on the bolt stud. The welding heat will likely loosen up (but not always - grrrrr...) the bolt and then you can wind it off by the nut.

There is no way to leakproof the housing otherwise. If you carry lots of water with you to top up during your way - you can most likely reach your trusted garage no drama - should you decide the job is not for your hands.

joshm · Post by **joshm** » 21 Jul 2006, 08:46

Excellent! Thanks for your replies. In the end I managed to wiggle the little bu99er out using WD40, a screwdriver and paitience... and most importantly a mate who had down this type of thing before

Thanks for all of your replies, much appreciated. I'm just glad I didn't have to take it to a garage. Not only would it have cost, but I would have had to wait about a week since no one wanted tot do the job on short notice (I called about 15 garages before my knight in shining armour turned up!).

Have a nice weekend (I know I will now that the job's done!)

JoshM