Broken Bolt
 

I have a broken bolt on the top hole of my thermo housing unit. It is broke off at the very end, ain't nuthin to grab onto so don't even suggest it. I was looking at the new TSRM and it doesn't seem like it would be very hard to get rear thermo housing unit off (3 bolts). O.K., so once that is done, has anyone had experience using "easyouts" and other gizmos for removing broken bolt? All I have heard are horror stories. I have a shop that says he'll do everything for $150. Is that money well spent? I'd hate to get the piece off and then screw it up trying to get the bolt out. Can I get some advice guys and gals? By the way, I put about a quarter inch bead of some stuff called "True Copper" which is a gasket maker and tightened the bolt on the bottom very tight. so far (a couple of months) I have not lost any coolant. I'm just am nervous driving around with only one bolt hoding the thing in place. By the way, I made sure I put in a new bolt, and have been replacing bolts whenever I see one that I can get at.

Scruff

easy job
 

If the bolt broke when tightening it, and NOT when removing it....then you can use a small drill bit and an 'easy out' to remove the piece.

They aren't cheap, but I've had good success using 'left hand' drill bits, because the piece will often unscrew as you start to drill.

RE: Easy Job
 

Yeah, it broke while tightening. I would like to do this myself cuz it looks like I'll get to poke around and see how things are set up back there, but then again, I don't want to be stuck with a piece that I can't get the bolt out of. I've heard you have to have the pilot hole started almost perfectly in order to get these things to work. Any truth?

Scruff

Use a REALLY sharp pointed punch and hammer to make a dimple in the center of the broken bolt. That will help strart the drill correctly.

Thanks!
 

Preciate the help

i kinda feel de ja vu here... but i'm sure we had this thread not long ago lol

but if you screw it up severly.... you could always replace the thermostat housing hehe

Your right
 

That was my concern. I did not realize there was a rear thermo housing unit, and I was under the impression I would be trying to remove a bolt directly from the block (that is what I thought the front thermo housing bolted onto). That made me very nervous. looking at diagrams, I started to realize there is a rear unit, which looks like it can be removed fairly easy. Now I know if I screw it up, I can get a new part to replace it. Kind of eases my mind a bit.

Scruff