Thermostat Housing Bolt Striped.
08-09-2008, 02:02 PM
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Thermostat Housing Bolt Striped. I noticed my car was leaking water the other day, and found out it was coming from the thermostat housing. I removed the thermostat and found the o-ring wasn't seated correctly. I found a replacement o-ring, and went to put the housing back together. I noticed the bolts would not tighten back up, and discovered the bolt holes were striped 
. A friend of mine told me to get a metric tap and chase the threads with the tap of the same size to clean the threads up.
I did this, and now the bottom bolt will tighten up, but the top one still won't. I called my buddy back, and he said to just tap the bolt hole one size bigger and put the one size bigger bolt in it. Another friend said not to do that and to use a helicoil. Witch one would you suggest?
. A friend of mine told me to get a metric tap and chase the threads with the tap of the same size to clean the threads up. I did this, and now the bottom bolt will tighten up, but the top one still won't. I called my buddy back, and he said to just tap the bolt hole one size bigger and put the one size bigger bolt in it. Another friend said not to do that and to use a helicoil. Witch one would you suggest?
08-09-2008, 09:50 PM
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Good luck tapping aluminum. Use a helicoil. You should be able to pull the waterpump off and do it on the bench to make it easier. The torque on those bolts isnt very tight so just 'snug' it up with a 1/4" ratchet.
