92' Ford Ranger: broken thermostat cover bolt.


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Old 11-26-16, 11:48 AM
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92' Ford Ranger: broken thermostat cover bolt.

I have a 92' Ford Ranger Supercab with 2.9 V6. One of the the three mounting bolt heads on the water outlet (thermostat housing) was sheared off. So water outlet is only attached with two bolts.

I have a stud remover to back out the sheared off bolt. Ford no longer stocks the bolts. But I believe a hardware guy at Copperstate found me the right replacement thread pitch with M6-1.0 X 16MM or 20MM.

But just in case, I should have a backup plan and standby part(s) in case I end up with no bolts or replacement bolts that don't fit. I think outlet re-install will work out ok.

But if I am unable to reattach housing to upper intake manifold for some reason, I got problems. As a worse case scenario, can that water outlet be temporarily welded or bonded somehow to the aluminum upper intake manifold without any bolts? Or should I consider having a couple helicoils on hand? And if so, what size? Thanks
 
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Old 11-26-16, 11:58 AM
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Guess I dont see the issue here, M6 bolts are very common, any decent hardware store/auto parts store will have them.

No other feasible method of attaching!
 
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Old 11-26-16, 12:02 PM
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In case other bolt heads shear off and I am unable to back them out. It's my only vehicle. Can't drive it without a water outlet. So I just want to make sure before I do the repair.
 
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Old 11-26-16, 12:06 PM
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Spray some penetrating oil on the bolts. No way to be 100% sure everything will go as plan. Probably a good idea to work on getting the remaining bolts loose before you start.
 
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Old 11-26-16, 03:40 PM
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If these bolts are in to aluminum.... use a little bit of Never Seize on them when reinstalling. (available everywhere)

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Old 11-27-16, 09:13 AM
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Yeah, I'll definitely back out the remaining bolts slightly to test first. And I am a current user of anti-seize lubricant. Great stuff.

I need uninterrupted use of my truck till Dec 12. Then I"ll do the
repair.
 
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Old 11-27-16, 02:02 PM
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OK, I now understand your issue.

Penetrating lubricants are a pipe dream, if a bolt is seized there is sufficient corrosion that nothing is going to get in there but by all means it's not going to hurt anything.

Assuming you have something to grab best bet is to use a torch and heat the aluminum, it will expand more than the bolt, which should give you the opportunity to remove.

If it's sheared off flush, drill baby, drill and hopefully a retap will be sufficient.
 
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Old 12-01-16, 10:05 AM
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The one sheared off bolt has enough left to grab onto with stud remover.
When I do this after Dec 12, I'll be very careful when using torch, stud remover, socket, etc. Fortunately no corrosion on these bolts. I'm sure of this. I'll report back then. Thanks
 
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Old 12-01-16, 10:12 AM
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Hmm. It wouldn't let me edit my last post

Heck, I wonder if I could solder on the outlet........or use a similar process.......for easy removal in the future if it ever came to that?
 
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Old 12-01-16, 01:52 PM
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I don't know if solder would work or not but I wouldn't trust it.
 
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Old 12-02-16, 10:47 AM
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Ok thanks. I'll purchase a couple helicoils as a standby
 
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Old 12-03-16, 06:33 AM
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Does it leak now? I don't know but that is a pretty small piece and would think the two bolts would be fine. Maybe not?


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Old 12-03-16, 02:50 PM
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I wouldn't trust just 2 bolts. You want to tighten all 3 a little at a time so the housing doesn't get in a bind. Back when I was a teenager I didn't do that and broke the housing
 
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Old 12-20-16, 02:59 PM
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Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Didn't know I was still getting responses. It occasionally leaks in hot weather with just the two bolts. But it is very minimal. Right now I am pre-treating the bolts areas with penetrant and tapping bolts lightly before I mess with it.
 
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Old 02-11-17, 12:11 PM
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Follow up from a few months again. Repair done.

This is an update from my my original posting from a few months ago, Thinking I should have a backup plan in case this minor repair doesn't work out. You may recall that this was a simple water outlet replacement involving a sheared off mounting flange bolt. I delayed the repair for quite awhile due to concerns I originally mentioned.

I finally completed the repair. As it turns out, I was able to back out the bad flange bolt with an extractor tool. And all the new bolts were a perfect fit. Done. I always try to follow up even if there is a long delay. Thanks again.
 
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Old 02-11-17, 02:20 PM
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I merged your threads so that your reply lets everyone know how you made out with this repair.

Good job.
 
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Old 02-11-17, 06:44 PM
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Very good. Thanks for that Pete.
 
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Old 02-11-17, 07:13 PM
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Thanks for letting us know the outcome
 
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Old 02-16-17, 06:26 PM
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As always..............Thanks Dixie and others for your participation
 
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Old 03-17-17, 08:27 AM
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After working on outboards off and on I now tap the heads of the bolts and use PB blaster or any release juice, I have been more or less successful with aluminum, also with heat [smoke wrench].
Sid
 
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Old 03-17-17, 12:15 PM
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I agree the practice of tapping the bolt does help as long as you don't hit it too hard. I keep hearing good things about this PB Blaster. Finally bought a can earlier this week
 
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Old 03-17-17, 12:27 PM
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I had always used CRC instead of PB Blaster but when I moved to east tenn I couldn't find it, been using PB Blaster ever since. Don't know if one is better than the other as they both work well!
 
 

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