Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

Went to replace tstat this morning the bolt that is closest to the firewall came right out. The bolt closer to the front end if you loosen it she comes loose then tightens up. Change directions to tighten it goes loose then tightens back up. Wonder if someone mickey moused it and ****ed the threads up.

RE: Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

This is probably bad advice but I would buy some good rust displacer fluid, such as wd-40 and try loosening it. I bet one of the threads is just messed up and you need to get past that to get it out. It would suck if you broke the bolt in the mount....

RE: Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

I would definitely recommend some kind of penetrating oil.

If you do end up stripping the threads out, get yourself a metric heli-coil setup and just follow the directions. They are fairly easy to install and will restore the threads.

As with any steel bolt in to aluminum, coat the threads with antisieze before reassembly to keep it from happening again.

RE: Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

Well the worst case scenario happend. WHen I pulled the first bolt out earlier and realized the 2nd bolt was messed up I put it back together and it started leaking...I had no other choice but to take whatever it took to get the other bolt out. Somoene crossthreaded the threads that had the housing off before or used red threadlocker. THe bolt broke off in the aluminum. I had a friend help me that knows how to do all this. We drilled out the old bolt. got a 5/8 tap and made new threads. We bolted everything up and un bolted everything 20 times to make sure the threads were working and everything worked out! All in all it took about an hour and a half to fix it. I wish people that take **** apart on vehicles would be careful putting bolts back in.

RE: Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

Glad you got it done.
The worst part of working on vehicles is finding out that someone before you has cross threaded or stripped threads, rounded off nuts, forgotten nuts and bolts etc...
Welcome to the wonderful world of auto repairs.

RE: Stripped threads? thermostat bolts
 

Yeah, glad you got it. I wasn't sure how much material was there to thread it larger, hence the heli-coil recommendation earlier. Increasing the bolt size is always an option if you have enough material there to support it.