Thermostat Replacement Advice

[abscate]

Kudos to you for stopping BEFORE you stripped them out and reorganized the troops for attack.

These are the times quality tools pay. Harbor a Freight, craftsman by Lowes, Kobalt need to be put away and a real tool purchased. Get a brand new Torx bit from a upbrand like Mac or Snap on, get it seated on the head, apply penetrating oil like Kroil, ZpB Blaster, Liquid a Wrench, not WD40 and give it 99 light raps with a small hammer. You are trying to work the penetrant down the threads, not mar the fastener. Light taps like just letting the weight of the hammer fall by 15 cm or 6 inches

I love the write up on stuck fasteners from Colin Kellog, the Itinerant Air Cooled Mechanic

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... hp?t=13481

[WhatAmIDoing]

Kudos to you for stopping BEFORE you stripped them out and reorganized the troops for attack.

These are the times quality tools pay. Harbor a Freight, craftsman by Lowes, Kobalt need to be put away and a real tool purchased. Get a brand new Torx bit from a upbrand like Mac or Snap on, get it seated on the head, apply penetrating oil like Kroil, ZpB Blaster, Liquid a Wrench, not WD40 and give it 99 light raps with a small hammer. You are trying to work the penetrant down the threads, not mar the fastener. Light taps like just letting the weight of the hammer fall by 15 cm or 6 inches

I love the write up on stuck fasteners from Colin Kellog, the Itinerant Air Cooled Mechanic

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/vie ... hp?t=13481

It pays to have a brass hammer for this if you have trouble with self control.

[erikv11]

I've heard of using a dremel with a cutting wheel to cut slits into the bolt heads for removal with a large flat head screw driver.

I do not think these are common bolts to snap, usually just strip the heads, so I would try the impact. But first, soak everything in your favorite penetrating oil. Also, you are 100% going to want new, quality steel bolts.

Any idea what size bolts they are?

Thread is M6. Length I am not sure, measure one?

Cam cover bolts work perfectly. I've got few dozen of them ...

[gmh]

Length of entire bolt is 1 3/8", threads 1 3/16", head 3/16".

[vovo850]

Worst case scenario - I believe the whole housing can be removed from the engine. Obviously this too isn't fun...

That's the, I'm taking my ball and going home scenario.

All else fails, cover half of the front of the radiator with cardboard until you can get it off - any heat that is more than you have will be heat you appreciate.

I believe I shocked my bolts with a couple pound sledge on the end of a 3/8" extension before I removed them.

covering with something works quite well, I too have a stripped bolt and while I keep meaning to get to it, I haven't yet.
I bought my new bolts at the dealership. Doesn't matter where you get yours though, they all should be the improved steel.
I actually use "fanfold" it's styrofoam they use to cover houses for insulation before vinyl siding it.
It doesn't break down like cardboard does.
Not practical to go buy it for just that purpose, but if you pass up a siding job I'm sure the
guys would give you scrap piece that will fit.
From my understanding it isn't that the bolt is stuck, it's the heads are soft.
I've seen videos where they basically snap the head off and than use vicegrips to turn the bolt out.

[rspi]

[rspi]

[rspi]

[rspi]

The Volvo repair manual says that the pin should be at 1 O'clock when installing the thermostat.

[rspi]