Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some good suggestions here. I think the MAPP gas is the best bet.
Once you get the housing off, while it's off is a good time to do at least a quick flush with the garden hose. Engine block and radiator.
Use some muriatic acid to give the housing a good "bath", get all the old crud out of it you can.
When putting the housing back on, I typically get some threaded rod to run thru the holes first. On many housings you can run the rod completly thru the bottom end of the housing as well. Now you have studs, instead of bolts. Put some stainless nuts on top and bottom to "clamp" the top of the housing in place. You have the best seal possible and wont have a problem getting it loose ever again.
If you still have trouble getting heat, it could be poor flow due to clogging of the heater core. On an older vehicle like this, you can take the heater hoses off the core at the firewall, and backflush it also. You could also try the old piece of cardboard in front of the radiator trick too.......
You also may find you get better fuel economy when the engine can warm to the proper operating temp. Probably a nice extra benefit with a big block Pontiac .....
Yachtcare has spoken.......
Last edited by Compression; 01-13-2010 at 08:37 AM..
Im going to share an "old school" trick with you. You can make your car warm up if you put some cardboard in front of the radiator. This keeps it from cooling and the temp will go up. Its a very cheap temporary fix and you can avoid having to spend hundreds to get it fixed now during cold weather when you break off the bolt. When the cold weather leaves you can remove the cardboard. Watch your temp guage...
Im going to share an "old school" trick with you. You can make your car warm up if you put some cardboard in front of the radiator. This keeps it from cooling and the temp will go up. Its a very cheap temporary fix and you can avoid having to spend hundreds to get it fixed now during cold weather when you break off the bolt. When the cold weather leaves you can remove the cardboard. Watch your temp guage...
If you do that and do not properly place the cardboard you can risk the fan blades bending or snapping due to uneven pressures. Make sure the cardboard COMPLETELY blocks off the fan's area. Or just not do that at all. A mechanic is going to blast it with heat anyway and hes going to break the bolts if they are indeed destined to be broken. So in the end its not going to hurt trying it yourself because one way or another your going to get charged for removing a broken bolt. A 10 minute job for a machine shop...
Hit it with lots of heat and get to turning it right away. Your not going to hurt anything.
The old cardboard trick was to cover the bottom half of the radiator towards the grill thereby restrickting a small flow of air allowing the engine to warm up a little. Never the whole radiator.
Same principle in reverse where a engine is HOT and you wish to cool it down by hosing water on the bottom of the radiator behind the grill.
Different parts of the country and snow/cold weather determine the proper needs.
As a kid in the early 1930's my dad or I had to open the babcock on the side of the block and bottom of the radiator to drain the water every night so as not to crack any block...in the morning refill.
Of course in those days we did not have antifreeze.
As to the thermostat housing I would try to find a cast iron piece and not the Alum junk. They are very inexpensive either way.
Side Note...Has anyone here ever worked on a "Willys Knight"? It was a strange engine to work on as a kid helping my dad.
In my experience Kroil penetrating oil (it is made in Tennessee) is a little better than PB Blaster. Apply the PB or Kroil around the 2 bolts, keep this up for like a week. Take a small to medium ball pein hammmer, and *TAP* on the bolt heads.
I'm surprised none of the pros have remarked that an air-impact gun will frequently break a bolt loose that you would probably break the bolt itself. If you don't have a compressor, and don't want to use this as an excuse to buy one, even a good air tank of say 3 to 5 gallon capacity will run the air gun long enough to break things loose.
An alternative to air would be the hammer-driven impact drivers, usually used by motorcycle mechanics to loosen the big Phillips screws on the side-plates of (older) Japanese M/C.
Using a good 6-point socket like Snap-On will reduce the chances of buggering the bolt head.
Something I have never actually done but might try on this type of thing would be to get the coolant at least good and warm (cardboard on radiator, or at least part/most of it) and then apply a chunk of dry ice just directly to the bolt head itself. Depending on if the bolt contracted mostly lengthwise or radially, this might help.
If you do manage to break the bolt heads off, apply plenty of penetrating oil to the nubs once you get the T-stat housing off, and you may be able to get them out without drilling. If you do drill, take pains to drill down the middle of the remaining bolt. I forget if these bolts are in blind holes or if they are exposed to the engine coolant on the bottom. I think the latter, and this is probably why they are stuck.
Originally Posted by M3 Mitch In my experience Kroil penetrating oil (it is made in Tennessee) is a little better than PB Blaster. Apply the PB or Kroil around the 2 bolts, keep this up for like a week. Take a small to medium ball pein hammmer, and *TAP* on the bolt heads.
I have a '52 Dodge truck that I am restoring and have had great success with the method described by Mitch, but only with the Kroil oil as I have not tried the BP product. I will admit I broke a few that had to be drilled out, but we all love a challenge .. right? What would you expect for something that's almost 60 years old. Heck your only having to deal with a bolt, try removing a Phillips head after that many years.
I forgot to mention that Grassroots Motorsports did a test, and while Kroil and PB Blaster did well, they got the best results with a 50-50 mix of acetone and ATF. One time a friend had a very sticky ignition lock on his car, not having anything else available I dipped the key in ATF and left it overnight in the lock. AFIK that lock is still working smoothly.
IMHO the secret to this is to apply heat, penetrating oil, and vibration/impact repeatedly and patiently, and in measured doses. Get into the Zen of it, so to speak. Turn the bolt not only in the loosen direction, but maybe try it in the tighten direction (with discretion!) too.
Good tools. Cheap wrenches and sockets will round off bolt heads, break, and generally make your life mizerable.
I am by no means a mechanic and I am sure that my naivety is about to show. What if the present thermostat were left alone and a new one was sealed between two proper sized metal tubes about 2 or 3 inches in length and clamped into the return hose to the radiator? Like I said. I.. am.. not.. a.. mechanic.. but this seems like a simple plumbing problem from here.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
