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Went to swap my thermostat with an oem one and to my surprise I found this.
Highly upset but what can ya do. Doesn't even look like the oem one. I have no idea what the extra hole is for. Kinda seems like it was drilled and a long screw was used to close the hole. Also the bolts were wrong and had washers on them I guess because the oem thermostat is wider and aftermarket is thinner. Now to remove all this rtv and get new bolts. Anyone know the bolt sizes by chance?
Just got home and decided to take a peek and something that caught my eye earlier. I can't make this stuff up. Help me understand this.
That's clearly a hole that was drilled which is the exact same spot this bolt was in
Now mind you I got this car in March and I've driven it to Philly twice and it's been driven every day since. Just recently I started having overheating issues. So what the hell do I do now? Do u shorten the bolt and screw it back in the hole? Leave it out? Sigh.
Last edited by eazdaskeez; Aug 29, 2019 at 10:34 PM.
Did some digging and found a Pic of the thermostat before the hole was made.
What I want to know is, why was the hole made and then why was the bolt inserted and drilled into the block. I have OCD tendencies and this is gonna bother me until I can figure it out
That's clearly broken and I guess the the other long bolt was used to hold the thermostat in place. Noticed also that the other bolts slide freely into the threaded holes so I'm sure they are not the appropriate size bolts. So what's my options at this point?
The hole is because it is a V35 thermostat that uses a nipple for a bypass hose. They used the wrong part and tried to make it fit. The bolts may have been too long and they probably stripped it out when it bottomed, it explains the washers haha. If the bolt hole boss is cracked it's not going to be fun to fix. It will have to be cleaned out and maybe if your are lucky it can be tapped and have enough thread to work. If not it will need to be welded, drilled, and tapped. What a mess for a simple job.... The only other option I wouldn't normally suggest but have done with success is filling with marine weld and drilling and tapping. I fixed a water inlet to a SR20 engine block from the turbo and it held up for years until the engine blew up. If this is something you haven't done before I would suggest you take it somewhere.
Good lord, I just noticed the hole you were talking about.... They drilled into the head to hold the thermostat down because they stripped all of the normal bolt holes. They used a V35 thermostat that has the bypass nipple, ripped the nipple out, drilled a hole into the head, tapped the hole, ran a bolt in there to hold the whole thing down.
Things I worry about: #1 What channel they drilled into... If it's a oil channel they most likely got aluminum shavings in the oil supply. #2 If it is a oil channel they drilled into and the bolt doesn't completely seal the hole you can mix oil and water supply.
Last edited by scumbagsleeper; Aug 30, 2019 at 11:57 AM.
Now this hole has been here since I got the car. I'm thinking it's a coolant channel and not oil because I think I would have seen a milkshake by now. That's what I assumed.
Question though, I've been driving this car for almost 6 months with no ill effects until recently so would that mean they didn't go to far into the block to cause major damage? Would I be ok if I left it as is and just installed a new thermostat? Or should I reinstall the bolt (cutting it down shorter) and install new thermostat and that way the hole is plug as it was once before?
Honestly I would fix it right which means a bunch of work. If you don't drive very far and the car is just a local commute vehicle I guess you could patch it up and cross your fingers. Local tows are only about $50 haha. How many miles are on the car and what kind of shape is it in?
Nevermind, I looked your thread up and at 150k and as clean as it is I would fix it right. Meaning possibly drilling the original mount holes a bit deeper and tapping. If that doesn't work you could try marine weld and tapping, or lastly pulling the head and welding the holes up then drill and tap.
Last edited by scumbagsleeper; Aug 30, 2019 at 02:04 PM.
That's what I plan on doing but the lack of space is what bothers me. I'll have i remove the radiator but the ac is going to have to be evacuated first because of the radiator design on the hr motor
So after careful thinking, I've come to the conclusion that this might be better if a shop does it. I'm not to comfortable with the work this entails and with the last two months I've had with work and life I really don't even have the mental capacity to deal with it.
