HELP - Cracked thermostat housing!
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Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 12
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From: Lincoln, uk
HELP - Cracked thermostat housing!
I was planning on attending Norfolk Drift day yesterday.......so during the week planned I was going to do a coolant flush, thermostat change, oil and filter change to make sure the day went alright.
Friday came, and headed to my mates (mechanic and also an FC owner) and got to work.
Drained the oil out, swapped the filter, then drained the coolant out (which was brown as ****! definately due a change!!)
Once drained set on removing the thermostat, first 2 bolts came out fine, then got onto the back bolt and my mate was undoing it, came around halfway out then stiffened up a little. we stopped, had a look, gave some lube then proceeded with caution as It had to come out!
And yep, it snapped. Not a MASSIVE issue.
We then decided we'd need to drill the bolt out and then tap the hole. So used a small drill bit to get a pilot and gauge the remaining bolts depth, and then found a drill bit almost the same size (bit smaller) than the bolt.
Was going alright and managed to drill it out nicely.
My mate then thought as a temp fix for me to get home was to put a self tapper in around the same size, found one pretty much perfect, tried to edge it in a little and see if it would key in, and the housing cracked on the outer part of the hole.
Im not wanting peoples comments of 'you should have done this' or blah blah blah. Im pissed off. these things happen, I just need help finding the best option of sorting it without too much expense or dropping the block out for a new one!
heres a couple (bad) pics showing it!
Options I can think of:
1.Ally weld to make up more material, drill it out all the way through and use a nut/bolt as a pinch.
2. new block
Friday came, and headed to my mates (mechanic and also an FC owner) and got to work.
Drained the oil out, swapped the filter, then drained the coolant out (which was brown as ****! definately due a change!!)
Once drained set on removing the thermostat, first 2 bolts came out fine, then got onto the back bolt and my mate was undoing it, came around halfway out then stiffened up a little. we stopped, had a look, gave some lube then proceeded with caution as It had to come out!
And yep, it snapped. Not a MASSIVE issue.
We then decided we'd need to drill the bolt out and then tap the hole. So used a small drill bit to get a pilot and gauge the remaining bolts depth, and then found a drill bit almost the same size (bit smaller) than the bolt.
Was going alright and managed to drill it out nicely.
My mate then thought as a temp fix for me to get home was to put a self tapper in around the same size, found one pretty much perfect, tried to edge it in a little and see if it would key in, and the housing cracked on the outer part of the hole.
Im not wanting peoples comments of 'you should have done this' or blah blah blah. Im pissed off. these things happen, I just need help finding the best option of sorting it without too much expense or dropping the block out for a new one!
heres a couple (bad) pics showing it!
Options I can think of:
1.Ally weld to make up more material, drill it out all the way through and use a nut/bolt as a pinch.
2. new block
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,600
Likes: 49
From: Norcal/Bay Area, CA
To fix it correctly, you only need a water pump housing, not an entire block. http://www.mazdatrix.com/b9wpumps.htm Or you can get one used from the classifieds section. Personally, I would replace it and do a new water pump since you've done a lot of good maintenance work to your cooling system.
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