- Joined
- Jan 21, 2013
- Messages
- 860
Just whining and venting because i'm really upset right now.
Ok, the jeep is over-heating, and signs point to the thermostat which is in a very inconvenient location under the engine. I have a bad back, and big hands, so my wife helps me do repairs and she was the one to remove and replace the top bolt on the t-stat. Only thing is, she's not experienced with tightening screws and what is too much, so when the torque wrench I gave her didn't work correctly, she didn't realize it and kept going until the bolt snapped. Newer Sears torque wrench. Should have known.
Ok, not her fault, and after a day to cool off for both of us, we get back under the car and remove the broken end which luckily had just enough protruding to get pliers onto it. We get a neighbor to drive us to the hardware store to get a new bolt, and heck let's replace both because it's 18 years old. All sources tell me the bolt is 6mm x 1.0 x 31mm, and I buy those, visually compare them and the wife puts the top one in.
Everything is find until the bolt is all the way in and she tells me that the wrench won't ratchet anymore it just turns freely. After getting telling her how to hold the socket to prevent that she tells me that it's getting snug. ok, that's a relief! I get under to do the bottom bolt because I can reach it and I'm going to do the torquing anyway, and damn if the second bolt doesn't do the same thing, but I can tell it's stripped. What??? Put the original bolt back in and sure enough, the threads are ruined. No hint of trouble until it was all the way in.
So instead of pulling off a hail mary, I've totally screwed the pooch. I'm going to try helicoil even though that now means pulling the radiator, and more down time on our only car. I just can't win anymore.
Ok, the jeep is over-heating, and signs point to the thermostat which is in a very inconvenient location under the engine. I have a bad back, and big hands, so my wife helps me do repairs and she was the one to remove and replace the top bolt on the t-stat. Only thing is, she's not experienced with tightening screws and what is too much, so when the torque wrench I gave her didn't work correctly, she didn't realize it and kept going until the bolt snapped. Newer Sears torque wrench. Should have known.
Ok, not her fault, and after a day to cool off for both of us, we get back under the car and remove the broken end which luckily had just enough protruding to get pliers onto it. We get a neighbor to drive us to the hardware store to get a new bolt, and heck let's replace both because it's 18 years old. All sources tell me the bolt is 6mm x 1.0 x 31mm, and I buy those, visually compare them and the wife puts the top one in.
Everything is find until the bolt is all the way in and she tells me that the wrench won't ratchet anymore it just turns freely. After getting telling her how to hold the socket to prevent that she tells me that it's getting snug. ok, that's a relief! I get under to do the bottom bolt because I can reach it and I'm going to do the torquing anyway, and damn if the second bolt doesn't do the same thing, but I can tell it's stripped. What??? Put the original bolt back in and sure enough, the threads are ruined. No hint of trouble until it was all the way in.
So instead of pulling off a hail mary, I've totally screwed the pooch. I'm going to try helicoil even though that now means pulling the radiator, and more down time on our only car. I just can't win anymore.
The jeep WJ's are notorious for over-heating issues. Without going into details, it's most commonly a head gasket leak, but indications point to the thermostat, or the radiator (water pump is new). Crossing my fingers on that one, but it's the first step. I have the bottom bolt hole re-tapped to 7mm, but that top one.... this will take awhile.