Broken T Stat housing bolt

[NebRanger]

2003 4.0... the last few weeks I have noticed the Ranger is losing coolant and found that the T Stat housing was leaking coolant. Started the job and didn't get too far into it when the front bolt holding the lower T Stat housing broke off. It is broken about 1/4" above the mounting surface. I am having a heck of a time trying to get it loose to remove. If I can't get it freed up, I figure I'm going to have to remove the intake plenum to be able to get a straight shot at it to drill it out and helicoil it. I have been applying PB Blaster and a little heat and impact to try to free it up, also got the broken stud slotted for a screwdriver. How difficult is it to get the intake off? Any other suggestions? This is turning a somewhat PITA job into a real nightmare.
Thanks in advance

 

[franklin2]

Do you have a welder? If you can get to it, sometimes you can get a large nut that fits over the stud, stick the welder down in the middle of the nut and weld it to the broken stud. Then try to turn it out. The heat from welding sometimes helps in breaking it loose and the nut will give you a little more grip on the stud to turn it.

 

[NebRanger]

Thanks Franklin... we had thoughts of the same with the welder, but instead we cut the top of the bolt flat and, using the original housing as a guide, drilled out the bolt and got a helicoil installed, so it will work as we tested with the old housing. Of course, all of this happened after making the decision to pull the intake plenum so we could have some room to work. Now just have to wait for the parts to come in on Monday and the joy of putting it all back together.
Sure is an awful lot of work to replace a leaky, poorly located t-stat housing!

 

[Jazzer]

Smart of you to use the housing as a drill guide!

-Jazzer

 

[NebRanger]

Jazzer, it worked fairly well, but the the bit still walked a little bit. Those bolts are HARD. Got the helicoil in it and remounted the old housing as a trial, and it still mounts up although the alignment tabs on the bottom of the housing are all broken. Worst case scenario is that I push out that one sleeve for the bolt hole to give more play for the bolt. Don't think I'll have to, but we'll see