Stripped thermostat housing bolt hole

[barrettwinans]

I have a 85 ranger 2wd 2.0 i4. When I bought it one of the thermostat housing bolts was snapped off. I tried touse an easy out but I broke two of those. A buddy of mine tried to drill it out and use a tap and die but was unsucessful. I have heard of helio coils but am wary to try it myself. I dont know if there is anoyher solution or if I should take it to mechanic?

 

[Big Jim M]

You have to get it out to use a helicoil. Helicoils are for stripped threads. If the bolt is still in there getcha a reverse drill so when it does catch in the bolt it will unscrew the remainder of the bolt.
After it is out if the threads are damaged from all the drilling I clean em up with a rethreader and then install a helicoil. They do hold well in cases like this one.
It would also be possible to thread for the next size larger bolt and if the bolt won't go thru the hole in the thermostat housing I drill that hole out larger also.
Big JIm