Help I think im screwed

Ok here we go. Went to change the thermostat and noticed the longer bolt on the top of housing was not to tight (hardly any pressure to get broke loose) and also alot of permatex around the housing. so i cleaned all off and put the new stat and went to install housing with no goo. the long bolt seemed to bottom out and the housing still was a hair loose to the point i could move it. I removed it again and found 2 washers to space it out as all the stores are closed tonight to find a shorter bolt. for extra safety measure because now i am leery i put on some goo. brought both bolts to where the surface touches even and go to tighten. bottom bolt good top bolt felt like it was about to pull out with no hard torque at all. i actually had my hand on the head of the ratchet. prayed. have a slight seep on that side. i am afraid to try and tighten anymore as i am sure it will pull out. i guess there is a reason for the million pounds of permatex that was on there before. Any suggestions before i just drill and tap it? I would really like to avoid that i dont feel like yanking the radiator to gain access with a drill. Please let me know what you think. Thanks p.s. thank you Ted for the burping technique she is running alot cooler, guess ill be doing it again now

sounds like someone put that overly long bolt in and tried to tighten it all the way down stripping the threads in the hole when it bottomed out and didnt hit the housing. i figure try tightening it down and if it strips the only thing you can do obviously is drill and tap.

Make sure the bottom of that hole for the long bolt isn't packed with the sealer from the previous repair.

You could always do a helicoil and use the same size diameter and pitch bolt, just shorter. I don't remember if there is a lot of clearance to go with a bigger diameter bolt on the housing that is why I suggested helicoil.

Yep - helicoil is the way to go.

JB Weld a stud in there and call it good.

now i like that idea i am going to pull it apart tomorrow and see if it is just crap in the hole or the bolt is junk if it is stripped out all the way i might try that. Thanks again

joe_peters said:

JB Weld a stud in there and call it good.

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This is exactly what I would do. It's cheap, easy, and is a good fix given the problem.