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Broken Thermostat bolt

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Old Feb 9, 2024 | 08:29 PM
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Default Broken Thermostat bolt

So I bought this 98 dodge dakota 3.9l v6 magnum 4speed automatic. She had some issues but I fixed everything beside the thermostat. I went to check it and saw there was a nut red loctite to the bolt closest the the alt and the normal bolt for the other. Got the one bolt and and just wiggle the housing off of the "stud". I found a nut to thread on and I jb welded the nut yesterday to the stud giving it till tomorrow to try to bust the stud out and i have been spraying the stud with wd40 to try to loosen it up before I try to bust it out using my breaker bar with leverage extention. If this fails what other options do I have it's about a 1inch out of the hole.
 
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Old Feb 10, 2024 | 09:28 AM
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WD-40 isn't what you want to be using. Something like PB blaster is far more effective. Or, in a pinch, trans fluid, and acetone (50/50) works too. If you can, heat things a bit before trying to pull it, it'll loosen the lock tite.
 
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Old Feb 10, 2024 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by JESSEBRENNAN
So I bought this 98 dodge dakota 3.9l v6 magnum 4speed automatic. She had some issues but I fixed everything beside the thermostat. I went to check it and saw there was a nut red loctite to the bolt closest the the alt and the normal bolt for the other. Got the one bolt and and just wiggle the housing off of the "stud". I found a nut to thread on and I jb welded the nut yesterday to the stud giving it till tomorrow to try to bust the stud out and i have been spraying the stud with wd40 to try to loosen it up before I try to bust it out using my breaker bar with leverage extention. If this fails what other options do I have it's about a 1inch out of the hole.

I have to wonder why Loc-tite was used. If other suggestions fail, you may need to run a Helicoil in there. It's not a high stress connection and the location will make it easy to do. Myself, I'd pull the intake and remove it on the bench so I could use a torch to loosen it. You risk a fire on the truck. If removing it doesn't work, replace the intake. However, I think you're doing a field refurbishing on it to make it a daily driver so see if you can get the old bolt out and hope the threads aren't ruined.
 
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