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Stripped bolt

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Oxymoron2727

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I have a 3.3 T maxx (if it matters) and after some high speed runs I noticed some gunk all over the right rear end of my truck. I know its not from the exhaust because its on the back of the manifold and my engine mount. I have been running it with this small leek for a few weeks and its driving me crazy. I decided to seal it and a bolt in my cooling head stripped out. What can I do?!?!? :shrug:
 
Some of the guys here may think some more elegant solutions - but I can think of several. It's the engine block that's stripped out - right?

1. Since the cooling head screws are 3mm, I'd try tapping the one out to 3.5mm.
I just looked at a 2.5 and there's enough room to do this (I realize that you have a 3.3 but I'm looking at what I have on hand). It's a brute force way of handling the issue, but it would be solid and works with stuff I have on hand.

2. Use a longer screw. The cooling head screws on a 2.5 are 12mm. I think that you may be able to replace the one with a 14mm screw. Just mark it (so you don't forget which one it is) and don't torque it down like there's no tomorrow. If it's too long, you can always shave a bit off the length with a your Dremmel or a file. Normally I don't use thread lock on the cooling head screws, but for this one I'd make an exception.

3. Buy a replacement block - either a cheap used one off of eBay or a new one from someone like Tower Hobbies.

I've never had any success with JB Weld in situations like this, but maybe some of the guys could vouch for this or some other tricks...
 
Oxy .that is the problem with the bolted on headers. When mine went it took a chunk out of the block and ruined it. If you put another screw in it will only happen again. So fear not....easy fix. You need to go with a spring mounted header and swear off the Traxxas mounts all together.
 
Oxy - Is it a header screw or a cooling head screw that's stripped?
I read it as the cooling head and Joey read it to be the header - now I'm wondering if I responded to your question or one I made up...
 
go to tonys screws and get some 3mm brass inserts. they work good in plastic, dont know how they work in metal.
 
Thanks for all the quick replies!! It is actually the bolt in the cooling head. The block is holding the bolt fine......just to well and my allen wrench stripped out the bolt head.
 
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Last time that happened to me and I couldn't get at it with a dremel I took a torx driver and tapped it and was able to get the bolt out
 
Take an old allen wrench and put some jb weld on the end, stick it in the stripped out screw and wait 24 hours, then you should be able to get the screw out.
 
That's a horse of a different color....
Besides NCNitro's method, here's another two thoughts.

1. Is the bolt head ruined or is your allen wrench rounded off?
After a lot of use the smaller sized allen wrenches have a tendency to get rounded off.
I'll just use a metal cutting disc on the Dremmel and lop 2-3mm off the allen wrench and this often works.

2. When it's the bolt head, switch from metric to SAE wrenches. Oftentimes the size difference takes up the slop and you don't have to go to advanced methods like waiting for the JB Weld to cure (which is a great idea - wish I had thought of it) or drilling the allen head and snapping it off (which I've done as a last resort and is a pain).
 
Thanks everyone. Ill try the different allen wrenchs and then the JB Weld if it doesn't work. Thanks again everyone. There is still hope!!!
 
If neither of those work, you can take a drill bit that is the size of the bolt head and gently drill off the head of the bolt. If your careful, you should have a 2-3mm stump left when you take the head off. With a good pair of pliers or dikes can usually get enough grip on the stump to back it out.

I've used this method about 20 times and it always works for me. I just used it this week to get a stripped back plate bolt out of an engine.
 

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