iriegnome

I am not getting any heat in my 1986 Chevy Celebrity 2.5l Base model. So, cheapest and easiest would be to change the T-stat since I have no idea as to how long it has been there.
I put my socket on the bolt and it is extremely tight. Now I know I have the ability to tear the head off bolts, so I tried little bitty turns and it was not budging. So before I just ripped the heads off the bolts, I figured I would ask...
What could be going on here? The old gasket looks cracked at the edges, but there are no leaks. The radiator looks nearly new.
The car only has 67,000 original miles on it.
Should I warm the engine up to see if the bolts become easier to loosen? Should I just use more force to back out those bolts? Could there have been a leak previous and someone used Locktight on the bolts (again, use more force)?
Any advice before I carry on would be of great help. Thermostat is right on top of the engine and extremely easy to get to and this should be a 5 minute repair, that I know..
Oh, I do have a new gasket and a new OEM thermostat

Ronin1014

Get a can of PB blaster. Drench those bad boys, let them sit in the PB for 12-24 hours then the next day when you go to resume working on them drench them again and start turning them.

If that does not work.....yeah, you'll be breakin them out and drillin them. If a bolt can be unstuck PB blaster will do it, If PB fails then it simply was not going to be unstuck.

iriegnome

I will give that one a try

Ronin1014

I live in Western New York where Salt and Snow convince bolts to never move again all the time. We live by the stuff, it's closer to WD-40's original recipe than WD-40 is now. It costs more but it's worth it.

iriegnome

I plan on giving it a try tonight since the rain stopped and my daughter won't be driving it to work tonight

SWHouston

You should verify that you actually need to replace the thermostat first.
Get a Probe Thermometer, when cold, remove the Radiator Cap, and check the rise in the Coolant temperature. Is it actually getting up to running temperature ? If it is, then you need to look elsewhere to get your heat going.

iriegnome

Pulled the housing off and sure enough the T-stat was in 3 pieces.. However, one bolt broke, so I still have to have a mechanic friend try to extract it and replace the bolt