What to do about a stripped screw hole

[Thee 240sx Owner]

the 3 thermostat screw holes on the head... One of them (the lowest one) has stripped and won't hold a screw in and i almost overheated today.. thank god i was looking at my gauge. But its not holding the thermostat flat so water is leaking out.. i know i can use a retheater but is there a better way maybe?

[Anand]

rethread it with a bigger screw and bolt it up???

[Thee 240sx Owner]

bumping

[Thee 240sx Owner]

15 views.. come on .. please!

[UncleBen]

The only thing you can do is re-tap it. You can't glue it or something.

[C-Kwik]

It depends on how bad the threads are. If it's just cross threaded, then you may be able to get away with just running a tap through it. If it's stripped, you can either drill out the hole slightly and then re-tap it for a larger bolt(there may be limitations depending on the thermostat housing) or you can use a thread repair kit. A thread repair kit will also require that you drill the hole out and retap it, but you screw in an insert that allows you to use the same sized bolt as the original. These are a bit hard to find in certain metric sizes, but if you look hard enough, they are out there....

[ricebike]

you're screwed if u can't do what c-kwik says... I'm kinda hesitant when drilling into the cyl head as well; i'm missin a few exhaust stud/nuts as well &, like u, is entertaining easier ways to do this.

But, ckwik hit the nail on da head... good luck. I did saw some metric ones @ a local autozone/advance auto parts...

[Thee 240sx Owner]

i appreciate the feedback everyone... I got a longer screw to throw in there to see if that helps and it anchor for the time being.. its the first 4 threads that are bad which suxs.. but i'm gonna go out and buy that thing with the anchors in it.. it suxs it had to be on an important piece