My TL was getting head gasket replaced...mechanic discovered head bolt thread in the block is stripped. He recommended that I just replace the engine

He said a helicoil could not handle the torque required for head bolts. Anyone have a similar experience they can share? Car is being towed to another shop so a family friend (also a mechanic) can take a look at it. I don't want to replace the engine if I don't need to

Thanks

 

JB Weld & redrill/tap? Consult somebody w/ experience first- not sure if that will work in that application.

 

helicoil will be more than strong enough. I have used them on heads before. You arent running super high compression and or boost. Another option is to tap the thread for a slightly larger size and replace the one head bolt with a larger one. (may require to drill the head bolt hole slightly larger)

One other thing. How did it get stripped? It wouldnt get that way from the factory, so i may be inclined to say the guy working on it did it

 

Head gasket was replaced this past summer so I assume the last guy did it. Had overheating issues arise a few weeks ago, that's why it was in the shop this time and after replacing leaking water pump, head gasket was found to be the culprit.

Thanks for the input

 

sounds like the prob started with needing a water pump- how many miles?
something caused head gasket failure originally,,what was it?
hose failure-rad problem??

then total failure of wp now caused unknown mini-overheats that blew head gasket again

last guy cross-threaded in the bolt- who knows what else was done poorly

 

that sucks. You may want to find a new motor and not deal with anymore BS. Check on-line or on the BM here. I would not want to retap that IMO. You could, but unless you get it down perfect it'll cause you problems. Tapping cast aluminum sucks. It's not the strongest metal.

 

Bleh, I decided to just replace the engine. The shop found one with 90k miles (mine has 146k) so that will be going in this week. After two shops plus a family friend/mechanic recommended that route, I just decided it would be best

 

heli-coils would have been the better route and should have been used by the factory.