Broken heater hose nipple on timing cover

[sbsyncro]

My son's Liberty 2004/3.7 4x4 with AC and auto trans. He was having intermittent problems with it overheating. I found a loose radiator cap and dirty coolant. We replaced the cap and flushed the cooling system, but we saw when draining the radiator that it was filled with sludge. We went to replace the radiator today and while it was out discovered that the nipple on the timing cover that goes to the heater had a slight crack in it. When we tried to remove the nipple it tore off, leaving the threads in the timing cover. Now it looks like the timing cover has to come off and we'll need to cut the old threads out and find a new nipple we can tap the hole for, since these timing covers are no longer available. Has anyone else been through this? Any suggestions? I am dreading removing the timing cover as it sounds like most of the time it leaks afterwards. However there is no practical way to remove the old corroded threads with the cover still on the jeep...

 

[sbsyncro]

well this turned into a "remove the timing cover" exercise and after carefully trying to remove the threads from the old nipple we discovered that the threads were damaged in the housing so we have to get another timing cover (looks like eBay is the only place to get them used - no new stock available). Any suggestions as to techniques or which gasket kit to use would be welcome.

 

[Robochop]

There are still plenty of Liberty's in the junkyards depending on where your located of course. They do make a gasket for the timing cover but most people use RTV for them. I have tried both and I like the RTV but you will definitely need to replace the 2 big O-rings. I have found the gaskets on eBay and Amazon.

 

[burntkat]

well this turned into a "remove the timing cover" exercise and after carefully trying to remove the threads from the old nipple we discovered that the threads were damaged in the housing so we have to get another timing cover (looks like eBay is the only place to get them used - no new stock available). Any suggestions as to techniques or which gasket kit to use would be welcome.

ANY time you need gaskets.... Felpro is the default standard.
Are there better? Maybe. It I couldn't for the life of me name them.
There are a lot of craptacular gaskets out there. Having spent the better part of 45 years working on cars, I won't use anything but Felpro at this point.
Put it this way... We replaced the 4.0 in my wife's ZJ last December. $4k for the new engine alone. My son and I did the labor. The long-block engine came with a complete gasket set (obviously some like the head were already installed). I didn't disturb the ones that were already installed (because of the 4 year warranty), but anything else got replaced with Felpro.

 

[burntkat]

There are still plenty of Liberty's in the junkyards depending on where your located of course. They do make a gasket for the timing cover but most people use RTV for them. I have tried both and I like the RTV but you will definitely need to replace the 2 big O-rings. I have found the gaskets on eBay and Amazon.

RTV can work. But FIPG (actually a Toyota standard, but widely adopted elsewhere) is better as it is more tenacious.
Best way to get FIPG? Use 'The Right Stuff' (I'm not being witty... That's the name of it)