Considering that in my predicament, the sensor was hollow, I didn’t need to drill into it and skipped that step. I simply inserted the drill extractor into the hole and slowly ran it out by turning it counter-clockwise with a ratchet. I then installed a new coolant temperature sensor in its place, making sure not to over-torque the small bolt.

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There’s also the chance that this method may not work, or the bolt is in an inaccessible place. If that happens, there are a few more methods to try to free that stuck bolt:


Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world’s cheapest Mercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he’s the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn’t feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.

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