[Uridian]

So somehow my water pump housing managed to crack and spray all my coolant on the road. BMW wanted $1400 to replace, so I bought a new pump, thermostat and block thermostat hose flange and dove in.

Well - the 2 T30 bolts holding the thermostat housing to the block are so rusted to bits that one snapped the head off, and one I can't budge since there is no longer a torx head on it, just a rusty donut.

Since this car has an electronic water pump and thermostat, what's the risk if I just cut the head off that one bolt, replace the thermostat and don't bother trying to extract the bolt pieces from the block? Nothing seals to the block besides hoses and and those are fine and secure. If the thermostat just floats, held in place by all the hoses connected to it, is that such a problem?

...and another thing. On the 228, the lower bolts on the water pump are covered by the damn steering rack!! Can barely fit just a bare socket in there, no chance at all a ratchet fits, even with a rube-goldberg extension, wobble, u-joint set up. Ordered some e-torx box wrenches and I hope they fit. What a headache.