Bolt extraction fail!!!

[Jcallo]

Hey everyone... I have a pesky bolt that snapped on me yesterday.. How screwed am I ? can I reassemble it and drive it ?

I have already tried to extract the broken bolt.. all signs point to fail for now? anyone have any advice?

anyone that has had a similar ? thing happen to them? what kind of power tool? or brand did you use?

[CB7NWDD]

Please do not simply reassemble and carry on, you will experience leaks and potential loss of oil pressure.

There are a few methods for extracting a bolt that's sheared off, you don't appear to have any thread sticking out so some of those won't work.

The likely culprit is corrosion, not a shocker after all these years, but we need to combat that first. Penetrating oil might work, but your best bet is to heat the bolt with a torch so that the metal expands and subsequently contacts as it cools, which should break it somewhat free from the head. You can then attempt to use a screw extractor... If it wont break free I wouldn't force it too hard because my next suggestion is drilling it out, the extractor is carbon steel, ever drilled through carbon steel?

Assuming you can't extract it, you can attempt to drill through the bolt. Center punch the sheared bolt and carefully drill straight through the bolt with a very small bit, when you're through keep stepping up bit sizes and drilling through. When there's a small amount of bolt left you MIGHT be able to take a flat head and a hammer and break the remainder to pieces that you can vacuum out. In all likelihood you will need to drill out all of the bolt and either re-thread it, or use a helicoil.

Yes I've actually used all these methods, I have stupid friends who drive stupid old Ford's, so I see sheared bolts all the time.

[DGOfTheCentury]

My motor swap had this problem and someone just put the bolt back in and used jb weld, which did not work well. I do not like to use power tools on aluminum heads, so this is how i do it.

I would recommend finding a good bit of light, like a shop light. Purchase a couple of small long pointy chisels and use a hammer to tap the stud counter clockwise. Although, this is a time consuming method it does work. Once you have tapped it a good amount of times, the stud will develop indents to help you move along quicker. Also, you should tap the stud closer to the edge to get better leverage, but not too far because you do not want to damage the head threads. As i said before this takes a while, so take your time. I have done this on numerous occasions on these Hondas and Toyotas because someone over torqued the valve cover bolt.

It has always worked. Just be patient. Once the stud is out, throw it somewhere, trust me it feels good lol. Then grab your thread chaser, dip it in some oil and run it through a couple of times to clean the head threads. Make sure it is the right thread chaser! So the new bolt goes in as smooth as possible. Good luck buddy!

[Jcallo]

Please do not simply reassemble and carry on, you will experience leaks and potential loss of oil pressure.

There are a few methods for extracting a bolt that's sheared off, you don't appear to have any thread sticking out so some of those won't work.

The likely culprit is corrosion, not a shocker after all these years, but we need to combat that first. Penetrating oil might work, but your best bet is to heat the bolt with a torch so that the metal expands and subsequently contacts as it cools, which should break it somewhat free from the head. You can then attempt to use a screw extractor... If it wont break free I wouldn't force it too hard because my next suggestion is drilling it out, the extractor is carbon steel, ever drilled through carbon steel?

Assuming you can't extract it, you can attempt to drill through the bolt. Center punch the sheared bolt and carefully drill straight through the bolt with a very small bit, when you're through keep stepping up bit sizes and drilling through. When there's a small amount of bolt left you MIGHT be able to take a flat head and a hammer and break the remainder to pieces that you can vacuum out. In all likelihood you will need to drill out all of the bolt and either re-thread it, or use a helicoil.

Yes I've actually used all these methods, I have stupid friends who drive stupid old Ford's, so I see sheared bolts all the time.

I've tried all this .. nothing bro ... carbonized steel is hard as crap.... even manage to break a couple tips.

[Jcallo]

My motor swap had this problem and someone just put the bolt back in and used jb weld, which did not work well. I do not like to use power tools on aluminum heads, so this is how i do it.

I would recommend finding a good bit of light, like a shop light. Purchase a couple of small long pointy chisels and use a hammer to tap the stud counter clockwise. Although, this is a time consuming method it does work. Once you have tapped it a good amount of times, the stud will develop indents to help you move along quicker. Also, you should tap the stud closer to the edge to get better leverage, but not too far because you do not want to damage the head threads. As i said before this takes a while, so take your time. I have done this on numerous occasions on these Hondas and Toyotas because someone over torqued the valve cover bolt.

It has always worked. Just be patient. Once the stud is out, throw it somewhere, trust me it feels good lol. Then grab your thread chaser, dip it in some oil and run it through a couple of times to clean the head threads. Make sure it is the right thread chaser! So the new bolt goes in as smooth as possible. Good luck buddy!

I do have to try this.. didnt think about just tapping it counter clockwise out.. it does have a groove where i can tap it and see if it loosens up

[cp[mike]]

I do have to try this.. didnt think about just tapping it counter clockwise out.. it does have a groove where i can tap it and see if it loosens up

I have had very good luck with this method as well. Usually once it starts coming out you can get at it with needle-nose pliers. Sometimes if it is loose enough after a while, you can push the tips of the pliers against the sheared screw and turn them by hand.

[thumping_accord]

had a couple break on mine when I was working on it, bought a back out bit from fastenal and it worked like a charm. You have to drill a small hole in the center of the bolt straight down and then use the back out bit, its kinda like a reverse threaded screw that gets thicker and thicker. I would soak it in some kind of penetrating oil first, like PB blaster (that stuff is awsome!). Hope this helps.

[muhammedmian]

maybe you can drill and tap it... or perhaps cut a notch into the broken threads and use a flat screwdriver