Broken Thermo Bolt

[scruffboy]

I bought a small Dremel rechargable hand gaget that should allow me to start a hole with a drill bit. I bought a set of extractors that should let me get it into the hole and then work on backing it out. I've never done this before, and I would hate to screw this up. The one bolt is holding nicely and there are no leaks, but I hate the though of just one bolt holding it in place. Should I go ahead and attempt to back out the broken bolt, or am I just going to make more of a mess then it already is?

Thanks,

Scruffboy

[ddmcse]

i vote

do it .

[theWeezL]

Ive had some experience trying to get blots out and very little success. first of all the broken part of the bolt is going to be very hard. Harder than the surrounding material. If you slip off and get into the surrounding material your going to make it nearly impossible to get the broken part out.


my best advice is take your time, be very careful about the angle at which you drill. I also recommend you use a very small bit and make a pilot hole first, then work up to larger bits until you have a hole big enough to fit the largest easy out that will still fit into the broken bolt. Go solw and dont put alot of pressure on the drill bit, let it work. Also if yu have some light oil, like 3in1 that gan help remove heat and lubricate the bit so you dont dull it as fast. I also agree on the left hand bits. I got a set of them from Autozone that have worked for me in the past.

[mrnickleye]

DO NOT drill too fast ! You will burn/dull the bit real quick. I always try to use a center punch to 'dimple' the center of the bolt where I'm goona drill.

[IHateHacks]

"Matco, Snapon, Mac all sell a 'left-hand' drill set that comes with ez outs"

Yea and I bet he has a couple hundred bucks just laying around that he can waste on a snapon drill set. Dem tools aint cheap.

Ive personally never had ANY luck with bolt extracter kits, the kind you drill a pilot hole and then start turning the extracter counterclockwise into the pilot hole. A $60 bolt extractor kit from napa did not help me. The only thing that did work for me for broken bolts was drilling the whole bolt out and tapping a larger hole for a larger bolt.

Using a center punch is a must when drilling. If you dont you are a hack.

Just trying to help with experience Ive had.

Edit: Hmmmm lets see whats harder/more money/time consuming to do, take off 4 nuts, fan and shroud? Or Radiator, upper and lower hoses, (if automatic) tranny lines, 10 qts of coolant, then bleeding the coolant system.... Yea ill take the fan off anyday. LOL

[scruffboy]

Thanks for all the input fellas. It sounds like a real pain in the a**. I'll get to work on it this weekend and see how it goes. There is still a very tiny bit of the broken bolt sticking out. I tried to hacksaw a line across to see if I could get it out with a flat head screwdriver. Didn't work. I may now try to cut a line the other way and use a phillips head. I bought one of those ratcheting screw drivers with a small handle, so maybe I can get more bite. Wish me luck!

Scruffboy

[IHateHacks]

Ok I have 1 more last ditch effort thing you can try. This only applies if you didnt take the housing off yet. Take the thermo housing off completely (I hope you dont break the other one) now you will have about 3/8"+ to grab on to with a pair of decent visegrips or locking plyers. The shaft of the thermo bolts are only 6mm in diameter, not much torque applied to them maybe 8ft lbs at the most. Lock on to the broken bolt as hard as you possibly can the FIRST time. Get someone very big and strong if needed. It should come right out. Ive done this on 4 broken exhaust manifold bolts on an 84 VW rabbit and those things were bigger, and exposed to 500 degree temperatures its whole life.

But if all else fails you can order a new water outlet housing (the aluminum thing with all those sensors that the bolt broke off into) from a dealer (if you cant find a single supra at the junkyard like me) but from a dealer it wont be cheap but hey, when shit like this happens I pay whatever they want for a part that will let me drive my car again.

As far as that screwdriver forget it, you need as much leverage/torque you can get. If you are going to try that route first (the ghetto flathead/phillps rig) Get a removable flathead or phillps head bit. Now get a 1/4" size, quarter inch drive socket and rachet and try that instead. (I hope you can understand that)


Hope it works out for ya.