Today was a nice sunny day, so I decided to tackle my cooling system. My "ebay special" aluminum radiator showed up this past thursday, I picked up a new cap, and new 180* t-stat this morning when the parts stores opened. So, I get all my supplies together, and start breaking bolts loose. Radiator comes out without a hitch. New one goes right back in, seriously folks....35-40 minutes TOPS (save for draining time)! Then I move on to the t-stat. Wouldn't you know it...the very last bolt I break loose is the one that decides to break off .... There I stood....half of a t-stat housing bolt in one hand, and a 3/8's drive ratchet in the other.....cussing up a storm..... I go get one of these from the tool box...but it won't bite, there's only about 3 threads sticking out of the manifold....I scratch my head and cuss some more.... I go to lowes and get a set of these This could've worked.....did you know that "carbide" doesn't mean "strong"? I burnished the bolt end, then flipped the bit over and began slowly reversing out....it bites! I go easy with the drill. Mind you, this is a cheap "firestorm" cordless drill with about 20 minutes worth of charge... On the drill's SLOWEST setting (JUUUUUUUUST pulling the trigger) the bit breaks off in the freshly burnished bolt. Now, not only am I dealing with a broken bolt, but now it's full of mangled carbide tool steel..... Anybody got any ideas? I've tried 2 different types of bolt extractors, vice grips, hammering a screwdriver into it, and cussing a whole lot. None of those seemed to work.
how much bolt is sticking out? You have the thermostat housing off right? If you have about 1/8th" or more bolt sticking out do this: -Buy pb blaster spray the bolt, let sit for as long as possible (overnight works) -Using a good pair of vice grips (with a flat grabbing surface not the angled one) snap on as tight as possible (use other vice grips on your vice grips or two hands etc) -Once this is done try to grab as close to gripping part of the vice grips on the bolt and turn slowly, this is done in order to not twist the gripping vice grips off the bolt. Good luck! Other than that since the easy out broke a machine shop is likely your only bet.....unless you can cut out the section where the easy out broke and try again with a better quality tool.
well, I'm thinking I might use a dremel to do one of two things. A: using a diamond tipped bit, "drill" into the bolt/tool far enough to get a normal (right hand) drill bit in there. I'm hoping this will spin the easy out out when the actual drill bit bites it... B: using a cut off wheel, make a notch in the top of the bolt to use a big flat screw driver on. Also, maybe even a hammer to tap the bolt loose with. I dunno, but I'm burning daylight, and have to be at work at 5... I'll let you know how it went tomorrow!
Buy some good penetration oil and let it soak in! Then center punch the bolt drill in as centered as possible.. then you can buy a set of extractors from your local tool store. You want the ones that will tap in. I have a set from snap on and have never not worked yet. Also if you can heat the base of the housing will help loosen it too. But the pen' oil is also a good thing to use.
or grap some tiny TINY vicegrips and slowly twist that bolt out... thats wut i did one time, it worked but it took FOREVER!
+1 on the cut off wheel and screwdriver..even if you can put some kind of notch/groove in it you can also take a chisel and hammer and try to back it out like that
The one thing you gotta remember is why it broke off in the first place.... siezed! Its a real pain in the butt
soak the hell out of it with PB blaster (overnight with multiple coats). get a regular carbide drill bit just a bit smaller then the broken bolt, and drill ALL the way through the broken bolt. then take a big screw driver and pound it into the head of broken bolt, then try to tighten it first a lil bit to break it loose, then back it out. if the screw driver doesnt work then use a "easy out" in the new hole.
Just make sure there isnt anything after the broken bolt you might not want to drill into by accident. But if it is a striaght through hole then drill away!
if you have a welder.... take a flat washer with a hole slightly smaller than the bolt diameter. center it on the bolt and weld it. the washer will allow you to weld a nut that is bigger than the original bolt, allowing more weld (and heat). let it cool until it's not red hot and slowly turn the bolt out. like shonuff said, it usually helps to tighten it first a little, then loosen it.
I went out today to see what I could do with what I have readily available,(which ain't much since I moved here for school). So far, I've broken ANOTHER easy out, wasted 3 dremel cut off wheels, and found 14 new combinations of swear words that don't work. As it sits, I've taken another cut off wheel and ground the top of the bolt relatively flat. Then taken the smallest drill bit I had and drilled a pilot hole, for a larger bit, and a larger one, and one more after that. In the morning (read "sometime after noon" or "whenever I get up") I'm gonna go to lowes and find either a reverse thread drill bit, or (like the even make these) a reverse thread self tapping sheet metal screw. If that doesn't work, I'll go buy a heli-coil and go that route...until I can convince myself that a new intake( properly ported and polished of course) is the only answer. Honestly, it's only a t-stat housing bolt a heli-coil should work just fine if all else fails. Burnzya, thanks for the tip, but I haven't got a welder readily available here...although if anyone wants to make a donation.......
have experience with rusty nasty junk if you don't have a torch, freeze and release, We've been using this stuff on tractors and combines at the shop and it really seems to help, otherwise a butane torch can help with the penatrating oil. also ditch those extractors upgrade to a warrantalble set that looks like this-http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/10-Screw-Extractor-Set/EN/index.htm I have the snap on set with left handed cobalt bits and i've really good luck with them. if you can drill the hole all the way through, when you break them you just knock them the rest of the way and keep using the remaining piece, I strongly recommend the freeze stuff. you won't believe it till you see it but it works and it's handy cuz it's mobile.
You know, I bet that using a can of air for computer cleaning would do the same thing, turned upside down of course. That stuff gets COLD!
