hey guys

yesterday i was attempting to fix a leaky thermostat housing on my xh and as I was undoing the bolt which attaches it to the head the head sheared straight off.

1st i attempted winding two nuts together but there wasn't enough thread there to get a decent grip on it.

then i went to repco and bought one of the stud remover tools, this was a real bad idea, it stripped the thread, snapped off more of the protruding bolt and just made a mess. things got desperate and I it it with the multi-grips and made it even worse!

I looked around on the net, people seem to think welding another nut on will do the trick, I only have a little cheapy stick welder - is this safe to use near the alloy head? anyone had this happen before? any tips?

cheers

Leon

I know it's not an ideal solution but vise grips work well sometimes, much more so than multi-grips. I put the teeth of the grips onto the bolt and adjust is so it's as tight as possible (strong hands help). Usually holds well and if done slowly the bolt often comes loose.

If you break the bolt more you may drill it out and use those ezy-out bolt extractors, but again take it slow. I have broken some before using too much force.

Check the torque specs when you put a new one in too.

Add some heat, but be carefull.

If it keep breaking, you'll need to do something to loosen it before undoing it.
Welding a nut on to the remaining bolt works well, but you'll still need a bit of heat on the alloy around the the bolt to get it out, other wise you'll continue break it and get no where.

INOX or something similar sprayed at and left for a while will help it unscrew...

I seem to find that usually an easy out will not work as they are smaller than the dia of the bolt your working with and if you broke the bolt the easy is just as likely to break...

As mentioned vise grips done up as tight as you possible can will grab anything very well.

If all else fails you'll need to painstakingly drill the hold in the head and re tap it... You issue will be getting the right depth and trying to centre the drill bit... But use this as a final resort as most do because it is not the easiest task to do...

Cheers,
Tim

usually you will find it's the heat form welding the nut on that really unsticks the bolt. then the nut just makes it easier to undo. your going to have to take the inlet off before you start throwing too much firey death around though. and watch your leads and dizzy if you have one.

vice grips either work or they don't, it's great when they do but no1 really believes you lol

products always help to, inox or freeze spray.

and the easy outs are less inclined to break due to them being made from hardened &/or high carbon steel. the better quality they are obviously reflects in price & it's usually the cheaper ones that will snap or wear.

This.... although drilling is not as hard as this man makes it seem!
Get yourself a set of left handed drill bits. Brilliant bits of gear.

Left handed drill bits? These are new to me? What is the intended purpose?

Purely for removing broken bolts old chap.
The theory is, as you are drilling, it heats up the bolt a fraction and eventually like all drill bits do, it will grip and rip and voila! It screws out the bolt for you.

thanks for all the great tips

unfortunately it was no no avail. welding on another nut didn't work.. welds kept breaking (trying to find a bolt that isn't zinc or galv was pretty hard to do). applying head also didn't make it budge, eventually it dwindled down to only 2mm protruding from the head.

ripped the head off and will take it to get re-drilled by a professional as i've already made enough mess with my bush mechanic techniques


cheers

leon