Broken bolt

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GrizandLinna

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Well.....today I started to replace some rubber engine parts on the car and of course the first bolt I tried broke off. I have a aluminum intake manifold and I broke off the thermostat housing bolt. I watched you tube videos and most of them show them welding a nut to the broken stud. My problem is that the engine is still in the car and I was wondering even if I disconnect both battery cables, are the lights, gauges and all the wiring safe in the car if I try this? I'm not a welder so I'm just making sure.
 
Nope. Nothing is ever 100% safe, but disconnecting the battery certainly decreases your chances.
 
I just did a bunch of welding on a car . battery disconnected and no issues. Tig welder is the best way to remove bolts
 
Why not try an Easy Out screw extractor? It worked for me on an exhaust manifold bolt with poor access.
With the good access you have it should be straightforward.
 
66 Sat said:
Why not try an Easy Out screw extractor? It worked for me on an exhaust manifold bolt with poor access.
With the good access you have it should be straightforward.
Click to expand...
You got lucky. Ease outs are good for one thing. Breaking off and making the problem worse. As they screw in, they expand the broken fastener and usually lock it down, causing the ease out to break. You talk about a hell of a time when that happens.
 
66 Sat said:
Why not try an Easy Out screw extractor? It worked for me on an exhaust manifold bolt with poor access.
With the good access you have it should be straightforward.
Click to expand...
My old high school shop teacher told me that there is no such thing as an easy out...........only hard outs :)
 
We called them not so easy outs. I've welded on cars and never had an electrical mishap. Hope I didn't jinx you. My last resort is you get a left hand drill bit. Get the correct size for re-tapping. Sometimes when you drill it out the broken bolt will come out.
 
I would be careful welding around that aluminum. It doesn't take much heat to melt it. My go to method is to use an angle grinder to square up the broken bolt, center punch it, drill as large a hole as I can without buggering the threads, screw in the easy out until it catches solid, heat up the area with a propane torch and then try to turn the easy out in earnest. It has worked for me many times without breaking the easy out. Before doing it this way I had broken a few easy outs. Good luck!

Jack
 
Can an old millwright teach you a little trick. I’m assuming it’s a 3/8 bolt. If so take a 5/16 common heavy duty flat washer and plug weld it thoroughly to the ground flat broken off bolt. Then weld a nut to the welded on flat washer. The heat should make this easily removed with a wrench on the welded on nut. I’ve done 100’s of them in the mill. Much easier than trying to plug weld the nut on.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Can an old millwright teach you a little trick. I’m assuming it’s a 3/8 bolt. If so take a 5/16 common heavy duty flat washer and plug weld it thoroughly to the ground flat broken off bolt. Then weld a nut to the welded on flat washer. The heat should make this easily removed with a wrench on the welded on nut. I’ve done 100’s of them in the mill. Much easier than trying to plug weld the nut on.
Click to expand...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

THIS!!!!!!!

:thumbsup:
 
Broken bolt had been in their for 44 years with a snapped off "easy out"! Grind a bolt to a point and a few quick shots with the TIG.

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Use the thermostat housing to make a drilling jig out of 5/8 plate that locates from the undamaged hole and you will have no issue accurately center punching and drilling the offending hole.
 
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Jeremiah said:
Use the thermostat housing to make a drilling jig out of 5/8 plate that locates from the undamaged hole and you will have no issue accurately counterpunching and drilling the offending hole.
Click to expand...
Now that's a slick idea!
 
The bolt has probably broken off because steel & alum do not like each other......
They corrode & we know the rest of the story....
Luckily, the offending bolt [ now a stud ] is [a] easily accessible & has very little load on it. It is sealing a gasket against coolant pressure.
If you cannot remove the stud or do not want to try, then I would drill & tap a 3/16" hole either side & close to the stud. There should be enough metal to do this. Use grade 8 or s/steel bolts to lock the housing down.
 
66 Sat said:
Why not try an Easy Out screw extractor? It worked for me on an exhaust manifold bolt with poor access.
With the good access you have it should be straightforward.
Click to expand...
My old high school shop teacher told me that there is no such thing as an easy out...........only hard outs :)
Jeremiah said:
Use the thermostat housing to make a drilling jig out of 5/8 plate that locates from the undamaged hole and you will have no issue accurately center punching and drilling the offending hole.
Click to expand...
I have a jig like that designed to drill out boken Hemi exhaust studs.
 
RustyRatRod said:
You got lucky. Ease outs are good for one thing. Breaking off and making the problem worse. As they screw in, they expand the broken fastener and usually lock it down, causing the ease out to break. You talk about a hell of a time when that happens.
Click to expand...
Well I guess I must be lucky because I've used them twice and they worked both times. Admittedly the engine was recently rebuilt so the bolts hadn't been in there for 40 years but they still worked.
 
66 Sat said:
Well I guess I must be lucky because I've used them twice and they worked both times. Admittedly the engine was recently rebuilt so the bolts hadn't been in there for 40 years but they still worked.
Click to expand...
I admit, I've been successful a few times, but only on low torque fasteners that weren't rusted or in an exhaust hole. That makes a difference.
 
Bewy said:
The bolt has probably broken off because steel & alum do not like each other......
They corrode & we know the rest of the story....
Luckily, the offending bolt [ now a stud ] is [a] easily accessible & has very little load on it. It is sealing a gasket against coolant pressure.
If you cannot remove the stud or do not want to try, then I would drill & tap a 3/16" hole either side & close to the stud. There should be enough metal to do this. Use grade 8 or s/steel bolts to lock the housing down.
Click to expand...
dont some intakes come with two set of threaded holes for the thermostat anyway?
 
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