Broken Bolt Blues

[Percy Stipec]

While trying to remove a water cooling manifold to change the zinc anodes on my Honda 45 horse today three bolts snapped off. I tried drilling into two of the bolts and using and ez out to remove them but then the ez outs broke into the bolt. The hardened steel of the ez out has been impossible to drill through so now I can't even drill out the bolt and re-tap. The location of these hole with the broken bolts is the block of the engine so I can't swap out the piece. Has anyone experienced a situation like this before and if so what was the solution. It seems every year just before the hump gets going my boat decides to break down to prevent me from catching fish. Oh well. Thanks for any feedback.

 

[adrian1991]

Are you able to tack a smaller bolt onto the ez out broken tip and remove?




Alot of heat and some ice cold water sprayed on helps with seized bolts and sometimes a good smack with a hammer before attempting removal



Once you have it out Look into Heli-Coils for when you retap the hole lordco should have . Selection that matches up to the same size bolt that was on the hole

 

[Chuck]

Man, that's a tough one! I think I'd give my local engine rebuilder a call for any idears. Good Luck!

 

[gungadin]

Getting the broken easy out is possible with a small dremel, if the hole is pretty much on centre, and you go slow and have a steady hand. I have found that the cause of the breakage seems to be due to 1) a build up of material between the bolt threads and the threads in the threaded part, this is caused by salt water seeping into the threads and drying out and 2) the use of barely adequate strength fasteners. Before removing the bolts you need to heat the bolt head with a propane torch, in an attempt to expand the threads and compress the material stuck between the threads. If you can get the bolt to turn enough that there is a gap under it, the you can build a dam of plastercine around it, fill it with a good penetrating oil and let it seep in overnight. Even after this bolts will break. Build a dam around the broken bolt and let the penetrating fluid soak in for a few days before attempting removal. Even if you get it moving, turn it back and forth rather then trying to remove it straight out.

 

[stephennicholls531]

I've has success removing "easy outs" after they've snapped off. I use my Dremel and set it up with a very small collet and dental burrs - ask a dentist if he can give you some of his burrs that are not good enough to use on teeth anymore. Wear safety glasses, and on high speed, work your way tightly around the easy-out, a little at a time, and use a light oil to lube the burr from time to time. Just keep at it, around and around the easy out. At some point the easy out will move, and you can use needle nose pliers to pull it straight out.

Then, now that you have a nice hole in the top of the bolt, use a left-hand drill bit - one that drills in reverse - to slowly enlarge the hole in the bolt one size at a time. One of two things happens, the broken bolt suddenly spins out - that's why you're using a left hand drill bit, or when you look at the bolt hole before drilling in with the next size drill, you can see that you've started to drill into the threads of the hole in the block. At that point, you should be able to pick at the edge of the bolt with a very small chisel, and carefully curl that edge in towards the Center of the drilled hole, which effectively reduces the diameter of the bolt and loosens it from the threads so you can remove what's left.

Check the threads in the block for damage, re-tap to clean them up. Takes a lot of time and patience, but I've removed a lot of snapped-off bolts that way. If the threads are damaged, you can use Helicoils to bring them back to the original size threads in about 5 minutes or less. Good luck!

 

[Canso]

Find the best welder you can, and weld a nut to the broken bolt. even if its flush or slightly recessed the weld should grab it, also the heat will help it move. remove it while it’s still hot. Ground as close to the bolt as possible or hold the nut with the ground, you don’t want to arc the bearings or something crazy like that.

 

[Percy Stipec]

Thanks for the replies. I like the idea with the dremel to get the broken easy out I'll see if I can make it work. I will try using heat to free the bolt in combination with a left handed drill bit just gotta find a store that has them. Unfortunately welding is not possible due to how far the broken bolt is recessed. I will persevere through this and post how I get it out.

 

[SpringVelocity]

I feel for you I have a inboard and just had to take entire motor out because starter bolts snapped in block. Its fixed now but was a real *****. The left handed drill bit is way to go.

 

[bigdogeh]

Thanks for the replies. I like the idea with the dremel to get the broken easy out I'll see if I can make it work. I will try using heat to free the bolt in combination with a left handed drill bit just gotta find a store that has them. Unfortunately welding is not possible due to how far the broken bolt is recessed. I will persevere through this and post how I get it out.

not sure what size your head bolts are but we used to remove broken cat track bolts that were broken an 1-1/2 down. you keep the rod arc directly on the center of the stud and the flux flows around the outside so the weld doesn't stick to the head. only to the broken bolt. you just keep pouring the rod to it till it comes up and into the nut that you will weld to to try to twist the broken stud out. I think it would prob work down to a 3/8" stud. (pretty sure I've done them down to that size in the past) don't think I'd try it on anything smaller. you would also want to use a small rod... prob around a 3/32" .... and high chrome (chromium) rod usually works best. (high strength) I've never done it on an aluminum head though.

 

[tubber]

I broke a bolt off and then an easy out in the mid-section of my Honda kicker. Tried the lefthand drill, heat, harder drill bits etc. Easy outs are very hard metal to drill. I took the midsection to a place that does electrical discharge machining (EDM). It was an easy job for them and cost me about $50. I don't know if the machine can do tricky angles on a motor still attached to a boat.
Worth investigating.

 

[Island Fish Lifter]

Although there has been some good info on extracting broken bolts here, I do not think they will apply to your situation. When bolt heads break off due to excessive torque required to overcome salt ceasure, no left hand drill bit or easy outs will help. Im not exactly sure as to what you are trying to pull apart, maybe a pic or two would be helpful to obtain useful advice. Best case scenario would be that once you pull the housing off, there will be enough of a stud protruding that you can get some vice grips on. Then, you should be able to use a small acetylene tip to heat the area around the broken section of the bolt's housing. You should then be able to work it back and forth until it comes. Tap out each hole, even the ones that did not break. Grease threads before reassembly.

 

[profisher]

AS IFL says, ran the proper sized tap through all the threads to clean them out. I used marine grade never seize on all bolts and never have the problem again. Bolts that I know will have to be removed for regular maintenance....like gear case bolts for water pump replacement...I pull each one one at a time, apply new never seize and put back in. I do this each spring. You will never have a stuck bolt agin ever if you do this. Changing a water pump is a 30-40 minute job if it comes apart easily.

 

[Percy Stipec]

Alright I got a few pictures of the broken bolts. Unfortunately there isn't enough sticking out if I remove the manifold to get a vice grip on. I thought about the Electrical Discharge Machining but I don't think it will work on these bolts because there isn't a hole on the other side. Might have to check that out though if all else fails, just a hassle to take the motor off the boat and bring it into Vancouver

019

• Percy Stipec
• Apr 14, 2016

this is the top one with the broken Ez Out

001

• Percy Stipec
• Apr 14, 2016

these are the bottom two

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• Percy Stipec
• Apr 14, 2016

Also found this guy by my motor while going to take the picture, fed it some popcorn.

 

[bigdogeh]

anyone else getting an error message trying to look at these pics?

 

[Sr SQ]

yep i get the same msg

 

[Hookin'up]

yup, says I dont have auth to view

 

[Dogbreath]

Percy you have to make your album public for us to see the pics.

 

[Percy Stipec]

There we go

 

[bigdogeh]

how many more bolts do you need to remove to get the manifold off? with the manifold off you might have enough stud extending to weld a nut too.... make sure you use heat and a good penetrating oil (kroil) to try to remove the ones that still need removing.. your into it now so not much more you can do. might not hurt to bring it to a machine shop if you can remove it.

 

[Island Fish Lifter]

if it was mine, i would stop right there and run it as it is if it does not leak. At this point you are going to have a very difficult time dealing with this.