Head broke off bolt in cooling elbow 9N499

BrianDye

BrianDye

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Well, everything was of course going way too smooth.

Torquing the last bolt (passenger side rear) down, and SNAP. Head breaks right off. There was a little resistance towards the end, nothing that seemed bad though. The bolt was a bit dirty so I just assumed there was some crud on the threads (Yeah, I know I should've backed it out...)

So I remove all 3 bolts, take the 9N499 back off, and I have just a tiny little bit hanging out. My small vice grips just spin. Nothing will F*****G grip this!

Any ideas? I was literally going to go buy a water pump thinking this was part of it, but I looked a bit closer, and this outlet/inlet doesn't appear to be part of it. I have PB blaster on it right now. I really wanted to get this god damn car done today, as I burned through some of my last vacation hours to get today off.

D6544AF1-9F89-4A7C-BB69-EB842E8A93EC_zps0ekeycgp.jpg


Any help or suggestions are seriously greatly appreciated.

I seriously highly doubt it wouldn't leak, but a friend said it should be fine with just the 3 bolts. I really don't want to do that, I personally think it would slowly leak.
 
The top one would only work if the bolt head was still attached it looks like, right? There is no head on this, just maybe a little less than 1cm of stud hanging out.

Found the second one just now on their site. Jesus, almost $50.
 
mig weld a nut to it and turn it out. You might have to do it a couple of times, but it almost always works.
 
No welder, nobody close with a welder. No power for a welder either.
 
Can you start a nut on it? Thread the nut all the way down so the stud is sticking through the nut then peen the end of the stud. The nut will jam on the peen, and you will be able to turn it out.
 
I usually take my propane torch and heat the aluminum housing,not the stud, up a LITTLE,then apply the Liquid Wrench or PB. Then I reheat the housing a LITTLE,not the stud. Use your BEST pair of vice grips after tapping the stud with a hammer. You've got enough stud to grab, but greasy or dirty jaws will slip. don-ohio :)^)
 
Those bolts don't call for (or need) a whole lot of torque. They only need to be tight enough that they won't vibrate back out. The tightness of those bolts does not determine how tight the seal is squeezed. Spacers set that.

Be very careful with the throttle body gasket (green). They aren't made anymore, and you can't get them anywhere. Personally, I feel like it is nearly the same amount of work to remove the throttle body as it is to remove the intake manifold (no need to remove the throttle body from the manifold if you remove the whole manifold). I think that you may find it easier to get that bolt out if you remove the manifold now.

The worst case, is to drill it out (very carefully, center of the bolt only).
 
Thanks guys, those were some good suggestions. Definitely will keep them in mind for a later date, as im sure ill have quite a few broken studs in my lifetime.

I drove across town to O'Rileys, spent about $40 on a nice reverse drill bit & extractor set, as well as a nice center punch. No go, drill bit was too short and the intake was in the way. I was unaware those gaskets weren't available anymore, but either way, I didn't want to have to buy one because I damaged it.

Ended up giving it one more shot randomly with my vice grips, and got it to twist. It was a miracle, and took probably 15 minutes to get out, but I got it. New elbow installed.
 
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