Mustakrakesh Posted November 19, 2016 Share Posted November 19, 2016 I've broken the outer most bolt for an EA82 oil pump. This is the bolt closest to the ear of the mickey mouse seal. Whats the likelihood of an oil leak if I finish the re-seal and t-belts? The other 4 bolts are fine and torqued down. I've tried drilling the bolt out because it broke flush to the engine, but I've caught it out of center and I'm losing hope that I'll be able to drill it clean and tap a new thread. If you guys recommend fixing the hole and re-tapping it what kind of drill bits would you recommend? I was doing this job in hopes of ridding the engine of the lifter tick, but I'm worried I've just made the problem worse. Any and all advice appreciated, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Downwash77 Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Have you tried a easy out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 did it snap while tightening, or because it was stuck when trying to remove it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustakrakesh Posted November 20, 2016 Author Share Posted November 20, 2016 Snapped when removing, I tried everything, back and forth, heat, penetrant and it still snapped on me. What is easy out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Easy out will not likely work. They are left threaded tools that try to remove broken off bolts. From what I've seen they can work on new bolts snapped due to over tightening. On stuck bolts, the easy out breaks off, leaving you with a hardened piece of tool steel in the bolt. The best trick I found for removing a stuck & snapped off bolt is to weld a washer or nut to the end of the bolt. The heat likely has an effect, and the new "head" will then remove it. For future - and others - If you heat the block to normal operating temperature before trying to remove the stuck bolts, your luck is a LOT better. Either by driving, or a space heater and a heat gun with a meat thermometer to make sure you don't go over and damage seals. This takes a *lot* longer than running. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 all it's going to do is leak oil, i'd be willing to try it with a missing bolt. EZ outs suck, don't even have one in the garage. anything that comes out with an EZ out will come out with some other better method. EZ outs are supposed to grab the remaining bolt and back it out. they are strong but brittle (like concrete blocks). so they are prone to breaking with any kind of impact, even though they can take huge loads. they're great in a perfect machine shop with excellent tooling. they suck for DIY stuff like this. break one of those off - and you're in for a 100x harder problem than you current have. left handed drill bits can help back the bolt out sometimes. start with the smallest bit you can - as a sort of pilot hole, then move up in size from there. try an abrasive to get the surface smooth so you can get the drilling started in the center rather than off center. on a really bad water pump bolt i had once i drilled a hole adjacent to the stuck bolt and wailed on the bolt until it "tilted" into that adjacent hole so to speak. then helicoil it. but you can't really do that unless you have a spare block to drill into to verify you're not going to hit an important cavity or passage where you drill. i had extra blocks and could just drill huge holes to test before i did it on the engine at hand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Dawg Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) Dude! Following Dave t! At least mix some JB WELD onto something.. it worth a try.. that's what I would do Edited November 20, 2016 by Len Dawg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomRhere Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Thinking I would use the empty bolt hole in the pump to help guide a drill bit to get back on center of the broken bolt. I've used that method on a few things, but not on an oil pump bolt yet. Managed to get the one I broke out with a small tipped punch. P.I.T.A... If you do decided to try it, slow drill speed and light pressure is the key to get drill bit to stay centered. Then use proper size drill bit to drill out bolt. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 +1 empty bolt hole on old pump idea. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaWye Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) EZ outs suck, don't even have one in the garage. anything that comes out with an EZ out will come out with some other better method. EZ outs are supposed to grab the remaining bolt and back it out. they are strong but brittle (like concrete blocks). so they are prone to breaking with any kind of impact, even though they can take huge loads. they're great in a perfect machine shop with excellent tooling. they suck for DIY stuff like this. break one of those off - and you're in for a 100x harder problem than you current have. I couldn't agree more. I have only had one work once, every other time it failed. Usually they just wind up spinning freely in the hole you drilled but sometimes they snap. As you said, if you break it off, the problem is now much, much worse. They should be banned and I'm not a fan of banning things. I broke one off in a metal shear once. Wasn't even seized, I just tightened it without backing off the lock nut first, just a duh moment. Because they are hardened it becomes almost impossible to drill it so it sat for over a year. I finally found something that worked - a diamond burr in a die grinder. A decent one was around $20. If you're in Toronto, go to Atlas Machinery. Mind you this was a 3/8" bolt so I had some leeway, but it did a surprisingly good job of getting my previous off-center hole back on center and hogging away the Ez-out and bolt. This was in thick steel though so even though the first few threads took a beating, there was still plenty of grab and it was just a set screw. Left threaded drill bits are worth trying, though they can also break off and make the problem worse if you're not careful. Much, much better than EZ-outs though since they aren't trying to wedge themselves in. Of course the Big-box stores around here don't carry them, they just carry the crappy EZ-outs. That's probably why I seldom go to Big Box stores anymore. I tried the welding trick once (on the shear) but it didn't work for me. Would probably work better for a steel bolt in aluminum. Then again, I can't weld for S___. Here's the video I watched that made me try it: Edited November 20, 2016 by DeltaWye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeltaWye Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 Wow, it embedded the youtube video automatically. This forum software is really, really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveT Posted November 20, 2016 Share Posted November 20, 2016 (edited) The welding trick, yes you need some skill. The smaller the parts involved the harder it gets. Yes, I think it works best with steel bolt in aluminum. Way less risk of welding the bolt / nut to the base piece...Diamond burr, a good option to re center the hole in the broken bolt. Edited November 21, 2016 by DaveT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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