Hello all, I have found myself in a somewhat weird position today. I was doing some cleaning under the hood and discovered a bolt was sheered off of my car. It is one of the three bolts that come up through the body surrounding the center of the strut mount. Now, to be honest, I have never noticed if this has been there before, if it recently broke off, or if it never existed since I purchased the vehicle. I know this may sound strange but with all the piddling around under the hood I've done I never did notice either way. But, now that I did notice, I was wondering: what is the part that I do replace, and how easy is it to get to? Do I have to take apart the entire strut assembly? E.G. remove the coil spring and the strut itself? How important is it that this bolt is replaced, can it cause damage to the strut assembly/steering mechanisms? I have not noticed any difference in driving ability, and no new noises like a loose assembly or anything of the sort in that manner. Comparing it to the other two bolts it appears to have "snapped" off right where the nut rested against the body. Below is a poor picture demonstration of what it kind of looks like in case I didn't describe it. The capital O is the center where the main strut bolt is and the little o's are the bolts/nuts themselves, this would be if you were looking at it from the front of the car:

 

...o

o O o <---bolt that is broken

 

Sorry about the long post, just concerned.

 

 

 

 

'95 Subaru Impreza

1.8 Litre

 

Regards,

Brandon Bartolomucci

if you can tap it out, with a punch & hammer, or something like that, then you can get a standard sized bolt in there (stainless will help with the rust..) and just bolt it up like normal... if you position it right you don't even need to get a socket up in there... but you might want to to keep it from stripping stuff around...

Thanks for the reply. So does that mean I can just replace it without even having to disassembly generally anything? (I really hope so because I do not feel like doing that if it is at all possible.

 

Brandon

Your are talking about the three holding studs coming up thru the top portion of the strut tower. These studs are what hold the strut support to the strut tower.

I'm not sure I remember things all that well but I replaced mine last summer and I think those studs are an integral part of the strut support. Although you might give Andyjo's advice a try and you'll see if it works.

If I'm right, you have to replace the strut support to make the repair.

Thanks for the replies so far. Yes those are the three bolts to which I am referring to. The other 2 that are in place are perfectly fine, the three on the other tower are fine. I'm hoping I can use that advice and tap it out, please please please I hope that's the way it will work because I really don't feel like going through the whole process of removing it and getting the part and marking the right areas and generally speaking, I just don't feel like doing it because there's only one way to do it, and that's the right and safe way..heh.

 

Brandon Bartolomucci