Broke a bolt during repair

[lambda13]

When installing a new high-pressure hose in the power steering system, I broke off the bolt that holds a bracket on the hose to the back of the upper intake manifold. While tightening, the head of the bolt sheared right off -- I had not even gotten to the point of it being tight! There's barely a nub stilling out (nearly sheared flush).

For now, I just used a thin steel wire wrapped around the manifold and going through the hold of the bracket attached to the hose to keep it in place. It maybe wiggles about 1/4" (i.e. it's not 100% secure).

What's your advice on what I should do? I think at this point my amateur-mechanic days are over. Best case, I take it to an independent shop, they remove the manifold, are able to drill-out and re-tap the hold, and save the part. In doing so, do the gaskets on both sides of the manifold need to be replaced? How much would it cost?

Alternately, if I go to the dealer I would guess they would insist on replacing the whole manifold. Online the part is about $300 + $30 for 2 (?) gaskets. Dealer's mark-up appears to be around 50%. Plus labor I'm guessing this is looking like a $600 repair just to secure the hose.

Suggestions on what I should do???

Thanks!

[njjoe]

Screw extractor | easyout | broken bolt removal - YouTube

Screw extractor | easyout | broken bolt removal - YouTube

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Getting Broken Bolts Out

Good luck.

-njjoe

[Warhammer]

In my opinion you have 3 options:

1) Leave it as it is. Not suggested as it wiggles. Might eventually wear out the bushings in the clamps of the hose.

2) Find another bolt in the same area and attach the bracket to that. Might need to make a custom bracket to retain the hose.

3) Remove the upper plenum and use an Easy-Out to get the bolt out. You should be able to reuse the gaskets if you lift straight up and put the plenum straight down. Will need to make 100% sure the existing gasket is put exactly back in place.

If you're not a do-it-yourself guy, then taking it to a shop to fix is your option #4. Not an option for me as I do my own work for stuff like this.

Good luck!

[JayS]

A lot of people are scared of using easy outs because they've broken one off inside a broken bolt. Once you do that you just made like MUCH more difficult because an easy out is 10x harder to drill out than a bolt.

However, in this case, this is an ideal place to use an easy out. You didn't break the bolt off trying to loosen it, so you know the bolt isn't seized. Make sure to use a good center punch to get a divot to start drilling DEAD CENTER of the broken off bolt and you should have this out in about 5 minutes with an easy out kit.

[nitely]

You only have to keep the bracket in place so the hose will stay relatively in the same postion. If it wiggles a little should be no big deal. Maybe try tightening it with extra wire or zip tie. I would leave it for now. When its time to do the spark plugs then you can try the bolt repair when you have the intake out. Good luck.

[lambda13]

Thanks for reassuring me that leaving it tied up with a piece of wire is ok in the short term. I checked it today after about 50 miles of driving, and I can't feel that it has loosened at all. I'll try to get something more secure (hose clamp) sometime soon.

Nitely --> That's really good advice to match up the fix with a related repair maintenance. I didn't realize that's what it would take to replace the plugs! Using an Easy-Out at that time would certainly give me the chance of re-using the part.

By the way, will the hold need to be re-tapped after using the Easy-Out kit? Does the kit include taps?

Thanks!

[JayS]

No, the idea behind the easy out is you drill a small hole in the broken off bolt, small enough that it doesn't get near the threads. Then you insert this reverse threaded piece of metal that is the easy out into the hole and turn it backwards. The reverse threads bite into your bolt and the bolt and easy out should back out together leaving undamaged threads.

The REALLY important part is not to put too much pressure on the easy out. If the bolt isn't coming the last thing you want is to break that easy out off inside the bolt. Drilling out a bolt with a broken off easy out is 10x harder than just drilling out a broken bolt.