Starter Bolt Broke

[JD1964]

I recently pulled the engine. When removing the starter, the bolt head snapped off and there was alot of corrosion around the bell housing near the starter. Now what? I've dug into these situations before but I was wondering if any of you have opinions on how to get the shank out without damaging the bell housing threads.

Been soaking it for a week now with PB blaster and I'm about to have at it with a pipe wrench and see if it moves.

Any other ideas?

 

[JD1964]

Scratch pipe wrench method. It grabbed but just twisted off flush with bell housing. I guess I'm drilling it out now.

 

[redneck15431]

Sorry man, that stinks. I would have suggested putting some heat on it. Been in a lot of these situations. There is aluminum there too so heat would have been a last resort before snapping and drilling it. I have never had luck center punching and drilling perfectly center so I drill it out as big as I can and get something to pick away at the thinnest edge to make the bolt collapse on itself to save the threads. Takes some time but it works. EZ outs work well too if you have those handy.

 

[Davedacarpainter]

Doh!

 

[Mustang5L5]

Oh man. That's a tough one. If you drill it, use sharp bits and don't let too much hear build up. Drill a bit and then go have a beer for 10 mins.


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[JD1964]

I got around to working on the car a bit today. I drilled the broke starter bolt starting with 1/8 and worked my way up large enough to get the extractor bit in. Tapped it in with a hammer and heated the area. It wouldn't budge with moderate force so I abandoned that idea for risk of snapping the extractor off in the hole.

I continued to drill out up to 5/16 than ran a 3/8 tap through and made new threads. The new hole is a bit off center but not too much I dont think. The starter bolted up fine. If I have trouble getting the bolt in when the separator plate is in place, I'll just enlarge the hole on the starter lobe for some extra wiggle room.

I need a new transmission separator plate since the corrosion that cause the stuck bolt also damaged the plate making pieces of it fall off. Important pieces too like the ring that centers the starter in position.

 

[Moosee1955]

These kind of broken bolts are tough. Unless theirs enough to get a grab with locking vise grips, your usual recourse is a machinist that has the proper centering easy out jig. Regular drilling/ easy outs removal almost never works, because of heat, size of bolt and location, Machinists have set ups that the average shop doesn't. I had a situation years back where I had a broken Chevy s10 front caliper bracket that broke a bolt. This guy was a pro, he took one look and knew how to remove. Unless you have a pro machine shop, you might want to have a machinist get the hole right.


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[JD1964]

I know the off center looks like a hack job. But in this case it will work. The starter is actually aligned by the separator plate that goes between the engine and trans. The bolts just hold the starter against the bell housing.

Another option for me would be a through bolt with nut on the other side. But these tapped threads will hold the correct size 3/8 bolt. Worst case is I slightly enlarge the hole on the starter to make room for the mis aligned hole. But I doubt I'll need to.

 

[Moosee1955]

Hey I've done worse, as long as it tightens down!


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[jrichker]

Plan B is a Helicoil kit cost is about $20-$30; it includes a drill bit, Helicoil tap, Helicoil installation tool and some Helicoil inserts.

See https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...-_-heli-coil&gclid=CNyQ8ZPM0M8CFRE7gQodLsIBIg

 

[JD1964]

Plan B is a Helicoil kit cost is about $20-$30; it includes a drill bit, Helicoil tap, Helicoil installation tool and some Helicoil inserts.

See https://www.summitracing.com/parts/...-_-heli-coil&gclid=CNyQ8ZPM0M8CFRE7gQodLsIBIg

I remember the need to resort to a helicoil. It was many years ago on a Toyota 2TC cylinder head. It had a stripped thread for the rocker arm shaft.