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Broken Oil Pan Bolt

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OblivioAssebit

10+ Year Contributor
158
0
May 15, 2009
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
So I was working under my car and noticed I had oil seepage around my oil pan gasket. As I looked closer it looked like one of the bolts wasnt tightened all the way because there was a bit of a gap. So I grabbed my 1/4" ratchet with about a 3 inch handle and tried to tighten it. Well, it snapped will all of about 2 fingers worth of pressure. I didnt over tighten them when I replaced my gasket, and I used a torque wrench, nor did I use nearly enough strength to snap that bolt.

Anyways, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get that broken bolt out? And should I use grade 8 next time or is that too strong? I dont want to crack the block with a bolt thats stronger than the block. I plan on pulling the pan anyways to weld on my return bung. Also is my gasket reusable. I swore I read that somewhere. Its pretty new. I did my rebuild last spring. About a year ago.
 
i forget the proper term, but they make a special tool to get broken bolts off, think they are called a "tap" or something, my brain isnt working at the moment. Another way would be to take your oil pan off and get it that way, although you would have a lot of oil going everywhere, could probably drain most the oil through the oil filter. Best of luck!
 
i forget the proper term, but they make a special tool to get broken bolts off, think they are called a "tap" or something, my brain isnt working at the moment. Another way would be to take your oil pan off and get it that way, although you would have a lot of oil going everywhere, could probably drain most the oil through the oil filter. Best of luck!

An easy out? The drill bit that.."drills" in the opposite direction? I was thinking one of those but I dont have a lift so everything I do is going to have to be on jackstands And I dont know if I can get a drill to fit up and down to get it out. I am taking out my oil pan no matter what tho. I need to tap it for my turbo set up.
 
my advice to you about the gasket is if it was reusable i wouldent re use it get a new one that way youll have a good and proper seal and not leak fluid== i think they are reusable some one correct me if im wrong but ill buy a new one to be on the safe side...
 
i just did my crank scraper today so i got to see my old oil pan gasket, they look very solid, i dont think it would hurt to reuse it, its not like a valve cover gasket or IM/TB gasket, it looks like they have washers in it around the wholes, and by how sturdy it is, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a fine layer of metal throughout the whole thing. But speaking of which, if you are going to take your oil pan off, might as well install a crank scraper :p
 
yes are pan gasket have a steel inner core and spacers on the bolt holes to keep from crushing the gasket. i have reused my pan gasket it was solid and had no ware, so i cleaned it with brake cleaner and put a small bead of RTV on both sides and I still have no leaks...
 
An easy out? The drill bit that.."drills" in the opposite direction? I was thinking one of those but I dont have a lift so everything I do is going to have to be on jackstands And I dont know if I can get a drill to fit up and down to get it out. I am taking out my oil pan no matter what tho. I need to tap it for my turbo set up.

You can easily lift the vehicle high enough to clear a drill with bit. You don't need to use a drill to extract the screw with the easy-out; I would actually recommend against it. Once you drill the bolt, place the screw extractor into it and give it a very gentle tap with a hammer to get it started in there, then turn it out by hand. I use a t-handle tap wrench with screw extractors, but you could use a standard wrench of some sort as well.

If you cannot get it and are willing to remove the oil-pan, clean the block on both sides near the hole with the broken bolt, then heat the block with a torch. This will make it much easier to get the broken screw out.

If that doesn't work, purchase a helicoil (or equiv.) kit and use that.

I would not use a grade 8 bolt (class 10.9) for fear that it would be stronger that the block. Stick with a class 8.8 in this case. It's generally better to break a bolt than to strip the threads out of a bolt hole, IMO.
 
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