Broken Turbo/Manifold Bolt, Will not budge!

[GSX95AWD]

During a Exhaust Manfiold gasket swap, one of the big #11 Bolts that holds the turbo to the manifold broke in half during removal. I bought a extractor but for the love of god can not get a hole drilled through the bolt. It's like the bolt is so hard nothing will drill into it. I've tried vice grips to loosen it and nothing. I'm using a 5/32 bit to try and drill a hole, but it's failing. I'm using a titanium bit also. Any ideas? Also where can i purchase a new bolt at ? thanks

 

[crash89]

Do you have access to a torch?? Get it nice and red hot then grip it with some vice grips. It should come out fairly easily.

 

[SoNew]

I just had this problem, I used a torch to get it red hot, then a can of "freeze it" and froze that MF. it almost cracked it made the loudest noise ever, after that i grabbed it with a vise grips and wiggled in back and forth until I could finally back it out.
Good luck man, I spazzed and ended up punching a hole in my radiator with my vise grips haha!

I ordered all my exhaust gaskets and bolts from Extremepsi. They shipped to me really fast and all the parts were perfect!

 

[GSX95AWD]

I tried heating it up, Got it red hot, Then tried grabbing with a pair of pliers, and it wont budge, and the pliers slip as well. I'm clueless..

 

[IrishBeatdown]

I tried heating it up, Got it red hot, Then tried grabbing with a pair of pliers, and it wont budge, and the pliers slip as well. I'm clueless..

the mitsu stock turbo bolts are 10.9 tensile strength, so you will have a hard time drilling them out without a hardened drill bit. pliers are going to be almost useless. you are going to need vicegrips minimum. if its on top where you can get at it, there is no substitute for a good pipe wrench.

 

[ChrisTheBuilder]

Had the same problem a few months ago. Find a high quality vice, clamp down on that bolt using a cheater pipe and use the turbo it self as a wrench.

I fought with mine, heating freezing and pb blasting. Vise grips with the Allen head on the adjuster for maximum clamping wouldn't do it.

 

[shapeless]

make sure you use some arp lube on all the bolts when you put the new one in. fastener assembly lubricant part #100-9908. good to 2000 degrees and prevents seizure. also allows for accurate torque.

 

[jakelandry]

Worse comes to worse weld another bolt on top, heat it, and hit it with an impact.

 

[SmalltownDSMer]

Had this issue a while back, tried welding new heads onto the broken bolt but they all kept breaking off. Went through about 15 hardened bits and even a couple with a drill press, no luck. Hope you have better luck then I did.

Somebody already mentioned but don't be afraid to be generous with the anti seize when going back with it.

Jayson

 

[honda_burner]

Don't use the grey anti seize. It will gall and you will be going through this all over again. Be sure to use high temp such as copper anti seize.

 

[donniekak]

Irwin extractors, they go around the outside.

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[My1GLaser]

I would find a nut that fits around the part of the bolt that is sticking up, and weld inside the nut. Then heat up around the bolt with a torch and break it loose that way. You can't really get enough "grab" on that little piece of bolt sticking up! You need to heat up around the bolt so the metal expands the bolt hole. Try not to heat up the bolt too much, which is difficult...

 

[RyeDawg]

All of these are good ideas that sometimes work. Many times they don't and we start throwing wrenches. You can also get a good torx bit socket. Such as Snapon / bluepoint. Heat the bolt with a torch and drive that socket in there. Tighten and loosen the bolt as soon as you feel the bolt get snug.you may even have to take your turbo and manifold out, to heat up the hot side of the turbo as well. Good luck.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Good luck. I just broke three of them in my e316g last Friday. I got one out with the welding trick, and ended up drilling the other two and knocking out the remains with a pointed punch. It took hours, but the threads are all still intact.

I would reccomend removing the turbine housing from the turbo before you start working on removing the bolt, and FFWD sells ARP bolts kits for the turbo, manifold, and O2 housing.

 

[My1GLaser]

Upon reassembly you can also use a copper based antisieze lubricant. I have had good luck with it over the years.

I use grade 12 socket head cap screws from a local industrial vendor. I hot torque them after a couple heat cycles and have never broken one when removing them. However I do go beat on the car and get it all heated up before I ever attempt to loosen them.

 

[NHerron]

ARP informed me over the phone they never intended for the bolts we buy from vendors, to be used in turbocharged applications. He admitted straight up they will seize up after approximatly 1200f. The coating does nothing for temperature resistance. Explains why all four of mine snapped clean off only after 1k miles...

No one mentioned a dremel yet but I had good luck with the stone bits. But I would try to weld a nut first. OEM bolts and the special washers (two per bolt) and some kind of high temp antiseize should do you good.

 

[4gfun]

Mapp Gas maybe? I spent hours trying to remove the bolts from my flywheel with a propane torch. Mapp gas had them all out in 30 seconds of heating.

 

[DSM_love_GST]

Put a nut over the bolt. Weld the nut to the bolt from the inside of the nut. Torch the hell out of the corner that has the broken stud in it. Then remove the bolt with a socket and ratchet.

EDIT* I see that is just a T-25. Throw that thing in the trash and go bigger. Issue resolved! XD

 

[born2tune]

You can take it to a machine shop and they can take care of it for you. Sometimes its better than getting frustrated for hours and not getting anywhere with it.