Last night the old fairlane decided again she was just not going to start. But after a few of us standing over her and coaxing her to start she finally did. She never leaves me stranded on the road.. at home is another matter. LOL I went out this morning and started her right up only to hear a nasty squealing sound as she idled. I shut her off and inspected the pulleys and belt. While looking at the alternator I see that the bolt that connects the alternator to the motor was loose so I tried to put it back on and tighten it. After pulling the bolt all the way out after several failed attempts getting it back in I noticed it was snapped off. I got a flashlight and look at the block and yup the other half is still there. So here come the questions..( yeah I know finally!) How do I get the rest of the broken screw out of the block? When I take the alternator off what steps do I have to take if any to make sure the timing is not totally messed up?
alternator timing? no such thing. if the bolt is broken above the surface of the head try to grab it and turn it with vise grips. if it is broken below the surface of the head center punch the center of the bolt. get an appropriately sized screw extractor set. drill straight into the center of the bolt, tap the extractor with a small hammer into the hole you just drilled. use some finesse, you don't want to break the extractor off in the bolt. also some kind of penatrating oil is a good idea.
good deal on the timing thing, just was not sure if I needed to mark the belt or something, paranoid I guess. The bolt is snapped under the surface so I will have to try an extractor.
Removing the Alt. will not affect the timing at all. You would have to remove the dist. to change timing. Here's a little trick a truck mech shared with me, and it works! Heat the bolt area (don't over do it) and run candle in the hole. Let it set over night. A lot of time you can drill a broken bolt out with a left hand drill bit. When the bit catches, it will unscrew the broken bolt. I'm a retired machinest and have removed lots of broken bolts and studs. Every one can be a new challenge. Worst case scenerio drill the bolt out completely, and tap to the next larger size bolt. Good luck, you're going to need it.
Before you get too carried away, try tickling it out with a pick. That bolt seldom sticks in the head, most times with a little effort it will come right out.
When I was told to do this in a similar situation, I thought it was BS. Trust this advise, it has worked everytime for me. You can buy left hand drill bits at places like NAPA. I would not be without them, ever!
If it is close enough to the surface so that you can use a center punch to turn it you can often take a sharp center punch and hammer and by lightly tapping the punch with the hammer turn (you catch one side of the end of the broken bolt with the punch) the broken bolt out to the point where you can get a vise grips on it. I'd do the wax and or penetrating oil thing to it first though. If it doesn't start to turn on the first few light taps quit and go ahead and centerpunch the bolt and drill it rather then chewing it up though as they come easy with method or you aren't going to get them out with this method. Hope that makes sense.
This seems so simple but it can be very difficult to remove a broken bolt. Center punching the broken bolt and drilling a straight hole through the bolt while using oil to cool the bit is a good start. Knowing when enough is enough force with the extractor and throw up your hands and drilling the bolt out- Before breaking the extractor! My neighbor called me over on a broken tap in a blind hole. He used a masonry bit to chew the tap up and out. I've never used them but it sounds like a new last resort- Good luck
if you have a mig welder and assuming some of the bolt is protruding from the block. simply place a nut over the broken bolt and weld it through the centre to the stud/bolt allow to cool and unscrew with a wrench, the heat from the welding is usually enough to break any corrosion bond present.
What does the candle wax do? The bolt is broken 3/16th of an inch inside the block, and to make matters more of a bitch, there is not a lot of room to get a drill in there and I do not own a right angle drill. Guess I will shortly though.
Wax has worked for me more often than penetrating oil.It seeps into the threads and lubricates them.After you melt the wax,let it cool then heat it up again and the heat will draw the wax into the threads again. Works for me..
One other thing that works good if the broken bolt is pointed in a vertical position you can make a little ring of grease around the outside of the bolt and fill the little pocket you made with a good penetrating oil. I agree that left hand drill bits and a right angle drill are worth owning and have saved my but on more than one occasion. The left hand drill bit and extractor set are made by Irwin, Snap-on... The Irwin set is probably the cheapest.
Ok got the right angle drill and have drilled a small hole in the center of the bolt. How far in do I need to go? The extractor just spins at the opening. Did I use the wrong sized drill bit or did I not go into the bolt far enough?
Drill all the way through the broken bolt. The easy-out (extractor) should say on the side what size drill to us. Drill all the way through, spray penetrating oil, let it set, and use heat on the OUTSIDE, not the bolt. Remember that when you drive a tapered eay-out into that whole, it's like a splitting wedge into a piece of fire wood. Things get TIGHTER. A good cross thread will beat a lock-washer any day.
Take it easy, be very careful with the ez out, be gentle, plenty of lube, they are very, very easy to snap. Good Luck.
Well I didn't snap off the extractor, but I managed to strip out the threads with the drill bit! So now what, do I tap it and go to the next larger bolt? Or can I I some how rethread the stripped hole for the same size bolt. I am not sure how much larger bolt will fit through the space in the alternator housing. Do I at least get a cookie for not snapping off the extractor in the screw? LOL
Go get a helicoil kit for the original sized hole. It will come with a tap, and maybe the correct size drill bit. You open the hole up and tap it, then thread the heli coil in to the correct depth. The inside thread of the heli coil is the same as the original hole.
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