Experiences with broken sump pan bolts

[Casey-G]

I have just recently gone to nip up the bolts on my 4age in my daily and have unfortunately broken the head off of one.


My question is to you,

Should i worry about it? As in will it definitely leak?

And is there much i can do about it? drilling it out and re-tapping sounds the most logical and i doubt easy outs will do much, i'm just hesitant about running a drill in around my sump and worry if i did i may induce some swarf into the sump somehow


my next conclusion it to make up a little plate to pull down over the broken bolt's section with the 2 surrounding bolts either side..


let me know your thoughts on this, it hasn't leaked as of yet, but i would almost put money on it eventually happening.

[pandaah]

ive had to do this quite a few times with sumps on automatic gearboxes when i service them.. your right, easy outs do f**k all....

my advice would be, wait and see if it seeps oil.. then take the sump off, put a rag over the crank and rod ends around where your drilling (aslong as you make a somewhat "rag-shield" gravity will take care of the rest of the swarf), and then usually i upsize the bolt that goes in..

[Casey-G]

Yeah fair call.

Do you think i have to remove the sump to drill? Like it seems fairly tight still and it wasn't leaking there previously? I see a small risk but i've never had this happen before? any thoughts?


If its a no then it could probably could do with a new bead of sillycnt on the sump anyways.


Thanks man.

[DrNick]

I suppose waiting to see if it leaks would be the sensible thing to do. But things like that annoy me so I would be trying to get it out.
There should be metal on either side of the bolt hole so you can drill it carefully without dropping anything in the sump. I would do it with the sump on and tightened down so that bits cant get in there.
I just happened to be fixing a sump leak on a 5S so have a look at how much material there is on either side of the holes, i would expect most engines to be similar.

[kickstartRA28]

Is there enough thread sticking out to get vice grips on it......or maybe hammer and punch and undo it with them with small taps.

[SilverRA23]

As above.. give this system a crack

http://www.toymods.net/forums/showthread.php?t=50524

[Cuzzo]

You could also try a thin small bladed screw driver and tap the screw driver into the snapped section and unscrew. If enough of it protrudes though the other side you could try to tap it around in an unscrewing / or screwing maner.

So was the reason why they broke was because there was gasket goo already in the bolt holes? Cause ive done that one before.

[Casey-G]

Reason they broke i think is probably because they are original bolts on a almost 20 yr old engine, just went to nip them all up with a socket and this one just let go.


I'm going to have to drill and re-tap, the top of the bolts sits about 1 mm inside the hole on the block, so ill just have to give it my best shot...


We have oil filters for a reason right?

[Cuzzo]

Shouldnt need to re-tap unless you cant get it out.

[Casey-G]

its not coming out man... it wasn't really loose when i nipped it with the socket, moved f all of a turn and snapped.

[JP]

just remove it with an easy-out. get a good quality set though, not the standard china supercheap/repco type. It's an M6 bolt so plenty of meat to drill out.

I've seen more than one person snap the sump bolts off on 4ag's when overtorqing them.

[AL510]

If it broke from over tightening the threaded section might not be tight in the hole unless it bottomed out. If you can get a left handed drill bit it might just wind itself out as you drill it.

Cheers, Al.

[Casey-G]

Al, thanks for that, i know it hasn't bottomed out in the hole and i do have a 4mm LH drill already i suppose i'll give that a go first otherwise, come Monday I'll invest in a set of easy outs.
I think ill also get some new bolts, the current ones could fail just as easy next time...


thanks to everyone for there input

[JP]

new bolts are a bit of a waste of time, just remember the torque for those bolts is 5Nm or 44 inch pounds.

[mookschank]

You could also try a thin small bladed screw driver and tap the screw driver into the snapped section and unscrew. If enough of it protrudes though the other side you could try to tap it around in an unscrewing / or screwing maner.

Did the same above a few months ago on a snapped sump bolt, tapping with a sharp flathead, it made a slot and I just screwed it out, couldnt believe my luck