nutlog13

My neighbor and I cleaned the EGR passage in my '99 TL this weekend. Everything went smoothly until the end. While putting the intake manifold back on, he overtightened (twice) and now I have a broken stud and a broken bolt.



The nut basically decapitated the stud on the far left; it's lopped off level to the top surface of the intake manifold. And the bolt broke off about 1/4" below the surface, the remainder still screwed in down there.

1) My mechanic is about 30 miles away. Is it okay to drive it that far to get it fixed? Or is this thing stuck in the driveway till we get that bolt replaced (i.e. absolute no-no to drive at all)? I'm a little short on money right now but we need to use the car daily, so basically, how "urgent" is this fix?

2) How exactly can I get these fixed? I've heard of using Easy-Out or some sort of bolt extractor to get the bolt out... what about the stud? There's no way to thread a new nut on to the top of it.

Hoping we didn't make my EGR problem even worse...

Karanx7

iTrader: (2)

Yea you can drill that out. No worries, worst that can happen is a poorly running engine with big vacuum leak. I'd reverse out of your driveway and see if it's even causing an issue. Definitely fix it ASAP though.

Also, $20 torque wrench @ harbor freight.

nutlog13

Ok, that's good to know, thank you. We'll get it fixed soon then.

I found the stud and bolt on an OEM Acura Parts site for about 85 cents apiece... so I guess it's more a matter of getting the old bolt out. Obviously I can get the manifold up over the broken stud, but I assume the bolt is screwed down into the fuel intake and I won't be able to life the manifold up without drilling the bolt while still in the car...

01tl4tl

with no head on that bolt- lift manifold up to remove

`eazy out` drill bit system will get the remnants out of threaded area and you simply thread in a new one

If there are threads showing, 2 nuts can be run down the threads and locked against each other, then you unscrew the stud

this is why we are fanatics about a torque wrench for this job, 16 foot pounds on those bolts!!!!
buddy never seems to realize that they were on the correct tightness when removed-- and crank down on small bolts,,this is the result every time!

Vac leaks are no joke and can cause serious probs if not fixed

test it around the block then drive to mechanic--it will have to cool off maybe 2+ hours before he can even start to work on it- you will be out of a car for half day or so

nutlog13

Yeah, it was driving okay -- sounded fine, no immediately visible leaks, a little bit of a rough idle -- so I drove it on out to the mechanic. He's right across the street from my office so he can have dibs on it the whole day if needed.

And you're right -- my neighbor didn't use a torque wrench, just a plain old socket. Tightened too far and *snap*. Assuming the mechanic can drill them out pretty easily, he'll have a torque wrench to finish it properly and hopefully this doesn't cost me too much. The whole point of my neighbor and I doing the EGR was to save money; and now this.

webmastir

gotta learn the hard way sometimes. bet you won't ever make that mistake again though

nutlog13

True that.

What sucks is my neighbor was being super-nice and giving up his Sunday to voluntarily help me out with my car... so there's not much I can do besides be thankful he tried to help me save money, hope that (even with the mechanic needing to fix the bolts) it still costs less than it would have to do the whole job, and learn from the mistake. Next time I may even trust myself to do the whole job, so I guess this was a good learning experience anyway.

nutlog13

Well the mechanic said he can't get the bolts to come out the "easy way" (drilling/Easy-Out) and that he'll have to take it apart to extract them. Not a huge deal -- $100 and hopefully that's the end of it.

He said it's running pretty well, it's not sucking up air, no leaks... and that he can't get to it until Wednesday. His opinion was that it's okay to drive back home and back again (30 miles each way) and that won't cause any additional issues. It just won't be running as well/efficiently.

I don't have to drive it tomorrow (Tues) so it would just be the one 30-mi drive home, let it sit all day tomorrow, then drive it 30 mi back to the mechanic on Wed. Based on all of your knowledge on 2 missing bolts and potential leaks/problems, do you think that's safe? Or would I be better off finding a way to leave it here for a couple days? Any big risk doing 60 total miles on it?

ou sig

like others have said worst case is it doesnt seal perfectly and you may get some vacuum issues and that would only cause some rough running. if it runs smooth as is then there is no worry at all. obviously get it fixed though, like you are to avoid a long term issue

nutlog13

Ok, thanks, I think we'll be alright driving it for a couple days then. Just didn't want to cause or worsen the issue by driving it.

Thanks!

swalch@stanford.edu

If the manifold is removed there should be enough of the bolt and stud exposed to grip them with vice grips or other tools and remove the broken fasteners. There is also a tool designed to grip the threads. Since they broke while tightening they shouldn't be seized in there.

01tl4tl

right- I think the tech is saying he tried to remove them with manifold installed
but needs to remove manifold to really get them,,when he has more time on wed.
then he might get lucky with the ez out or visegrips
100 bucks is reasonable for that

I prefer to use the double nut method on studs- as vise grips tend to create tiny metal shards that get into the worst places~

01tl4tl

you might buy a torque wrench at harbor freight tools or sears, under 25$
have it on hand for common overlooked things from oil change drain plug to wheel lug torque
or gift it to your neighbor for his help and future use