EGR bolt sheared off - SOLVED

[clawrence]

Hi
Blanked my EGR today. All went well till a final torquing of the bolts and I sheared the head off one bolt. Any advice on how to get the remnants of the bolt out, or a shop in Perth where I can take my D40 to get the bolt removed?
Regards
Craig

 

[Old.Tony]

Sounds to me like a job for a drill+ezy-out.

 

[Stevo_d40_05]

Definitely what Old Tony said. You can pick up some easy outs from repco or super cheap auto. Drill a hole in the centre of the sheared bolt, screw in the easy out.... And keep screwing

 

[nathand22]

As tony said or you may have a slim chance of removing the EGR housing altogether to allow you to grab at it with the vice grips and if you have a dremel you could grind two flat sides to help get a good gip on it, once the housing is removed it may be fairly easy to undo as the bolt prob snapped from over tightening against the actual housing and hasnt bottomed out or seized

 

[clawrence]

Thanks Tony, Stevo & Nathan. You guys are great. I had no luck with the vice grips tonight, so off to Supercheap in the morning to find an easy out. Assuming I can get it out, have you any idea what size bolt I will need to replace it with? The bolt head I sheared off has a 7 on the head, not sure what that means, but looks about 8mm.
Regards
Craig

 

[big zetor]

just make sure you drill the hole dead center in the bolt

 

[Tappet]

Use a high quality easy out because if that breaks your screwed.

 

[jjohn]

Despite the name, they're not so easy to use.
Centre punch the bolt remains to make sure the drill goes down the centre.
Use a smaller drill bit first. Then go up a size. Go as big as you dare in order for you to use a larger ezyout. The larger, the less chance of breaking it off inside. Take your other bolt to a fastener shop to match size n thread.

 

[clawrence]

Thanks again for your advice. I finished blanking my EGR today. As an avid reader of the forums I have often read how quickly it can be done. In my case I think I may have set a new record for taking the longest. 30 mins to fit the blank, 1 millisecond to go Oh No!! when I sheared the bolt, 5 hours to remove the EGR housing and the broken bolt, 1.5 hours to put it back together and refit the blanking plate. All up 7 hours (and 1 millisecond), but without your advice I would still be sitting here scratching my head. Much appreciated. Now I plan to to sit back, have a beer, toast you guys and watch the sun set on my Nav...
Regards
Craig

 

[10navst]

Its funny how things can go pearshaped in a millisecond. I know from experience! Glad you got it sorted...

 

[Old.Tony]

Glad you got it sorted! What size drill/ezy-out did you get it out with?

 

[clawrence]

Hi

I decided it was too risky for me to try using an easy-out as even after removing the battery there was insufficient room to follow our forum members advice to centre punch and warning to ensure that I drilled a straight hole down the centre of the broken bolt (Pic 1). I couldn't even see the end of the bolt or where the drill tip was.

So I undid the 5 bolts holding the EGR unit on (Pic 2), Removed the blank (Pic 3 - 6 kms of soot on it!) and gasket behind the EGR unit. I then rotated the EGR 45 degrees so I could see the broken bolt. But I still didn't have enough space to get the drill in. Nor could I centre punch with one hand holding the EGR unit, one holding the centre punch, I couldn't work out how to swing my hammer (yeah OK I guess it would have looked pretty funny lol).

So I used a Dremel and a very small cut-off wheel (8 mm diameter) to cut a slot in the top of the broken bolt (Pic 4), which enabled me to use a screwdriver to carefully unscrew it out from the EGR unit (Pic 5).

Regards

Craig

 

[Old.Tony]

You know what they say about necessity and mothers. Awesome job!