Neveragain55 Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Hi Gang, So in the process of ripping my turbo apart, most of the bolts that screw into the housing (that bolts to the exhaust) snapped (see attached picture) My efforts to heat up the bolts failed, as well as my attempt at using PB-Blaster and liquid penetrant to loosen them up. I’m going to take it to a machine shop to see if they can salvage it by getting the bolts out (any good machine shop should be able to accomplish this) Just in case the housing can’t be saved, do any of you tech savvy folks know where I can source just that section of the turbo (without bolts seized in it) for less than a king’s ransom???? Thanks in advance… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billseph Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 I know this is not your exact situation...but I just did this project... http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/103494-broken-studs-on-turbowhat-to-do/page__pid__970475#entry970475 And saved myself (at least I think) a pretty good bit of $$$. If you've got access to some of these tools/techniques it's worth a shot. Also my personal opinion on the "welding a nut on to the broken bolt/stud" methods suggested in the above thread is...if it's already sheared off, won't it just happen again...so I would NOT suggest going that route. Drilling (with the guide) and re-tapping was the only way I could see going, and it worked great (I didn't want to go buy a Chinese knock-off on eBay) Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neveragain55 Posted December 13, 2011 Author Share Posted December 13, 2011 Thanks for the reply Billseph, Looks like you went through the exact same problem I’m going through now minus the crack in the housing. I definitely agree with your premise about welding a nut or bolt onto the broken bolt because it’s just going to re-shear again in a different spot. I also agree about staying away from the Chinese knock-offs on eBay even though I want to be careful not to offend anyone who chooses to go this route. I’m going to basically attempt a similar approach to what you did on one bolt to see if I have any success, if so I’ll attempt to get all the others out the same way. If I’m unsuccessful at getting any of them out – on to the machine shop it goes regardless of how much they charge me. One of these turbo’s complete and new would still cost waaaaaaay more than whatever a machine shop is going to charge me to get these seized bolts out. Thanks for the help…… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neveragain55 Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 Well I managed to get two more bolts out of the turbo housing tonight with little to no effort. I drenched all the seized bolts in Liquid Penetrant last night and when I made another attempt today to unscrew them, two of them came out like butter with no resistance what-so-ever. I guess it needed to just sit a little longer. All of the other seized bolts are flush with the housing so the only way to get them out is the drill & easy-out or the drill & tap method. The reason why penetrant works so well is it’s natural ability to seep deep into alloys through capillary action (sorry, I’m a certified level II PT inspector) Hopefully sitting another night will coax even more bolts to leave their rusty homes. Hope this follow up helps others going through this or a similar situation. Liquid Penetrant can be purchased on the internet in aerosol form very easily and you don’t need any special certifications to buy the stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billseph Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 That's good to hear that you had some luck getting the bolts out intact. By liquid penetrant do you just mean something like "liquid wrench" or some other specific brand?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neveragain55 Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 Liquid Penetrant is basically a petroleum based oil with a fluorescent dye that is used to check materials for cracks and discontinuities. It’s been around for dozens and dozens of years and there isn’t really anything out there better at getting into crevices, nooks, crannies, and tight fittings. See some attached literature on the stuff. http://valleyinspection.net/pen.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dye_penetrant_inspection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noddle Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 Have you tried the 'freeze' type ? i.e " CRC Freeze off" Nigel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billseph Posted December 14, 2011 Share Posted December 14, 2011 I tried the "CRC Freeze Off" and followed all the directions, and used multiple applications...my bolts stayed stuck. Could have had better results maybe if I could have applied directly to the threads. I guess sometimes stuck is just STUCK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neveragain55 Posted December 15, 2011 Author Share Posted December 15, 2011 I saw a couple of YouTube clips on the Freeze-Off stuff and I’m sure in certain applications it works but I didn’t think of trying it only because I had the penetrant available. I’ve talked to a lot of people on this subject and I’ve seen many YouTube clips on various methods to get seized/frozen/rusted studs & bolts out, and my take away from all of it is that studs and bolts become stuck for dozens of different reasons. So there’s no magic bullet in getting any of them out, it’s all about trial & error until you mistakenly trip over that one method that’s going to work for your particular situation…………. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.