dwe8922

I'm in the midst of changing my spark plugs, and the 6mm allen bolt that holds the right side muffler bracket to the engine block is frozen. I've tried several penetrants, leaving one on for a half day with no luck. Any suggestions?

Happy New Year!
David

993inNC

punch with a small hammer and punch. If you haven't stripped the head, punch strait in. If the head is stripped, punch it anyway you can and you could either use a small vise grip to back it out or aircutter to cut the head off.

JM993

David,

Be very careful!!!!! I broke one of these and it was a truly miserable experience trying to get the bolt out. You may want to bag your approach and do the job from the top. Search for a thread entitled "Just Replaced All Spark Plugs W/O Taking Anything Apart!!!!" for instructions how.

HTH,
Joe

1995 Porsche 993
1988 BMW E30 M3 2.5 (240 HP) daily driver
2001 KTM 400MXC

dwe8922

Chris,
Is the punch to disturb the corrosion, or whatever is holding it in place? I gave it a shot, and didn't have any luck. I have a 6mm snap on allen socket, but it's a 1/4 drive. I'll try and find one in a 3/8" version tomorrow at sears, but I don't think torque is the problem. As it is now, its not stripped, but if I apply more torque I think it will. The bolt head is shielded on 2 sides, so I wasn't able to get enough purchase with the vice grips.

Joe,
I followed the steps for the above, but couldn't get it. I got to where the plug is loose, but kept backing the wrench up against the opposing wall, and my hands are too big to get in there with the socket wrench off and turn it with my fingers. My hats off to you though for making it work. I'm a dental student, and am used to working in small spaces with no vision, but sheesh.

Any suggestions as to how I could heat up the surrounding metal and cool the bolt to shrink it? I have a micro torch that I got to heat a seized brake fitting last year, but don't want to melt the plastic valve cover.

I did my own clutch job 4 years ago, didn't have any trouble like this. I know that I can get the boot off from the topside, so I might just dremel a hole through the metal shroud to get straight line access to the plug from underneath. That would make future plug changes easier too. Thanks for the responses.

David

JM993

David,

Sorry the "top method" didn't work for you. Don't feel bad, I spent quite a while visualizing the procedure before I tried it.

I recommend patience and really letting the thing soak (for days) in penetrating oil.

One word of advice - DON'T BUY A SEARS SOCKET. Get a good German one (Hazet or Stahlwille) or another Snap-on.

Is it frozen all the way tightened? If this is the case sometimes - and I know this sounds counterintuitive - it helps to try tightening the bolt before you try to loosen it.

If all this doesn't work, heat is your best friend. If you melt the valve cover (and I don't think you will) and get the bolt off, you're ahead. Believe me, I would have melted ten valve covers to avoid breaking that bolt. I actually broke an easy-out inside the bolt and then had to drill that out using about a thousand drill bits! No good.

Good luck my friend,

Joe

1995 Porsche 993
1988 BMW E30 M3 2.5 (240 HP) daily driver
2001 KTM 400MXC

Atgani

Try getting a set of these David, I had the motor rebuilt on my 993 RS earlier in the year. The guy who stripped and rebuilt it said these bolts are regularly seized. He applied one of these Snap on extractors that "bite" onto the outside of the head, the more torque you apply the more the flutes inside dig in.
They took a lot of force to move but they came out clean without snapping off.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....re&dir=catalog

Good luck.

993inNC

David, yes the punch trick is to break the threads free. Its a shock to the corrosion. Don't be afraid to really hit it hard, just make sure you are center of the head. The tool Atgani mentions may work, I haven't tried one of those for these type bolts. Be very careful no matter which route you take. For some reason Germans love using soft bolts in the worst places (VW does it all the time!). The head will give way to deforming or shearing off, long before the thread lets go. No matter which route, I would still punch the hell out of the head (center of inside the allen shaped area) before proceeding (along with a good soaking with PB or Liquid Wrench). Also if you have a small puunch, you can tap on an angle on either side, but only somewhat lightly (you dont want to deform the allen shape in the head). It will come out, just be patient.......and smarter than the bolt

TheOtherEric

I would definitely buy a set of those extractors. I wonder if Sears carries them?

chris walrod

May be a little late now, but the trick to these particular bolts is using a allen driver with a 3/8" ratchet, cleaning out any gunk in the allen head, and being very deliberate in cracking the thing loose. These seem to give people trouble, including myself.

There is an access hole in the muffler bracket to use a 3/8" extension enabling a straight shot at it. Good luck!!

Rezal

The key is torque.

Remove the muffler & its bracket by loosening the bolt holding the muffler bracket. You will see the access hole. Use an extension per Chris' suggestion and a hollow metal pipe to extend the lever arm of the ratchet.

Btw, clean out the allen hole completely so that the allen drive can sit in it as tight as possible without any dirt causing the allen drive to strip the bolt instead.

Worse case scenario, I've used an angle grinder to shave the bolt off before although in my case, it was one of the other bolts since I was replacing the valve cover gasket.

Good luck.

993inNC

I think his problem may actually be the "cracking" part. But you bring up a good point about cleaning the inside out first......I didn't think to mention that. figured he'd be past that by this point I learned on Vdubs long ago to use a punch to break the bond first, then they usually back out.

dwe8922

Well, I was able to find a 3/8" 6mm allen socket, and using that and a radio shack mini torch, I was able to get 2 of the 3 bolts out. However, the allen thread on the middle of the 3 bolts stripped. I soaked it, tapped it, and it still stripped pretty easily. From there I became more determined to get it out from the topside, and actuall got it out, and got a new plug in. However, my taped extension and swivel came apart ( I retaped it before reinsertion), so now I'm having an impossible time getting the rubber sparkplug socket off without the extension and swivel separating. I've been trying a rotating pulling motion with no luck. I may have to wait till monday to find a snap on man for that extractor. Sears and the local parts stores don't have such a thing. Any suggestions?

ppressle

Do you have Napa stores there ? They sometimes carry extractors and stuff like that. I bought a metric helicoil there (not for the pcar! just a couple of days ago.

Best of luck...
Pete

JM993

Hi David,

I'm sorry you had to suffer the same fate as me - but those frozen bolts are great motivators to get at the spark plugs another way!!! Glad you very semi-sucessful. My advice, now that you found removal and installation from the top possible, is to remove the spark plug again (I know) and REALLY TAPE THE SOCKET AND THE EXTENSION WELL. I think (as you've found thus far) you'll have really hard (if not impossible) time getting the socket off the plug w/o an extension.

Good Luck,
Joe

1995 Porsche 993
1988 BMW E30 M3 2.5 (240HP) Daily Driver

TheOtherEric

I found that removing the upper valve covers made spark plug replacement much much much easier. Plus after 10 years those gaskets are about due for replacement anyway. I was having an impossible time changing the upper plugs until I pulled the VCGs.