Hey guys. Was pulling off my lower oil pan on my 5th gen yesterday and all the bolts came off just fine except for one, which broke. I bought a drill bit to pull it out, drilled into it, tapped the reverse bit in and torqued it... and the tip of the bit broke off. NOW I have a real problem: a hardened steel bit inside the remnant of a broken off bolt. How am I supposed to get this out? I put the other 9 or so bolts back and used a ton of RTV near the missing bolt so it's holding for now but it will probably leak eventually. Is there anything I can do to get this bastard out?

 

moved to the proper forum.

Did you snap a pic to show the carnage before putting it all back together?

 

Take a fine flat screwdriver and a hammer and try to get it to move a little.

 

Did I read this right? You tapped (hammered) a drill bit into the hole to torque out the broken bolt?

Depending on which bolt it is you may be ok. Keep an eye on it.

There are ways to get the bit out but it's a pain. One is to use a hammer and sharp punch to tap it in reverse of the cutting direction to unscrew it. Another is to take a smaller bit and drill into the channels on the broken bit to open up room for some needle nose pliers.

You could also drill and tap (thread) a new hole next to the broken one or even on both sides. It's not that hard if you know how to do it. This is what I would do if you brought it to me and I couldn't get the bit out.

 

Remove the upper oil pan and bring it to a machine shop?

 

Removing the upper oil pan requires the removal of the transmission, flywheel and the Y-pipe before even starting on the pan. It's a pretty heavy job even with the benefit of a lift, tranny jack and air tools.

I think his best choice is to learn to drill and tap new bolt holes on either side of the broken one. It's very easy to do. In fact, if you're still reading this and want to try it let me know. I'll walk you through it from start to finish.

 

Removal of transmission for the upper pan?

This a 5th generation specific thing because I didn't touch the transmission when I did my half moon seals and oil pump o-rings..?

If so, ouch.

 

You may be right. I was thinking back to the two main seals I recently did on by 5th and 5.5 gen where, of course, the tranny came out.

I guess the pan could come out with the tranny in place. Still a lot of work though.

 

Not just a regular drill bit sorry I mean an extractor bit. The problem was I used one that was too small and overestimated the strength of the bit once it was seated. I'll have to try the pliers method, but it's not leaking at the moment luckily so I'll wait and try it at my next oil change most likely.

No I was so fed up with it all it slipped my mind! Ill try to grab one when I attempt the extractor extraction.