3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

[indy440]

Somehow my starter bolts must have worked themselves loose, then from the torque of the starter it somehow snapped both bolts off inside the block. There are two bolts and they come up from the bottom. I dont see how I could possibly drill these out without pulling the motor. Anyone see anything like this before?

 

[cedarjunki]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

i would say pulling the motor would be the easiest,most accessible way. atleast in mine anyway....
but a 90 degree drill head may work.

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

I dont think there is enough room to get a drill in there because the chuck would be hitting the flywheel.

 

[Yepblaze]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Sometimes the starter bolt threads fit loosely, and you may be able to persuade the remaining portions out by standing on your head and picking at them with some sharp metal probe.

 

[cedarjunki]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

I dont think there is enough room to get a drill in there because the chuck would be hitting the flywheel.

thats true........... but, a 90 degree head and a bit extension would clear

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Sometimes the starter bolt threads fit loosely, and you may be able to persuade the remaining portions out by standing on your head and picking at them with some sharp metal probe.

I'll give this a try tonight, but there is no way my head is going to fit under there. I'll have to use a mirror and a flash light

 

[IES99]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Here's a voice of experience. This happened to my 3.0 last fall. I fixed things without pulling the motor. The bolt to the port side goes all the way up through the metal of the block and can therefore be accessed from above. That one was easy: PB Blaster to loosen things up, then used the Easy out type thing I bought and eased it out from above.

The starboard side is tougher, because it is blind from above. I used a 90 degree drill chuck, a lot of patience and got it out. It took a couple of hours, a few cuss words, but certainly less trouble than pulling the motor.

Best of luck to you. Now I make routine maintenance a check of the tightness of those starter bolts. They snap when they get a little loose, then the vibration breaks them.

 

[fuzzybob]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

If you're going drill them use a left handed bit. Good luck

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Here's a voice of experience. This happened to my 3.0 last fall. I fixed things without pulling the motor. The bolt to the port side goes all the way up through the metal of the block and can therefore be accessed from above. That one was easy: PB Blaster to loosen things up, then used the Easy out type thing I bought and eased it out from above.

The starboard side is tougher, because it is blind from above. I used a 90 degree drill chuck, a lot of patience and got it out. It took a couple of hours, a few cuss words, but certainly less trouble than pulling the motor.

Best of luck to you. Now I make routine maintenance a check of the tightness of those starter bolts. They snap when they get a little loose, then the vibration breaks them.

I dont see how the port side bolt could go all the way through, nor am I sure how I'd get at the top of it either since it would be kinda behind the motor. I had assumed they were both blind. I'll have to take a closer look tonight.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Here's a voice of experience. ..... It took a couple of hours, a few cuss words, but certainly less trouble than pulling the motor.

Not to disagree with a voice of experience.... ... but to me it would be quicker than a couple of hours, and involve fewer cuss words, to simply pull the engine.

 

[IES99]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Not to disagree with a voice of experience.... ... but to me it would be quicker than a couple of hours, and involve fewer cuss words, to simply pull the engine.

If you have the equipment and know how to pull the engine, right! I felt like a million bucks when I did it.

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Im not even sure how I'd get it out anyway, a motor hoist wont go high enough and I dont have a garage to pull it from the rafters.

 

[90sunbird]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

if you broke the bolts tighting then you can use scribe to spin them out. if you cross threaded and broke the bolt your pulling a motor and using helicoils ,, ive snaped starter bolts and spun then out with a reverse drill bit

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

they broke on their own after working themselves loose. Must have been from the torque of the starter and the vibration.

 

[IES99]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Im not even sure how I'd get it out anyway, a motor hoist wont go high enough and I dont have a garage to pull it from the rafters.

People pull them out all the time, but I attacked the problem from below. You can, too. Patience, my friend. You can do it.

 

[90sunbird]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

due to vibration,, if you can get get your arm underthere use a pick i would stay away from the drill bits for now because if you hit the threads you wont be able to spin them out

 

[castawaymaxum]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

I just had this happen on my 7.4 Merc. Everything I read says pull the engine. My mechanic pulled the engine, drilled the bolt out, bolted the starter back on, and dropped the engine back in within 4 hours. I dropped it off and had it back same day. That is the true "correct" way to do the job.

 

[91whitestang]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

had this happen on my 3.0 last summer as well, I just used a left handed drill bit and a 90 degree angle drill and they backed themselves out. Of course, i also was using a mirror and and light to make sure I wasn't hitting any threads, but that worked for me and had it done in about an hour, and also built another bracket off the back of the starter to help with the weight and torque of it. Hope you can get it without pulling the motor.

 

[IES99]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

If your is like mine, take the port side bolt out from the top. That took me about 30 seconds.

 

[indy440]

Re: 3.0 starter bolts broken off, pull motor?

Im borrowing a right angle drill from a friend tonight and will see if I can't make some progress.