Has anyone ever successfully used an EZ our on a stuck bolt?

[stoocake]

Just wondering. I cannot for the life of me understand why they make these, because as far as I can tell, they just don't work.

• Title should be EZ Out, sorry. Or easy out. Or not-out-in-the-slightest-except-out-of-time-because-you've-been-trying-until-it's-dark-outside (although that wouldn't fit)

Edited by stoocake on Sunday 16th September 18:07

[GBTurbo]

In my honest opinion they are st

I would avoid using them, usually they break and you are left with a hardened piece of metal in a stuck bolt. A worse problem than what you started with.

Is it a blind hole? Can you not drill the whole thing out?

[iva cosworth]

They DO work.



About 1% of the time.

Complete PITA mostly.

[g3org3y]

Yes! Spark plug broke in half in my sister's Ka and we used an 'Easy Out' to remove it.

Details:

Update 8/1/11.

Some good weather today gave opportunity to try and sort out this long standing issue.

This was purchased last week (£4.99 :shock: )


Apparently the equivalent to Plusgas they had in Halfords. Daily sprays to soak the plug.

Also purchased a set of screw extractors like these:


As ever, a hammer was found to be invaluable. 8)

Lined up the screw extractor with the broken plug and plenty of 'taps' from the hammer to try and get it secured in place.



Then fashioned a cunning tool (comprising a socket, an allen key and a random metal pole) to allow the extractor to be used.


Plenty of elbow grease....and then 'click' - winner!



Hurrah!


Unfortunately, this is what was left of the end of the spark plug. :?:roll:


Which of course raised the question of the debris remaining in the cylinder - the electrode, bits of ceramic, which really, in the scheme of things, is not a good place for them to be.

So, how to remove? A quick search online suggested a number of methods including a vacuum, magnet on a stick, shaving foam.

We decided to remove the rest of the spark plugs and then crank the car, hopefully blowing any crap out. Did it, and pleny of fluid came out (no doubt all that penetrating fluid) but not really obvious debris that I could see.

We decided to take a risk - plug in the other 3 cylinders, start the car and with luck, the debris should be blown out. Of course, the risk is that it'd ruin the cylinder but bks to that, this car was £250, it's do or die time. One has to balance it up!



Started, revs, plenty of crap blowing out, left it for a few mins. Now, with luck, the cylinder was clear.

New NGK spark plugs:


With baited breath, the engine was started...perfect. Very smooth, much more than previous to all these issues. Given the state of the old spark plugs, that's hardly surprising though. Car left to idle, no issues, 20 minute test drive (60-70mph cruise), no issue. I assume (maybe wrongly) that if there was crap in the cylinder and it was going to cause failure/seizure/explosion/mass destruction, it would have manifest itself during the drive.

I am happy.

[Mr2Mike]

They work pretty much every time if used appropriately. They are doomed to failure if used on a bolt/stud that has sheared due to corrosion rather than over-tightening or fatigue failure. Using the wrong size extractor is also a common cause of failure.

[stoocake]

Good replies guys! Nice write up on the spark plug removal! nice job.

I'm trying to remove the steel exhaust studs from the aluminium casting on a Honda CBR600. The bike is a 95 model and I expect these are original so they're pretty well corroden in. I've got 3 of the 6 studs out, but the last 3 will not budge.

The problem is, I can't drill them any further. I have 2x boxes of very high quality steel drill bits and I've got some way into them, but I just can't move any more metal from them - perhaps the heat has strengthened them over the years.

Been trying for days to get these out and getting fed up now.

Tried penetrating spray, welding a nut on, drilling out, ez-outs, swearing, heating (propane torch), swearing more and even tried a powerfully built company director, but no luck with any of the above.

[jackh707]

Drill through the bolt at right angles and stick a long hard rod ( ) through it to give you a big lever and twist it, ok the diameter of the hole cant be that big and therefore your lever wont be that stiff but its a similar idea to welding a nut on.

I'd try freeze spray on bolt, blow torch/heat gun on casing., but i see that you have had little luck with that.

Or, weld a nut on again and use a good impact driver?

[DE1 75]

Successfully used one to remove a sheared pinch bolt at the bottom of a mondeo front strut assembly. Very satisfying when it works!

[chryslerben]

Hhmmmm I'm gonna say get it down to a decent machine shop, problem is if it snaps or the drill goes off centre you risk damaging the head.

[AdeTuono]

We use them all the time. Like anything, there are good extractors and bad ones. As long as you use the correct one for the job, they should work 90% of the time. The ones posted above can tend to swell the broken stub if they're drilled too big. The square-fluted ones tend to work better, IME.

[Eighteeteewhy]

I thoughouly recommend a in of this fir your seized bolt woes...

[Fozziebear]

If you really want to continue and use them try a masonry bit, it will move plenty of metal if you use cutting oil on it. The best way to remove it is to weld an Allen key to it before you think of using anything else.

[stoocake]

Thanks again everyone. I've left it soaking in 3-in-1 penetrating spray over night, tomorrow I might attack it with the welder again in the hope that the heat cycles so something to break the corrosion.

Failing that, masonry drill bits will be tried!

Anymore success stories? The few I've read here tonight are the only ones I've ever heard - the internet is full of people telling you not to use them.

[steveo3002]

welding has worked best for me

fit a washer over the end of the stud , do nice slug of weld on it then belt it with a hammer , then tack a nut to the washer and they usualy come out , could try some penetrating oil while its hot too

[Turn7]

Exhaust studs are always a total PITA. I think if it were me, Id give in and have the head off and down to a spoke eroder.

[R1 Indy]

I've never managed to get them to work.

But if you have anything still poking out, give one of these a try, workes a treat, as the harder you turn, the harder it grips.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IMPACT-STUD-EXTRACTOR-RE...

[Turn7]

My experience of old exhaust studs is that thay inevitably shear off level leaving more grief.

Engine out or head off is time consuming but a route to fixing the issue, whereas stud extractors etc are a bit of a bodge and tend to create more work.

[PhillipM]

The secret with all those extractors is to apply torque and simultaneously smack the head of with with the biggest hammer you can find. That tends to disengage the threads enough for the torque to unscrew the seized bolt little by little.

[Willhook]

drill it to correct tapping size and just tap a new thread in the old bolt.

[stoocake]

Willhook said:

drill it to correct tapping size and just tap a new thread in the old bolt.

I'll have another bash tomorrow night and try a little more force than I have until now. I've been a bit ginger til now as I've been worried about making things worse.

If it comes to drilling and tapping, I'm hoping the masonry bits work as no amount of steel bits and cutting oil would make any progress - just smoke