Replacing starter...Need help with a bolt..ideas?

[jrhone]

This bolt holding the bracket for the old starter wont budge...its too tight for a socket...or at least any 17mm sockets I have and I tried a wrench but I dont have enough room due to the oil filer and intake manifold...ideas? Its the LAST bolt I need so I can swap this...the hardest 3 bolts on the car...lol..

[thaddeussmith]

no friends that can pop by with a compressor and impact wrench? otherwise i would suggest spraying it with some sort of bolt losening agent and letting it soak in?

[02for2]

Drench it in penetrating oil (PB Blaster, WD40 or some such). Try to get a closed end wrench on it and tap the wrench with a hammer - not too hard, repeated tapping may free it.

There's always Heat - a Torch lighter, MAP or Butane (use EXTREME caution).

Get a Flare nut wrench or crowsfoot to try and grip it.

Be persistent, there's always a way... you just haven't found it yet !

Cheers!

[jrhone]

Thanks...I have it soaking in PB Blaster right now...thats the slick stuff in the pic....

[Trax]

Does a pipe fit on your socket or on a spanner ? Or is the space to small ?

[JohnS]

I seem to remember that it was much easier to remove the starter with the oil filter removed 1st...

[gwb72tii]

breaker bar from sears

1/2" drive about 2 ft long and skinny enough to get a pipe over the end for additional leverage

[randerson]

That is a tuff bolt to get to. I just changed my starter last weekend.

a short 6 point socket, an extension, a brake over bar, and a short piece of pipe for a cheater. The best penetrating fluid I have found is "Kroil"

Good Luck

[MrSharky]

I just did my starter recently too, and I remember that bolt.

After getting all the other bolts off the starter (so it's dangling loose in there) I was able to get a screwdriver into the hole as sort of a lever, and unscrewed the whole thing - bracket, bolt & all. After a full turn to loosen, I was able to unscrew it by hand, remove the bracket, then the starter.

Not sure I'm explaining myself, but pretty sure that's what I did.

Matt

[jrhone]

Thx guys! got it! I used a 17mm wrench...and lots of PB Blaster....With enough strength it finally budged...

[Napes]

Might want to file this away for future reference:

Date: Fri Apr 02, 2010 8:32 pm

From: mike in Beavercreek, OH

Subject: Since we (mostly) all live with rust on our 02s, here's an

interesting comparison of various penetrating oils:

Machinist's Workshop magazine actually tested penetrants for break

out torque on rusted nuts. Significant results! They arranged a subjective

test of all the popular penetrants with the control being the torque

required to remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" environment.

Penetrating oil Average load

None ..................... 516 pounds

WD-40 .................. 238 pounds

PB Blaster ..............214 pounds

Liquid Wrench ...... 127 pounds

Kano Kroil ............ 106 pounds

ATF-Acetone mix... 53 pounds

The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic

transmission fluid and acetone.

Note: The "home brew" was better than any commercial product in this

one particular test. A local machinist group mixed up a batch and all now

use it with equally good results. Note also that "Liquid Wrench" is about as

good as "Kroil" for about 20% of the price.