Oil drain bolt shered

Standard Toaster

Hi lads,

Went to change the oil on my sister's Seat Ibiza today and noticed the drain bolt has shered. Must have hit of a ramp or God knows what. There's is a bit of oil around that area so maybe it's happened recently?

Anyway, what are her options?
Could a garage re-bore the hole with a slightly larger bolt?
Would it be expensive?

I'm sure this happens to other cars too.

Any input would be great.


PS
I passed my driving test today....wooohooo!!

MercMad

Congrats on the test !!

Easiest thing is get someone to weld a small bar to the remainder of the bolt, use that as a lever to take it off and replace with a previously ordered new item !

crosstownk

Drill a small hole in the centre of the remains of the bolt and then thread in a stud extractor. That will remove it without damaging any threads.

alias no.9

You should be ok removing and replacing the plug but if it appears to be leaking a little now, she may have damaged the threads so keep a close eye on it after. If the head came clean off then the compression washer will be gone too, so replacing that should hopefully sort out any leaks. If not your options are to get it drilled and tapped to a bigger size and either use a bigger sump plug or fit a helicoil and use a standard sump plug.

VeVeX

A stud extracter will not remove a sump nut when drilled. You need 'easy-outs'.

When the hole is drilled in the sump nut the 'easy-out' will turn in clockwise and lock up. If you then turn anti clock wise its will remove the sump nut.

peasant

Be careful about drilling a bigger hole.
Most oil sumps are cast, either from aluminium or steel. Neither material likes being drilled and could develop hairline cracks.

Better to remove the old plug and re-use / repair the old thread.

colm_mcm

usually the drain plug only will be damaged, the sump is generally tougher.

Standard Toaster

Jayus lads....I think I have a set of easy out's belonging to the aul lad in the shed. I may give it a go but will have to get a rpl bolt first I guess.

I thought the bolt itself was made from a softer material to the sump too.

Also, there's about an 1/2 inch hole where the bolt should be so I think there's fúck all left of the bolt anyway.....maybe another half inch?

I'd take a pic but digicam has grown legs and dissappeared on me

Cheers lads.

milltown

Probably worth remembering that if the shoulder of the sump plug is gone, it's not actually tightened against anything. The condition of the visible threads should help you decide how to proceed.
If they are in good nick then it's possible the plug snapped at the shoulder and the remainder has gradually screwed further in, no doubt helped by being lubricated by the oil seeping out, and you may even be able to tease it out with just a finger or a small screwdriver. But be careful about using a right hand/clockwise drill bit on it. It might bind and disappear into the sump before you can react.
If the threads are goosed it probably means some of the threaded part of the plug snapped off, taking some of the female threads with it. In this case you'll have quite a job on your hands "backing it out" with an EZ Out.

Either way, I think I'd be ordering a sump gasket as well as a new plug and washer. Just in case things go wrong and you end up having to remove the sump.

MercMad

If you do have to go drilling then place small magnet near the area to collect any filings !

You could try cutting a slot for a screwdriver using a dremel tool and a cut off disc !

DublinDilbert

I had a broken bolt in a BMW 1/2 shaft coupling.... i didn't have any easy outs, so i used a sharp punch, made a nice dimple about 3/4 the lenght of the radius out from the centre.... the proceeded to tap it using the punch,at an angle, so the the remainder of the bolt turned anti clockwise.. worked like a charm!

old boy

go to your local motor factors, you can buy a item that sucks the oil up the dip stick, costs about 50 lids you have it forever, no more going under cars, if you remove the sump nut you need to replace the gasket on it, motor factors usually supply 1 with the oil change kit,