Stuck turbine bolt

[TShikoski]

Just a "quick" Saturday morning job that has gone sour.



I recently received my new 16 cm housing from PDR and in spite of the snow and cold, I decided to tackle the job. I have successfully removed the turbine from the engine as a result of the bottom bolt which holds the exhaust side of the turbine assembly being "resistant". With open access to the bolt (14mm), I have succeeded in rounding over the bolt head and am now in a big jam. I have been unable to remove it by any reasonable means. (heat, smaller wrench, vice grips etc. ) I am about to put the grinder to the head of the bolt unless someone has any other suggestions.



All help reasonable or not is greatly appreciated!



Tom

 

[tugboatphil]

Tom,



There are bolt head /nut extractors, but unless you already have a set, you might as well grind or cut it and replace. I had the same problem, except right before I completely rounded the head it broke free. I replaced all 4 of them. I also slathered high temp anti-seize on everything when reassembling.



Good luck!

 

[TShikoski]

Phase Two

OK gang, thanks to tugboatPhil, I have the bolt out.



Because the bolt head is slightly recessed, I used the hack saw and cut the head as close to the threads as I could. I next fired up the Dremmel grinder and ground the remaining head off of the bolt. Once down to the thread shaft, I was able to remove the locking plate from behind what was once the bolt head and using a vice grip, unscrewed the bolt stub. So far so good!

However, I now am having trouble seperating the exhaust side from the front of the turbine housing. I have soaked the edges with a penetrating oil and used a rubber mallet to strike around the edge of the exhaust side flange. NO LUCK! NOT even a bit of movement.



Next suggestion please!



Tom

 

[Paychk]

Swap the rubber mallet for a 10 lb. hammer and wack on that thing! Work around the housing so it comes off evenly, you don't want to jam the housing into the impeller.



PS If you don't want to leave hammer pimples in the housing find a large brass hammer, biggest = best.

 

[dan brooks]

My housing wasn't terribly difficult to remove, but I found that using two of the bolts as "jack bolts" broke it loose pretty quickly. You'll either need a couple longer bolts or some kind of spacer to go between the head and housing, then thread the bolts out to "press" the two pieces apart. By using two opposite bolts and only threading them out a little at a time you run less risk of damaging the turbine.



Probably not a very good description, but hopefully you get the idea.

 

[TShikoski]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I have brought the turbo inside and have soaked the joint between the exhaust housing and front coupling with penetrating oil. Have it seting on the register and will keep pouring on the oil. Tomorrow I'll put the hammer and jack bolts to 'er. I'll let you know how it comes out... ...



Tom



PS - My wife wonders how these two hour jobs turn into two days. Sez it keeps me from doing the other chores.

 

[tugboatphil]

My wife wonders how these two hour jobs turn into two days. Sez it keeps me from doing the other chores.

PLEASE tell us that you didn't acknowledge that comment and reveal our secret!! Next thing you know, we'll all be having to hang curtains and move furniture!! :-laf :-laf



Keep after that housing. Alan had it right. I tried the mallet, but switched to a 3 lb hammer. It really only took about 8 or 9 well placed hits to break the seal. Move the hits around the circle as suggested. And when I put mine back together, the anti seize went on the mating surface.



Hammer time!

 

[therabbittree]

another tip . . don't try to hold the center section too tight or put counter pressure on the center section or cartridge etc. . i tried holding the center section still on the oil drain flange and i broke the oil drain flange corner off. . argh. . no fun. so be careful

thanks

Deo

 

[moparguy]

I made a few changes to my turbo this weekend here's a couple of things I do; to remove the hard to access bolt on the exhaust housing, I ground (as in thinned) a high quality boxed-end 13 mm wrench so it would go on the bolt head, then smack it with a hammer to shock it loose. Works every time. To seperate the exhaust housing, I first try the easy penterating oil, hammer bit. For about 1 minute, then crank up the torch, heating the housing a bit (spit on it, if it sizzles, it's hot enough) then use the hammer, usually only takes another minute or so to seperate.



Good luck

 

[TShikoski]

The sweet smell of success (diesel smoke)!

Hi gang,



Well, I got 'er done! An overnight soak with super penetrating oil, bigger hammer and some sleep made the difference. I had the turbo off the truck so was able to man handle the beast. A few hard wacks around the edge and it started to move. I had previously been shy about really wacking it cuz I have broken things in the past. Thought the casting might break and screw up the rotor.



Test drive went well, no load, so could not check out the difference in pulling ability, but clearly, there was a noticible difference in responsiveness. Humm, turn some screws; injectors; etc. etc. I think I could catch the fever!



However, next big project is the KDP. Have all of the parts and now have a clear spot in the garage, so I guess I have no excuses. With 145K miles, I think I better kill the KDP before launching any other "experiments".



Thanks again to all who contributed to my fun filled weekend. Guess you may have noticed, it got me out of preparing for company.

 

[Moab4x4]

Stuck or siezed bolts

Crazy Idea #27 When a bolt is frozen in place or siezed due to galling, try methanol. I gave the guy that told me that a really funny look and then tried it. It has worked for me more than once (especially with SS fasteners). Apparently the small molecular size lets it penetrate just a tad better than the stuff we usually use.

 

[TShikoski]

unstick bolts

Great suggestion Ken,

I have some methanol here for making bio. It is also available (at least to us northerners), found as the yellow bottle of "Heet" brand gas line antifreeze (99% methanol) from most auto parts stores.

I'll give it a try next time.



Tom