arrrgh.
 

well, just when I thought I was going to be able to get away with just removing the studs from the partial piece of my exhaust manifold on my 603, one of them refused to move. The first three came out like butter, but this stubborn little bastard would have gave me the finger if it could have.

and now to make things worse, it snapped off. great. #%@#$!!@%#%#$%@#!% now I have created more work for myself and this all started with a leaking fuel injector line!!

why can't things just come apart like they're supposed to?!

just had to vent a little. dammit!!!

This afternoon I had to drill out and retap one of my air cleaner mounts. I feel your pain, although your issue is quite a bit more critical.
Since your label is MB Tech I'm betting your tool situation is much better than mine.
Good luck!

Oh that happens to me all of the time! :( I have broken off more rusted bolts then I can remember. It pisses you off to no end but it is all part of working on old stuff.

Suspension work is the worst.

You're not kidding. I took off some crosspiece on my 380SEL once (to get at the starter I think) and one of the 3 bolts on one side broke off and deposited rust particles into my eye. Talk about uncontrollable movements, I jerked and twisted around like I was trying to "get away" from my eye invaders, but I was on my back under the car in my driveway, so nowhere to go. Not a fun experience!

I always expect exhaust studs to break, so give extra care including blue flame if that will help or splitting the bolt and working it off, then running a tap over the stud if its tightly in the block for example.
Fact is that rust can make a complete bond, nut to stud, etc.
If the factory had used some anti-sieze I believe half of these would come free easily (hint! use some of the stuff when you replace things but by all means keep it out of your eyes! I heard its really hard to get out of an eye!).
Goes for the water pump housing bolts also (dissimilar metals at work!)

Any of us that has worked on enough cars eventually has that happen.....its all a matter of time...and yes its aweful frustrating I know.

As "Norm" says on This Old House "WEAR SAFETY GLASSES"!!!

Did it break off flush with the head or is there a stub you can get a hold off? Dealing with studs broken off flush to an aluminum head is the worse!!

I'm a "four-eyes" thank you :P

its got the nub of the center of the stud sticking out, maybe vice-grips can get it. not tonight though.

Really sorry to hear of your troubles John. As if this wasn't a PITA job to start with! Sounds like the stud has suffered from the typical catalytic corrosion between the steel and aluminum in the head.

Since normal removal didn't work, I'd try soaking it with penetrating oil while tapping gently on the end of the stud with a hammer (sometimes the vibration helps unlock the corrosive bond) and then maybe a little heat before attempting the vise-grip method. If you only have a stub to work with, vise-grips can chew that up pretty quickly and then you are really sc***ed :(

Good luck :worried:

any way you look at it, I'm probably going to end up drilling it out.

Had soaked it with PB for a day before I even tried to move it the first time. Also tried to heat the head up as well as tapping it with a hammer before using the stud extractor. It still broke :(

The only thing in Norm's workshop that is non-electric, is Norm! :D

Do you have one of the hand impact drivers.....the one thats meant for screws....slot it with a dremel tool and use a straight bit on a hand impact tool and whap it with a hammer.

But then.....you may just have to do it the hard way...........which might be the only way.

ooh... thats a good idea I hadnt thought of. I have both a dremel and a new impact driver I just bought for home. I'll try that first!

Almost too late, picked up a set of extractor bits today...

Those extractor bits WILL come in handy sometime even if its not right away....let us know