Expansion valve removal problem
 

Problem with removal of expansion valve on 92 300E. I removed one of the 3mm hex head bolts but could not remove the other, it's stripped.

I removed the all plastic stuff around and over it to get good acess, but I'm not sure how to proceed.

My options seem to be:
1-try to remove the stripped bolt with an easy out, I do have room I think with a right angle drill,

2-drill the head of the bolt off and slide the expansion valve off, but I'll still have the problem of removing the bolt.

Question:
If I drilled off the head and slide the expansion valve off would the plate that the bolt goes into slide off too or is it behind piping that is flared.

Any suggestion would be most appreciated.

A photo of the valve is below.
http://forums.rennlist.com/upload/expansion_valve.jpg

I would drill out the head and remove the exp valve. Once the head is off and the exp valve is out you should be able to easily unscrew the stud that is left from where the head was drilled. There should not really be any tension preventing it from turning.

Bummer of a problem! Removing a 124 expansion valve isn't too bad if you don't run into something like this.

If you drill out the stripped bolt, you will be able to remove the expansion valve. It will be a bit more trouble than usual; you'll have to move the liquid/vapor lines further out of the way than is normally required. Otherwide, no big deal.

I'm pretty sure the back plate can be removed once the expansion valve is out. It's roughly an 'H' shape, where the four legs seat behind the flares near the end of the evaporator inlet/outlet tubes. It may be a bit fiddly to get it out of there, but I think it can be done. Should be able to remove the broken bolt from the H plate with just pliers once you have it on the bench.

Good luck,

- JimY

Thank you both for your prompt replies.

I am obviously dismayed that I had to remove all that extra stuff to get to better access to the expansion valve, but that's the way it goes. Things don't alway go as planned.

I'll drill the head off tomorrow.:) :)

How's this for irony? I ran across this old thread while searching for something else.

I replaced the expansion valve in my '93 124 about 2 years ago. So far that has been the only a/c repair required on this 15 year old car. One of the allen head bolts used to retain the expansion valve was stuck, and stripped. I ended up following my own advice and drilled the head off the bolt. The process was tedious but straightforward. No special tools required. Once the valve was removed there was no difficulty unscrewing the remains of the bolt.
Guess I can say BTDT now.

- JimY