Bolt stripped in engine case

joberbroeckling · 09-17-2009, 09:50 AM

On my 1.7 engine, I developed a bad oil leak under the car. My first thought was a push rod tube started leaking real bad. It's bad enough that I can't drive the car over a half hour and I loose a quart of oil so its bad enough that I need to fix it to keep driving. After investigate where the oil was coming from, I found it leaking from the bottom center bolt which bolts the two halves of the engine case together. I thought, no problem, it must have come loose. When I tried to tighten the bolt, it just turns and never gets tight. Great, I have a stripped bolt. I have 2 questions for everyone.

1. The only way I see to fix this problem is to completely disassemble the engine and put a Helecoil in the one half of the engine case. My engine runs great!, I have great compression in all cylinders, the engine is not ready for an overhaul. Is it possible to stop this oil leak by putting a lot of RTV over the bolt? I really don't want to completely disassemble the engine to fix this oil leak if possible. On the other hand, from pictures of the interor of the engine case, this bolt looks like it holds the center cam shaft bearing tight together. With this case loose, does anyone think I would have to much bearing clearence and could wreck my engine if I could just stop the oil leak?

2. If I decide to disassemble the engine to fix this problem, my next problem is getting the bolt out! I also can't get the bolt to turn out. It just turns. Because this bolt is down in a hole, I can't figure a way to pull the bolt out. Any ideas on how to get this bolt out?

Any help would be GREAT!

Thanks,
Jim

URY914 · URY914's Garage

This is not good. Sorry to hear it.

Your case is toast I believe. Although anything can be fixed, you will have to take the engine completely apart.

Nostril Cheese · 09-17-2009, 11:46 AM

If it's a case bolt, you should be able to simply remove the nut on the other side and replace it.

Although I think it's probably something else? picture?

joberbroeckling · 09-17-2009, 05:36 PM

The bolt does not go through the case. This bolt is on the bottom of the engine. This bolt go through the center cam journal. It currently is an 8 mm bolt. I'm wondering if there is enough material to drill out the hole for a 10mm bolt? The bolt is also in a pocket and makes it very difficult to get a hold of to remove it since the bolt will not turn out also. Not sure how I'm going to get the bolt out...

Jim

Tidybuoy · 09-17-2009, 09:25 PM

I really can't think of any bolts that go up into the block from the bottom of the engine - except possibly the two 10mm bolts that hold the round cover (or taco plate) on. Do you see anything on the attached photo that would identify which bolt you are referring to?

Could you be talking about #52 in the photo?

blitzer · 09-18-2009, 04:34 AM

I hope you didn't over tighten the taco plate bolt. It is only supposed to have 9 ft/lbs of torque. If it breaks, you will have to crack the case open to fix it.

URY914 · URY914's Garage

First, lets do some clearification of T-IV engine parts:

- The "taco plate" is where the oil temp sender is located at the bottom front of the engine. It is held in with 2- 6mm bolts which have 10 mm heads on them.

- The sump plate is held on with a single bolt and is the one that has stripped out by the original poster. This is the one to be careful with.

joberbroeckling · 01:50 PM

From the picture, it is bolt #3 with copper washer #46 which is stripped. Sorry, it is not the bolt that holds on the "Taco plate". That is the first time I have heard it called this. I quess I should have said it is a bolt on the lower half of the engine which bolts the two engine cases together. It's shown on the lower picture. It's an 8mm bolt. I'm wondering is I can drill in a 10mm bolt. I wonder if there is enough material to do this. If there is not other option, I will tear down my compete engine but I hate to tear down if I don't half to. Again, thanks for posting the picture!

Thanks,
Jim

Tidybuoy · 09-18-2009, 02:15 PM

I have a spare engine in the garage and bolt #3 definately does not have a nut on the other side. Unfortunately, it's in a terrible spot to get a wrench on it. I would recommend that you get some needle nose pliars or vice-grip needle nose pliars and apply some pulling pressure when turning to get the bolt out. From there. You should be abe to tap in a larger size thread and put it all back together again.

Regarding the "taco plate" term. I'ts normally only called the taco plate if you have a center console with the temperature guage. See my pic. This mounts in place of that flat plate and it has a temperature sensor mounted in it. You can see, it's sort of shaped like a taco - hense the nick name.

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

That bolt threads into a hole in the case. It it's stripped, you're in a world of hurt. More common than it stripping is the oil pickup nut (which looks like a bolt) being overtightened. This pulls that #3 bolt down, breaking the part of the case it threads into. Time for a replacement case or complete disassembly and welding up of the case, if that is actually what happened. Some people call it "The Type IV Syndrome".

The boss there supports one of the cam bearings, and we hear that the bearing will get toasted quickly if the boss under it is broken.

--DD

joberbroeckling · 09-18-2009, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave at Pelican Parts

That bolt threads into a hole in the case. It it's stripped, you're in a world of hurt. More common than it stripping is the oil pickup nut (which looks like a bolt) being overtightened. This pulls that #3 bolt down, breaking the part of the case it threads into. Time for a replacement case or complete disassembly and welding up of the case, if that is actually what happened. Some people call it "The Type IV Syndrome".

The boss there supports one of the cam bearings, and we hear that the bearing will get toasted quickly if the boss under it is broken.

--DD

Thanks for the info. Now that I think about it, my oil leak started right after I pulled the oil pickup screen out for cleaning. I had not pulled the screen out for a very long time. After I put the screen back in, the oil leak began. I might have caused my own problem. Well, I guess I will start taking my engine all apart. Luckly I do have a spare engine case if I need it.

Thanks to everyone who posted to help me with this problem.

Jim