Engine mount bolt

Hi,

Thanks for all the replies.

A proffesional was supposed to come and have a go today but never showed up or phoned, seems to be typical these days for any service.  You are paying but they treat you with no respect and act like they are doing you a massive favour...oh well.

Been trying different things all week

I noticed that with the one bolt out I manged to free, when trying to undo the stuck one the mount and engine twists slightly.  I think this means the thread is not stuck in the upper part of the mount but the lower.  Or maybe the other way round.  The bolt only has a thread in approx the bottom third so not actualy a whole lot in each piece of the mount.
 

Photo I nicked off ebay.  I could not be arsed to go out and undo the loose bolt but the one I removed had white corrosion packed into the thread.

To start with I was putting PlusGas and heat to the top of the bolt around head and surrounding mount.  Waste of time.  Now directing it all at the bottom up though the wheel arch.
Still no luck but that might be useful to somebody else.

Looks increasingly like I will have to remove the whole mount.

Everybody EVERYBODY is driving around in convertables except for poor, poor Iain.

re the bolt have you tried beg, borrow or stealing one of those new fangled heating thingies, I think they work on microwaves. I watched the Motorbike show where Alan Millyard? was bending heavy gauge steel with one, less heat spread (apparently) and of course no flame. Perhaps you can hire one, anybody know?

I stand corrected (thanks Google) it's not microwaves it's an induction heating element, can't find a hire co as yet but Draper do one for £650.00, go on treat yourself (then we can borrow it).
Seriously if that's the cost then supposing someone hires them out it should not be astronomical?

So my local mobile mechanic (who's also a good mate) and I fell foul of this same situation yesterday.

Removed 2 of the engine mount bolts no problem, third one seized solid.

Long breaker bar did nothing other than actually break the rubber bonding on the mount and we ended up with a snapped off bolt with about 5mm protruding from the aluminium.

loads of heat and molgrips was slowly helping us win, and after an hour we had about 8mm of the bolt protruding,
This was enough to secure a fancy stud extractor and carry on with the heat routine.

Unfortunately an hour later the stud snapped again, this time flush with the aluminium so we ended up having to drill and re-thread the hole.

After all that, the belt and water pump change went fine, sadly I now have to wait for a new engine mount before I can actually drive the car.... what a faff!

Hi,

Think you can buy those induction heaters on ebay from china for about £150 now, probably break the first time you use them though.

A mobile mechanic arrived today after three weeks of trying to get one.

Tried to remove bolt then got a friend from a local garage to come and help, he works on tractors.

They tried everything and could not remove it and broke a few of their tools in the process.  Not just me.

Stuck again.

He advised removing three bolts on the subframe side of mount and getting the cambelt through that way.

Anyone tried this?  I think he means the bolts that go into the two bushes and the one on top of the big rubber damper thing.
Looks like the engine would have to be jacked up to over the length of the bolt coming up from the damper, seems a long way.
Can the engine be jacked this far up?

These mounts are a bit of a nightmare

Cheers,

Iain.

Sorry I mean engine dropped  -  doh

No I was right the first time, engine raised to get over bolt.

Hi,

After looking at the bolt I removed another option might be to grind off the head of the bolt.
It looks like all the thread goes into the bottom half of the mount, I have tried to look with a torch but it's difficult to see.  Anybody have a spare top part off the car, is there any thread in it?
If there is no thread then the bolt should pull out of the top mount if the engine is jacked up a bit.  When that happens it should be possible to then cut the bolt again where the two parts of the mount join making a gap for the cam belt,

This would leave a stub of a bolt stuck on the lower mount for now leaving the engine supported by one bolt not two but the stub would help with any twisting movement.

Make any sense?

Iain.

I doubt the bolt will come out of the engine mount that easy.

The steel and aluminium corrode together, and become as one...

There is no thread in the aluminium section for the bolt (if it is the bolt I am thinking of) and should be just clearance.

Have you tried rust killer acid? I think  Phosphoric acid Phosphoric Acid Descaler Rust Remover 45% Safe On Metal Surfaces - 5L Completed

This may eat away the steel/rust, but should leave the aluminium alone.

Isn't it the corrosion of the aluminium (the white powder) that causes the problem rather than rust on the steel of the bolt?

Phosphoric acid is also effective at treating aluminium corrosion.

Hi,

Thanks for replies )

The two mechanics did seem to have turned the bolt a bit before breaking tools and giving up, I can see a couple of mm of thread in the gap between the upper and lower parts of mount, it was flush before.  I tried having another go on the bolt with a long breaker bar but still will not move but it gives me access to the bolt to cut it there as a last resort.

Got two of the three bolts loose on the top of the subframe side of mount, the one on the vertical bolt from the damper and the bush next to it - yeaaaah.  "Two out of three ain't bad" to quote a famous song.

 

Question is, is it possible to jack uip the engine about 4cm to clear the vertical bolt from the damper before I try and break something?  Would need to cut through the restraint bar it seems but the bolts for this look hard to get too.
With the engine jacked up to clear the bolt I should be able to feed the cambelt through.

Cheers,

Iain.

Hi,

In the end I hacksawed through the bolt where the two parts of the mount meet, there was just enough room for a hacksaw blade and it took ages due to restricted room and angle = no pressure. I can recommend Bahco hacksaw blades, did not break and stayed sharp.

Did the rest of the cambelt change with no problems

Thanks for all the replies and advice.