Backstory:

“We should take the jet ski to Michigan”, my wife said. It’s a 2005 with 36 hours and hasn’t been run in at least 5 years. There’s a really long story that involves 8 trips to the hardware store, 6 trips to two different auto parts stores, 1 trip to the Sea Doo dealer 40 miles away and some parts for a 2000 Saturn SL with a 1.9 liter engine. It runs beautifully now for 10 seconds, then throws out an overheat message and goes into limp mode.

In trying to remove the jet pump, I broke one of the SS bolts holding the Venturi to the pump. Since the Venturi is painted, I went ahead and busted the other three so I could separate the two housings. The pictures show the longest stub I have to work with. Two of the stubs are half the length and the last one snapped off flush. The bolt head is 13mm for reference.

I have a propane torch, liquid wrench, hammer, files, drill bits, an easy out, a center punch, and a 12” Knipex flat jaw pliers.

The question:

What’s the fastest approach to getting these out?

You didn't torch it long enough.

Otherwise I would say an induction torch to loosen it.

SS loves to weld itself to other metals, it's why anti-seize was invented, best bet is going to be to heat the area around the bolt, see if it will expand and then I"d go with super tight large set of vice grips, which it looks like there are perfect flat spots for.

You could try some penetrating oil on both ends of the bolt and let it sit a while, but I"m betting that the bolts are frozen/welded tight.

IF you can't get them out that way, cut the bolt flush, center punch it, drill it out and make the whole smooth then tap them and run in the next size up bolts.

Just Anti-Seize the new ones.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:


IF you can't get them out that way, cut the bolt flush, center punch it, drill it out and make the whole smooth then tap them and run in the next size up bolts.

Just Anti-Seize the new ones.

Or drill and use a shoulder bolt.

Should the propane torch be enough? The aluminum housing is acting like a giant heat sink when I heat the dog ear. I just did it for five minutes, I could touch the dog ear with my fingers a minute after removing the torch and the whole housing was warm.

Those flat spots are from trying to grab it with the Knipex pliers.

Can you fit two nuts back to back to form a lock nut of sorts. Then turn the bottom nut CCW against the top nut?
I’d definitely heat the aluminum before attempting this.

Only the one broke long enough for two nuts and I crushed the threads with the pliers on that one.

I’m going to drill the one that broke flush and see how that goes. I don’t believe I have any other option on that one anyway.

It's probably too tightly stuck for this, but at times I have had luck with taking a hacksaw, or dremel, and cutting a slot into the bolt with the intention of using a big assed screw driver to turn it out. Or you could weld 2 nuts together to the stub and give that a whirl.

Or you could take it to a machine shop for them to take care of it for you, it'd be bad luck to break off the housing part.

Best luck to you.
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Good news is it looks like you can run a bolt all the way though from the bottom of that flange...it's not just a blind hole where you don't have access to the bottom. If heating it isn't loosening things up enough for it to break free, I'd just drill it out, replace the bolts with shoulder bolts that go all the way through, secure the backsides with nuts and lock washers, and call it a day.

I have a good drill press, so, if I couldn't turn them out I'd cut them off flush, drill them out, and probably replace with SS bolts, nuts, and washers if I couldn't re-tap them.

Or I'd take it to a machine shop and let them fix it

More heat. The alloy has a higher expansion rate than the stainless so it should work. If you have the time, warm the area some and dip a small screwdriver in some ATF and apply to the base of the threads and let it sit a while.
The next go round, anti-seize the threads with a marine grade anti-seize.

We don't even bother trying to remove stuff like that anymore.
The local machine shop can do much better job, a lot faster for not much.
Turbo and egr valve bolts broken off in the manifold is about $40 to get back to us in about an hour.

Well if I were doing it at my house, I'd put a nut on that stub and weld it on. Heavy, to get it good and hot, then try to back it out.

That probably won't help you though.

Short of that, I'd Kroil it good and heavy from both ends, a couple times a day for a week, then use a stud puller on it (with heat).

If you can’t weld a nut back on the stub, file two flats on the stub and use a wrench to tighten nd then loosen it, AFTER heating the stub or surrounding area . I think you didn’t heat it enough to break the bond in the stub and the aluminum.

Just don't go nuts and Armstrong it, don't want to break off one of those ears...

How much to replace the part?

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
in some ATF and apply to the base of the threads and let it sit a while.

A 50/50 mix of ATF & Acetone makes a pretty darn good and effective fix. Store it in a glass jar with not much air space and it will last quite a long time.
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Drilling is making progress. I’m going to try to find a machine shop. While they’re fixing it, I can work on other things.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
How much to replace the part?

$500 plus shipping, but I haven’t been able to find one in stock.

Probably won't work with SS (will depend on the grade), but I've seen a method to remove (dissolve) broken steel bolts from aluminum casting by soaking in alum and water (maybe with a small dc current).

Unfortunately I can't find the video (was by AvE).

Removed the oil then soak it in break fluid. This eats away the aluminum corrosion. Old trick learned many years ago.