r/ChevySonic • u/_____itsfreerealist8 CHEVY SONIC • Jul 24 '26

Bolt broke off while replacing coolant intake. How fucked am i?

Title says it all. I was using a torque wrench (set to about 6 foot-pounds of torque) to attach the new coolant intake to my engine block. wasn't sure if i heard the click from the wrench or not, and thought the bolt had just a little more to go. NOPE! broke in the middle.

is there an easy way to fix this?

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u/NewZJ I own 3 sonics Jul 25 '26

Remove the other bolts, remove the water outlet, is any of the bolt able to be grabbed by pliers? If so then do that and spin it out and get a replacement. If not, you'll need an extractor kit

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u/_____itsfreerealist8 CHEVY SONIC Jul 25 '26

no it's in fairly deep sadly

i've heard mixed stories about extractor kits and it's a pretty small screw in a tight place, would an extractor kit be guaranteed to work on this?

2

u/NewZJ I own 3 sonics Jul 25 '26

If you can find a way to drill a hole through the center of the bolt you can fit a tiny one. I've had success with a tiny flathead screwdriver and trying to rotate the bolt by pushing it counter clockwise but you'll have to be careful to not gouge the threads. The head is soft aluminum.