Trouble with removing coolant drain bolt

[chucksomerock]

Hi, I'm trying to remove the coolant drain bolt in order to make a block heater installation.

The bolt seems stuck on th engine block. I have tried with a 3/8 ratchet with extensions and even ended up making a series of attachment in order to use my impact drill... I also sprayed wd40 in order to loosen the bolt.

Did soneone here one removed that drain bolt? If so was it hard to remove on your car?

Thanks

 

[Flightmaster127]

Your best bet will probably be an extension and the longest breaker bar you can find to break the bolt loose. At that angle you will not get the torque you need from an impact drill to knock the bolt loose. If you don't have a breaker bar you can always just use a piece of pipe over your ratchet to increase your leverage.

 

[chucksomerock]

Yeah tried that with a 3/8 ratchet and a 2 feet metal pipe, no success because I could never get the right angle I need. With my long extension I get in the way of the "bronze color" pipe and if I add my short extension, I get in the way of the frame of the car.
I'll ask friends if they have more elaborate ratchet kit than i do (knew I should've bought a bigger one!)

 

[Nomar06]

Can't get it from below with some extensions?

 

[chucksomerock]

In front there are the two radiator fans and I don't think I will get a better angle from below...
One thing I did not try is to remove it while the engine is still hot. I could cool it with compressed air in order to keep the bolt cold dan the engine hot...

I am very afraid is to break it in so I don't want to try something stupid...

 

[Nomar06]

Can you drain from the radiator? and get the fluid level low enough to do what you need to do?

 

[Monk]

Can you drain from the radiator? and get the fluid level low enough to do what you need to do?

From what I gather, it's not a matter of how much liquid is in the block, but being able to install some type of plumbing for a engine block heater.

As far as what tool to use to get the plug off, how would a (big/long)goose-neck wrench do?

 

[chucksomerock]

Yes Monk is right, here is what I am trying to insert in that plug:

I am aware that once this nut is loosen, I will have to do a coolant change. But I wanted to make sure that I was able to get that bolt unstuck before draining everything (good thing I did...)

A goose-neck would not have enough clearance...
I will try with a 1/2" breaker bar, by only using 1/2" accessories, I'll probably get less "spring" in the extension. I think i'm losing my torque there...

 

[Monk]

Just something I was thinking........ I sometimes use my weak hand to put as much pressure on the tool as I can, so I can "hit" the tool with my strong hand, as apposed to just using a steady strength pressure to muscle it loose........ You may have tried this, YO!

 

[chucksomerock]

TBO I still haven't used the ratchet/hammer combination... I'll try that as well.

 

[webby]

Last time I had a transmission bolt that was absolutely stuck I used a floor jack on the ratchet. So, I literally placed an extension on the ratchet down to the foot of the floor jack. I then pumped the floor jack up to apply pressure. It literally started to lift the car off my ramps before the trans bolt finally broke free. I did a trans change on a friends 8th gen and it did the same thing. I couldn't get it free with a breaker bar, so I resorted to the floor jack.

similar to this - at 2:00 into the video

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0QNoxyU-8Y&list=PLB84BB8E44F3975EA

 

[Nix]

I have no help with the bolt but, where do you live? It must get freakin cold if you need a block heater.

 

[Michal006]

Probably in Alaska or Canada.

 

[webby]

Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Montana, ...lot of states up north benefit from them, especially if the car sits outside at night. Not uncommon to hit -20 to -50f in those states sometimes.

 

[Nomar06]

Would one of these work? I know it would just warm up the oil and not the coolant....

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200339139_200339139?cm_mmc=Google-pla&utm_source=Google_PLA&utm_medium=Automotive > Engine Heaters + Blankets&utm_campaign=Kats Heaters&utm_content=174051&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=174051&gclid=CNLV8Ibq5cgCFYE2gQod0jwH_g


My old BMW I had, came with this when I bought the car used. It spent part of its life in Alaska before I got it. It was stuck to the oil pan....

 

[webby]

Def a cheap solution if it works well. It has some good reviews.

 

[chucksomerock]

Montréal region.
We already got 20F at night this week. You can always expect getting -50F sometimes but because I do mostly short distance (less than 10km), I really prefer plugging my car during winter.

It already is a cheap solution as I paid 80$ for the heater:
Amazon productView: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00BPB0RS8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s01

(The price went up since then... almost doubled...)

On amazon.com, it is 40$.
At that price I decided to go OEM.


So I borrowed a 1/2" breaker bar to a friend yesterday as well as a 19mm deep socket (instead of a regular one). I will try again tomorrow.

Webby, this is really a nice trick that I did not know about!
In my case I don't think it can be done but for a suspension bolt or something near the ground, it is definitively something to try.

 

[webby]

If you slip a piece of metal pipe over the handle of your ratchet to add leverage you could prob do it. As long as the pipe has enough clearance to get down towards the ground on the bolt you're trying to break.

 

[chucksomerock]

All right boys I got that sucker out!
I used a 1/2" ratchet bar, an extension pipe and a 19mm deep socket.

The fact that the socket was straight on the bolt without any extensions helped with the grip.
The bolt was really clean, no rust or anything. I really shouldn't have been worried to break it.

I'll post the complete DIY in the diy section...