Help! Snapped bolt

Replaced water pump and tstat with no major issues. Refilled and have a small leak from the tstat housing. One bolt was not completely tightened ( I had a hard time getting it back in). I tightened it more and then the bolt snapped! Any ideas how to get the remaining half back out? Thanks!!

Here is a better picture with the housing removed. You can see the half of the bolt that is still in there. I had a hard time getting this bolt in so im sure it will be very hard to screw back out. I tried getting a vice grip on the small part that is sticking out but could not get enough of a grip to turn it. Any ideas how to get this out? Also I need a new bolt. Is this something that needs to come from Porsche ?

Options are EZ-out, drilling it out and using something heli-coilish, or finding a really good welder to weld a nut to the broken stud so you can unscrew it.

I'd go with option 3 given the importance of the bolt.

Have you tried to grab it with a pair of vice grips? I snapped off a bolt a while back and was able to grab it with some mini vice grips and get it out. With the head off there is not much torque on the bolt..

You can also try putting a notch across the shaft of the broken bolt with a dremel, then using an impact screwdriver to try and back it out.

I don't remember which one, but one bolt is longer than the other, that could cause the leak, if it was put back in the wrong hole (insert joke here). And if you torqued down the long bolt in a spot that was only drilled out for a short one, then you could easily snap it. May want to check that out. Good luck, DS

From your photo, the engine side mating surface still has old gasket material on it. That will most likely cause a leak if not completely cleaned up. You can use a copper brush or 500 sand paper to wet sand it. Same applies to the thermostat housing side.

Try flattening two opposing sides with a Dremmel so a good vice grips can grip it better. Lots of penetrating oil & let sit a few hours or over night. Add heat from a torch then try it. If that doesn't work you'll need to drill it out. There are plenty of videos on youtube showing how to get bolts like this out, probably worth some time to check them out.

The bolt seized or bottomed out and significant torque was applied after this to break the bolt. It is really in there tight. Forget the easy out, they are very hard and brittle and it will break easier than the bolt did. Then you will be in a pinch. Obtain some small cobalt drill bits. Use the smallest, maybe a 1/16 th, then drill consecutive larger sizes until you are left with a thin shell where the hole ID is the same as you'd used for a tap. Place the pump in place for a guide and retap the hole. Use lubricant and a bottoming tap. Alternately when the hole is fairly large, try a reverse cut bit to attempt unscrewing the bolt. Another tip. In hard bolts I start with a tiny #60 bit at high speed and drill it as far as possible.

Buy a set of these, its the easiest way. You just drill a hole in the broken bolt and insert one of these. The last time I had to use them was with a very rusty broken bolt that had been there for years and it came out easy as hell.

If you get it out, chase the threads before you try to torque up the replacement bolt.

Thanks for all the great advice. I was able to get it out with a screw extractor from Sears. Also, how do I post smaller pictures? This is from my ipad.

Excellent - well done. For all the terrible things I hear about screw extractors, I've had excellent luck with a set I bought at Harbor Freight 5 years ago. Looks like you do too. Ben

Looking at the picture, it doesn't appear that the bolt was too long and bottomed out in the hole. Must have just been seized in there.

It actually took two tries with the screw extractor. It was in and working where the bolt broke during the first try. The picture is from the second try so you only see half of the bolt that had to be removed. It was just seized in there. The back side of opening for this bolt is open so I could have used a bolt twice as long with no problem.

Glad you had luck with it. For future reference, the BEST thing I've ever used to extract a screw is a left-hand twist drill bit . Drill a hole in the center of the bolt with the bit, and usually, the bit will grab and spin the bolt out (since the drill bit spins CCW). If it doesn't remove the bolt, at least you now have a hole in it to use a screw helical screw extractor.

I think the easiest thing would have been to remove the thermostat housing again so you have lots of exposed bolt to work with. The bolt holes on the Tstat housing should be unthreaded, so if you undo the other bolts should pull right off, exposing about .5" of the broken bolt.