please help, a bolt from my headers is broke of in the block. its in a awkward spot and very hard to get to. ive taken it to a shop and they dont even want touch it, in fact nobody does. the dealership wants way to much but its what ill have to do if nobody can help. please if you know how to get it out, please help!!

by the way, the bolt is the bottom, front on the passenger side of 2002 f-150 4.6.

 

Sears sells a set of extractor sockets for removing broken studs. If the stud is broken off flush with the header flange, then you will have to remove the header in order for the tool to grip the stud.

 

I just spent an entire weekend switching out my manifolds with headers. Had many broken studs. I posted this on another forum, I ended up welding a nut to most of the studs..

My 98 f-150 4.6 with 272,000 miles, had a slight exhaust leak. After searching the forums, I quickly learned that this is a problem with broken exhaust manifold studs. To resolve this, I ordered a set of headers and stage 8 bolts from Summit.


I removed the front wheels, and the inner fender plastic.

I started on the drivers side. I quickly noticed most of the nuts on the studs were a single mass of rust, but by heating them up, I was able to remove a few of them. The remainder I cut off with the torch. I had to weld a nut to the protruding studs in order to remove several of them.
I also heated the lower EGR fitting, and to my shock, I was able to remove it.. Unfortunately the nut came right off the flared end of the egr line by the manifold.

With the drivers side removed, I then went over to the passenger side. All the top studs were easily accessible, but the bottoms ones were next to impossible. I ended up removing the nuts from right side motor mount and was able to raise the engine a couple of inches. More of the same.. broken studs, etc..


Once I removed the manifold, I found a stud was already broken off 1/8 inch below the head surface.
I found a tip on the internet for this. You can take a nut, place it over the broken stud and fill it in with weld. I gave it a try and it worked! the broken stud came out!..

At this point I noticed a puddle of fluid on the floor on the drivers side. Apparently I bumped a brake line going to the ABS module and it started to leak. Great, more work..

I installed the header on the passenger side, without issue.

I went over to the drivers side and noticed the dipstick tube was in the way.. I removed the bolt holding it to the head, and after soaking the area where the tube goes into the block with pb blaster, started wiggling the tube. It acted like it was coming out, but NOOO the damn thing snapped off flush in the block! I tried an easy out, nothing would budge the broken piece in the block. I went back on the internet and someone on the stang forums suggested running a tap (and flushing the oil afterwards) in there and threading in a bolt, you could then pop the broken piece out. Tried that, and using a dent puller the bolt just popped out.. On to plan B

I went to the hardware store and bought that threaded tube they use for making lamps. I ground down one side (about an inch) the other side threaded into the end of the dipstick tube,. I welded the threaded tube to the end of the dipstick tube. i then put an O ring on the ground down tube.
I now have a working dipstick tube again..

I finished the header install on the passenger side and all is well. I must say, this was not a fun task by any means.
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