Vauxhall Astra G Petrol (1998 - 2004) - 2002 1.6 16v tensioner bolt problems

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Sun 29 Jun 2008 14:26
2002 1.6 16v tensioner bolt problems - thomp1983
hi, doing the timing belt on an 1.6 16v astra this afternoon, everythings gone well up until undoing the cambelt tensioner bolt, it's a shallow torx headed bolt and it's seized in and stripped the head. anybody got any ideas on removing it? it's been heavily soaked in plus gas and now im about to go for some gentle with my pencil blow torch. how do the pro's deal with this as it seems like a bad piece of design to have a bolt like that for the job, a conventional hex head surely would have been better?

chris

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 29/06/2008 at 15:46

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Sun 29 Jun 2008 14:56
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - Screwloose
chris

Can you get a chisel or punch near it?
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Sun 29 Jun 2008 15:57
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - thomp1983
solved it, fortunately said bolt is made of cheap metal so after some heat i could hammer a t45 (next size up) torx fitting into it and after alot of hammering with a impact driver it gave in was certainly a worried moment though as it's a friends car and he'll need it tomorrow. someone else has clearly had a go at the job before hand as ive also had to remove two damaged bolts from the waterpump, again solved by hammering a torx bit into the rounded allen key fitting.

cheers
chris
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Sun 29 Jun 2008 16:47
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - Screwloose
Chris

If you can keep that impressive progress up; we'll make a main-dealer fitter out of you yet......

[If at first you don't succeed - get a bigger hammer.]
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Sun 29 Jun 2008 17:02
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - DP
Sometimes a slot cut with a junior hacksaw, and a snug fitting impact driver bit can do the same thing. I've done this with a sump plug before with good success.

Cheers
DP
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Sun 29 Jun 2008 23:31
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - thomp1983
unfortunately screwloose there really wasn't any other option for it, there is no real head on it to get an irwin grip on it (or similar tool), there wouldn't be enough room to mark the bolt with a punch and tap it round and out, i did think about cutting a slot in it but went for heat first and fortunately it worked.

chris
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Sun 29 Jun 2008 23:55
2002 1.6 16v astra tensioner bolt problems - Screwloose
Chris

Hey; it worked, that's all that matters - result.
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