Kaktus

I'm going to start right now and admit that I'm a idiot and now I'm paying for me being a idiot.

With that said I have a broken bolt that holds up my oil pan. I noticed that I had a small leak coming from my oil pan and decided to tight up some of the bolts to my surprise one of the bolts was already stripped out, and pretty much just sitting in the hole providing no tension on the pan, so of course this is were I have the small leak. I found a slightly larger bolt laying in my garage and jammed it in the hole. The bolt actually started to self thread and was self tightening, I was so close to it working (it probably would of worked if I would of put a lubricant on the bolt) than it snapped the head off.)

Now I need to get the bolt out and redo the treads. I have never done this and have just been watching youtube videos. It looks pretty straight forward job.

I need to get a reverse drill bit? What size would you recommend.

I'm going to use a helicoil kit to make the new threads, is this the best route? I know the oil pan uses two sizes of bolts the smaller ones are 11mm the large ones are 13mm. Does anyone know the actual length and with of the 13mm bolt? I'm going to drill the hole out slightly larger to fit the 13mm bolt. Also can someone direct me to the size of heli-coil kit? I see that you buy the kit for the size bolt you have.

Thanks!

CCKen

The normal bolts are 1/4-20 X 1/2" and 5/16-18 X 7/8.

I don't know where you are getting 13mm and 11mm (?).

You have to locate a source of helicoil kits and determine what size drill you need for the specific bolt application. Good hardware stores carry helicoil kits. If you can't find them locally (calling around would help) go to Amazon. com and see if you can get them there.

There no such thing as a reverse drill bit. You're probably thinking of an easy out. Lowes, Home Depot, and auto parts stores have them. The kits will say what size drill you will need for the easy out to be used. I'd try an easy out first before using a helicoil. You'll need to be dead nuts on center drilling the hole in the bolt stub in the engine block to use either one of these tools. Take your time.

BTW: You should file out your Jeep specs in your forum profile. If not, state what body style (Cherokee/XJ?), year, and engine you have in your posts.

Kevin108

Well, you learned how not to fix stripped-out holes. Metal is not like wood and just using a bigger bolt isn't how it works. Match up what the other oil pan bolts are and use a chart like this to determine what you need. http://www.noblefix.com/helicoil/Hel...ill-Chart.html

PatriotGT

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_7wwa2qewob_b

come in handy when removing a broken bolt.