Alternator problem

[krcl153]

The alternator went out on my 88 Lebaron so I replaced but when I tightened the belt tension bolt it was so rusted the bolt broke it half leaving half of the bolt still in, making imposible to tighten the belt. my friend said it would take a lot of time and money to fix this. Any advice?

[Sluttypatton]

Your just going to have to remove the broken bolt and replace it with a new one. There are a few ways of doing this, but in my experience they all suck.

1. You may be able to remove it with vise grips, all though I doubt it since in order to thread it in you had to turn it hard enough to break it...it probably won't be any easier on the way out.

2. There are tons of "screw/bolt extractors" on the market, of varying design and function. See if you can find something at a tool store that might fit your needs.

3. I have heard of people welding another bolt onto the end of the broken one and having success. You probably don't have access to welding equipment so this might not help you.

4. You have to drill it out. If it comes to this, don't do it yourself, take it to a shop. They will drill it and retap the hole.

This happens, and it's never easy to deal with, but it probably won't be ridculously expensive. Talk to a shop and see what they quote you for the job.

[TechX]

There are a few rules of thumb in dealing with such things. Heat is your friend first off. Do not heat the bolt but heat the metal around it. This will make it much easier to remove it. Vibration or tapping also helps to remove bolts. Using a few tricks together and you can remove almost anything. If I were you I would try to visegrip it. Then I would heat the surrounding metal. Finally I would tap on the bolt,visegrip,or case(not too hard) and that would usually do the trick. GL

[MagicRat]

Did the bolt break when you were tightening it, or loosening it? If its the former that is not so bad. The situation is only truly miserable if the bolt broke off flushm so there is nothing sticking out.

Otherwise, these above posts are correct. Personally, I just weld a nut on to the end of the broken bolt and turn the nut, while applying a bit of heat.
However, take it to a professional, if you are unsure. Its easy to make the situation much worse.

[INF3RN0666]

Don't bother doing it yourself except for the vicegrip idea. You will just destroy it more than it already is. However, if you take it to a shop with people who have half a brain, they'll fix it in no time seeing as they have all the tools for the job. If you had half the tools they do, you'd rarely ever go to the shop.