Rusted screw under car

[cory58]

I finally dove into some refurb work on the Touring and promptly broke off a rusty screw under the car. I was trying to remove the left (driver) side plastic air deflector in front of the gas tank. This is the one that covers the fuel filter. It's held in place by two plastic nuts and one screw. That's the screw I broke off. It also holds one of the plastic guides for the fuel and brake lines. After I broke off the screw head, I was able to remove the plastic fuel/brake line guide, but what's left of the screw is a rusty mess. It looks like it screws into the bottom of the floor pan. Is that correct? I pulled back the carpet inside and could not see anything, so I'm guessing it screws into some sort of nipple or fitting welded to the bottom of the pan.

Does anyone have any advice on how to fix this? It looks like the easiest way may be to run a small round-head bolt through the floor pan from the top to secure the fuel line guide and air deflector using a nylock nut.

I'll be back out at the garage tomorrow night and can take pictures if needed.

Thanks, Cory

[roguetoaster]

Looking back at pics of a touring there is a small boss that may be in some sort of structure at that location, best guess is that it would be inaccessible from the interior.

Hole looks fit for coarse thread screws.

[cory58]

Looking back at pics of a touring there is a small boss that may be in some sort of structure at that location, best guess is that it would be inaccessible from the interior.

Hole looks fit for coarse thread screws.

Thank you! That makes sense with what I saw. The screw might as well be welded into the boss at this point and rust has at least partially deteriorated the boss.

[AndrewBird]

Soak it with lots of penetrating of over several days and then try some heat on it to get it loose.