Well I did a stupid.

[LateFan]

OK, depth of empty hole is 1 13/16". Depth with broken bolt is 3/4. That's 1 1/16", minus the 19mm missing end, should be 5/16" left, so it shouldn't be bottomed.

With the tool in place, the good bolt starts threading at about 13mm / 1/2" from bottom of bolt head to the tool face, so there's that much thread engaged.

The bolt's outside thread diameter is about 6.5mm. The unthreaded shank is 7mm.

There's about 6" of free space from the head to the ABS lines below the master cylinder to fit a drill in. Might have to get hold of a short case or 90º drill. The turbo hose and all that can come out of there.

A Volvo guy suggested a brass bushing or sleeve around the drill bit to center it on the bolt.

Noid - those hollow weld-thru bolts are a wild idea - I've never seen that. No welding capability here right now. On your third option, I just saw a video where he drilled the broken bolt but not all the way through, then ran a reverse tap into it, and by the time it bottomed in the bolt, it backed it right out.

I think the issue is going to be getting a drill in there, and somehow aligning with the threaded hole. Not sure how you'd get a punch in that small hole, 3/4" down in.

The threaded shaft holds a 10mm head (6mm?) bolt that clamps the position sensor ring onto those notches.

Also, it's 14 degrees in the garage and dropping. Almost 40 yesterday when I started.

[noid]

You can use the cam lock tool as a guide, just remove the broken bolt, tighten the other end on the other side (may I suggest a new 12.9 bolt from fastenal?). Have that align the drill bit for you.

[LateFan]

Yeah, that might be a good idea. The accuracy / fit of this tool isn't all that impressive, but I might try that. I had to thread both bolts in carefully by hand and wiggle everything because it seemed like the center to center dimension was too short. New high strength bolts for sure.

I'll look into how much room a cordless Milwaukee or similar has at the head - some of those are pretty short. I need one anyway, and not sure who I'd borrow from and I hate doing that.

Thanks for the ideas everyone. It's gonna be below zero soon, so no hurry I guess.

[flyboyx]

I can mail you my corded makita right angle drill. shoot me a pm if you wish. do it right away though because its in my storage on the south side and we are staying down there tonight

[Todd Black 88]

I have one of these drills for tight spaces like that.

It works very well.

Only 3/8” chuck though





Edit:

It’s probably the same as ^

[noid]

If you're okay with taking the head off, its worth it to just have a machinist deal with the problem.

[LJ851]

OK, depth of empty hole is 1 13/16". Depth with broken bolt is 3/4. That's 1 1/16", minus the 19mm missing end, should be 5/16" left, so it shouldn't be bottomed.

Lots of Great advice in this thread already.

Your bolt could easily be bottomed out in its threaded hole but not in the sense it hits the end of the bore. A conventional tap has a substantial taper at the end to ease thread formation and full diameter threads stop being formed well before the bottom of the hole when the tip of the tap can't go any further.

It you tighten a bolt past the full diameter threads into the tapering ones the bolt will deform (like the other one in your pics) and eventually seize. It seems like this may be what has happened .

Good luck.

[flyboyx]

I have one of these drills for tight spaces like that.

It works very well.

Only 3/8” chuck though





Edit:

It’s probably the same as ^

thats the one I have too

Lots of Great advice in this thread already.

Your bolt could easily be bottomed out in its threaded hole but not in the sense it hits the end of the bore. A conventional tap has a substantial taper at the end to ease thread formation and full diameter threads stop being formed well before the bottom of the hole when the tip of the tap can't go any further.

It you tighten a bolt past the full diameter threads into the tapering ones the bolt will deform (like the other one in your pics) and eventually seize. It seems like this may be what has happened .

Good luck.

this is along the lines of what I was thinking but too lazy to write.

on another note not related to lj's post, rather than the possibility of removing the entire head, wouldn't it be easier to just pull out that cam?

[SirMaxximus]

Everyone's already mentioned any idea's I had for you... but as a side note. Replace the Oil separator and all the associated hoses will be clogged as well so clean them out really well or replace them too... I guarantee you that that's why the cam seals are leaking, your new ones will blow out quickly otherwise. Very very common on these volvo's, I've replaced a ton of them and about half of them come with blown out cam seals if the issue is not caught in time....

good luck mate

[LateFan]

Man, I am impressed with the smart advice up in here! (On the other hand, at this point 250 people know I'm an idiot!)

Yeah, a cheaper corded right angle sounds smart. I've been avoiding making a decision on a cordless battery system since you're committed once you pick one. Thanks for the offer though!

I'll try this scheme first, as it's much easier than parting the head, and worst case you ruin the threads, you do a system like Noids, or replace the cam.

Lorin, the tapered thread cutting makes so much sense. That probably explains why it slowed down and was binding up, but not stripping. It felt really odd, and right as I decided something was funny, it snapped. Would explain the two rows of jimmied threads at the end. When doing this again, I should be spacing the bolts UP some with a couple of washers.

On the head / cam question, the cams don't come out - the top half of the head is the "cam cover" and is the upper bearing surface. It's a pretty precise fit, there are 40 hold-down bolts, you can warp it, cleaning old sealant without scratching is a big deal, re-applying liquid sealant gasket, little o-rings, re-setting the VVT from scratch...just a lot of stuff I wasn't prepared to do, especially in a cold garage. I'm feeling a little out of my league there experience-wise.

SirMax, you mean the PCV system / oil separator box? It's the turbo motor. You think it's likely at 125k? I have all the records so I know it hasn't been done. I did this on my 850T, and it wasn't a huge job, just have to pull the intake and all that associated plumbing. I did the rubber glove test on the oil cap on this one and it was sucking in, so I thought maybe it was OK for now.

[SirMaxximus]

SirMax, you mean the PCV system / oil separator box? It's the turbo motor. You think it's likely at 125k? I have all the records so I know it hasn't been done. I did this on my 850T, and it wasn't a huge job, just have to pull the intake and all that associated plumbing. I did the rubber glove test on the oil cap on this one and it was sucking in, so I thought maybe it was OK for now.

Yes PCV system / oil trap / oil separator box. Its a common volvo issue, very likely at 125k, I've seen it as low as 50k..

Did it suck in quite a bit / have lots of vacuum on it? Same culprit causes that, In that case, you'll usually hear a hiss or a whistle with the engine running, if you pull out the dipstick the noise goes away and the engine will idle noticeably better

No its not too difficult of a job, some of them you need to remove the intake manifold. And some of the newer T5's you can get from underneath without removing the manifold... Either way, I've never seen the cam's leak on those without the Oil trap being the root issue, its entirely possible, but odds would be against it.

[LateFan]

OK, good advice. No, it just pulled in a bit on the glove, slight vacuum. Passed the dipstick test. Everything else seems to have been maintained, but I noticed the PCV system was never changed.

$367, ouch. But it's all OEM parts.

[mrsleeve]

Lots of Great advice in this thread already.

Your bolt could easily be bottomed out in its threaded hole but not in the sense it hits the end of the bore. A conventional tap has a substantial taper at the end to ease thread formation and full diameter threads stop being formed well before the bottom of the hole when the tip of the tap can't go any further.

It you tighten a bolt past the full diameter threads into the tapering ones the bolt will deform (like the other one in your pics) and eventually seize. It seems like this may be what has happened .

Good luck.

Thought I mentioned that ;)

Looks to me like you ran out of thread, not necessarily out of hole with out looking down the end it hard to say which of the 3 situations is whats going on here..

Sorry late, Been digging out of the snow storm.

Yes lots more good advice here, and I agree with the idea of a bushing or something hollow, to use as a guide to keep from damaging the cam. The 90* drill motor is the way to go if your going to try to do this in place as is. You could likely get away with using BIG roll pin for this application.......

[LateFan]

Edit

[LateFan]

Here's a pretty close version of how it sits. That's a section view of the camshaft.

<EDIT> nope, it's a pdf file.....

Try this....pretty small....