howto: remove a stripped Phillips screw

Drilling is usually a BAD fix, especially if you are not well experienced. The Dremel fix is often quick, relatively safe, and effective.

You can certainly remedy the problem by going back in with Torx, Allen, or any other type bolt you wish to use. You can even use studs, which in some cases are the best fix of all.

You can try the Dremel idea... But if it fails...

Do you have a hand drill that reverses?

If you have a hand drill that reverses, you can purchase drill bits that are "left handed" instead of right handed. I'd start by punching a mark directly in the center of the broken bolt so you can drill perfectly straight without hitting the threads. Then drill a small hole through the bolt with a smaller drill bit (Maybe 1/8" diameter?). Then use a larger (but not so large it hits the threads) left handed drill bit to drill out the core of the bolt. Normally, it will simply spin out with the drill.

Alternately, you can get tools called "ez outs" but if you break them, you are stuck for life as they are as hard as taps and can not be drilled out later by hand..

See these two links:

McMaster will deliver the small tools to any address you specify within 24 hours in most cases for the price of UPS Ground.

Or... Call your local auto mechanics as they might have these tools handy already.

Right handed drill bits will work too, but they sometimes drive the threaded portion of the screw in deeper and tighter...

Joe in Northern, NJ - V#8013-R

Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"

The screws were flush with the fitting? If they weren't and offered some meat to get a purchase on,.a sharp pair of side-cutters used at 90 degrees to the screw-head. The jaws bite into the head 180 degrees apart, then twist..

Have extracted many a minced out posidrive screw using this method,..tho the Dremel method sounds good too.

Jason

I tried pliers to twist off, but not a whole lot of room to get a hold on. (This is the Idle Air Control Valve, after all...) Pliers did nothing for me. Didn't think to try side cutters though.

If only Toyota had used hex bolts there...

Good thing my neighbor had a Dremel set I could borrow. I'm going to Harbor Freight tomorrow to get a bunch more tools. (local importer of really low-priced tools.) ;-)

Michael

A worthy addition to the "whoops!" emergency tool-kit...

Jason

Sure hope, if you plan on doing this again, you used some Anti-Seize on the screws when you replaced them!

Aluminum oxide is juat as bad or worse than Iron oxide!

Let me give you hint...it is okay on some projects to use cheap, disposable tools.

But if you ever ruin a critical component by using a cheap, poorly made tool, you will not soon forget it.

Cheap screwdrivers can ruin screw slots. Cheap wrenches can ruin bolt heads, or even crack and ruin your knuckles.

Some Harbor Freight things are okayfor some purposes, but high quality they are not.

=== I was about to say the same thing. I bought a bench vice there for removing ball joints, and an air gun for occasional use (axle nut, lug nuts), but the pry bars I purchased were useless due to flex, and my hand tools are alll purchased elsewhere. SK, Craftsman, Proto. Fine quality tools are really a joy to use. Cheap stuff is a perennial frustration, although, occasional cheap stuff can be helpful, like the vice when I just needed something to grab the control arm. The pry bar I found at NAPA is superb and suitable for a variety of uses beyond the initial purchase function (LH axle) - for example makes changing and tensioning belts easy. Those Harbor Freight pry bars really were completely useless whereas the NAPA 18' pry bar is good quality steel, solid, dependable, a world apart.

Oh, that's a good idea. I just didn't tighten the nuts very tightly.

I was actually hoping to find some hex nut bolts to replace them... anyone have any idea what thread those phillips screws would be?

I have to go back in there eventually - there are two coolant hoses going to the throttle body that I'd missed when changing out all the coolant hoses.

Michael

Thanks for the reminder. Yeah I have some good Craftsman screwdrivers (wedding gift from my uncle). Was planning on getting a socket wrench set for a brother-in-law, but now I'll look at the quality more closely.

Michael

Aren't "cross-head" set-screws or bolts used in Japanese cars, posidrive rather than phillips? I've noticed some folks including myself initially, missed the distinction. A phillips driver will damage a posidrive screw and vice versa?

Jason

I was actually hoping to find some hex nut bolts to replace them... anyone have any idea what thread those phillips screws would be?

I have to go back in there eventually - there are two coolant hoses going to the throttle body that I'd missed when changing out all the coolant hoses.

Michael

As Jason has mentioned, they may not be Phillips. They could be posidrive, and those two slotting patterns are not the same.

One thing you might want to buy at Harbor Freight...a thread gauge. I have one in my tap and die kit,and they can be very valuable.

.4965$hI4.4504@trndny08...

Oh, neato

Any suggestions where to find a Pozidriv screwdriver? (hint: Harbor Freight doesn't seem to carry them.)

All hardware and tool stores (worthy of the name) have them. They look just like Phillips. But there is a difference in the finer dimensions.

If I remember correctly, Posidrive was developed to allow better control when using power drives. The geometries were a bit different from Phillips. (Any here please correct me on the chronology).

Even with Phillips, the precision of the bit, the hardness (preventing deformation of the bit), etc will vary a lot between cheapo drivers and precison quality drivers.

In the electronics game, we come across both Philips and Pozidriv. There seems to be less Philips these days.

If you dont have a Pozidriv screwdriver, its a toss-up whether you'll get the screw out without chewing it out with a Philips. The Posidrive screw-head doesnt go down to a point like the Philips, so often the correct looking Philips bottoms and thus causes a chew-out. OTOH, a Posidriv screwdriver will undo Philips screws most times without drama.

Jason