I wish I lived down there, I trust your advice more then any "Mechanic" I've come across in this town. Bunch of damn morons that don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. Besides, I hear tell y'all have a bunch of wild hogs that need shootin'. That just looks like a fun way to spend a weekend.
Yeah, it finally dried out; I've been through this plenty of times before. For the record, MY shop is not the place where I do my daily work anymore. If GTE had taken it to me, at my shop, I'd have charged him a lot less, but that's not important now. I'm just glad he got it going again, and didn't get fucked too hard.
What's the best way to remove this nut that is rounded off? I've sprayed liquid wrench on it, no luck. I don't have an impact wrench, but if that works best, I can borrow one. Can I put some heat on it with a torch? Should I force a 9mm socket on it? This is on the throttle body, 2004 Chevy Silverado, 4.8.
For a guy like you, with no special tools, I'd recommend some Vise-Grips as tight as you can get it. (I have a set of extractors that will remove even a perfectly round nut, but you probably don't have that.) You could also try an inverse-Torx socket on the stud and taking the whole stud out with the nut, but this is you we're talking about, so you probably don't have one. At this point, try the 9mm socket or whatever you have available. That nut is finished. Don't freak out, it's a throttle body nut, so it's not like it's that tight anyway. EDIT: What did you do to that thing? It's only a throttle body. What were you using to attempt taking it off?
You can also take a file to it to help flatten some of it for better purchase. And you could take a small dremel cutoff wheel and cut it off.
If it were me, I have a sacrificial socket that I’d tig to it and giver with a breaker bar if the ratchet isn’t enough leverage.
I do not have a set of extractors, but I do have an inverse Torx set. Didn't think of that. Even if I get it started I won't have to take the stud all the way out. Is the stud reverse threaded? 100,000 miles or so ago, I took the throttle body off and cleaned it. Came off, went back on, no problem. I've decided to replace it, now, and I didn't do anything weird - I didn't think. I used my regular socket set, it wouldn't budge, so I pushed harder. And, the rounding was the result. I'm assuming I over-tightened it when I put it back on before, because I didn't use a torque wrench. I was a little hesitant to be throwing metal shavings around there, but I could if I'm careful. And, I don't have a Dremel - always wanted one, though. Maybe a good time to buy one. I don't have a welder. But, not having enough leverage wasn't the problem - having too much leverage is what rounded it off, I think. Thank you both!
Yeah, I have a couple of old sockets that I ground slits in the side, so they fit over a fucked up nut, then you can weld part of the socket back together while attaching the nut at the same time... makes it pretty handy. Having a TIG is pretty handy.
JB Weld is good for many things, but high pressure metal-to-metal situations is not one of them. But it might work; I don't think the nut is on there THAT tight, it's just that the nut started rounding off, for some reason.
I was just kind of spit balling an idea...yeah, it might work or it might make an even more unmanageable mess. I've dealt with a lot of nuts and bolts that refused to budge, but most of the ones I've dealt with were the product of 40 years of sitting out in a field...ie...rust. I'm sure this one is probably the result of 20 years of heating and cooling and now that it's rounded, it's more of a challenge. Adding heat probably would've been a good place to start before it rounded, but now...now he has to get creative. Minus a welder I'm kind of at a loss as to what to do.
SnapOn makes sockets that are designed to grip the flat part of a nut rather than the corners. Perhaps you could take it to a shop and see if someone can use a snapon socket to remove it.
Sorry I am late to this but buy an inverted torx socket set and remove the stud, the nut will come off with it, those studs come out of the intake, they are threaded into a metal insert. Also known as an “E” socket set. Harbor Freight usually stocks a cheap set.
Thanks, everyone. This is what I went with. I was a little hesitant to strongarm the inverse Torx stud in that plastic, and knew the nut was done for anyway. I strangled the nut with vice grips, put a pipe on them and just went easy. 1/4 turn and I got it the rest of the way with the socket. The hardest part of the whole job was dealing with the coolant hoses that run into the bottom of the throttle body. I don't have a squeezy tool. One was pretty easy to do with channel locks, but the left one was funky. Anyway, done. All good. Thanks again. It's nice to have this Q&A spot for a rookie like me.
You don't need those coolant hoses; that passage is only there for operation in EXTREMELY cold climates where the throttle might POTENTIALLY develop ice and stick open. It's more trouble than it's worth, if you ask me, and it's a fairly common leak point for coolant. I eliminated this on Jungle Julia's LS swap; I cut the whole section off. Fun fact: GM no longer uses that on their Gen IV and up V8 engines, which should tell you how important it really is.
One last thing I forgot to mention: if you eliminate that passage, DO NOT JUST CAP OFF THE PIPE COMING OUT OF THE CYLINDER HEADS. That is the steam-hose that vents off any air pockets that might show up in the cylinder head. Without proper steam venting, you could overheat and blow a head gasket, or worse. Instead, just route that hose to the existing steam hose , bypassing the throttle body.