my 2000 accord v-6's timing belt tensioner stopped working and so i decided to replace the timing belt, water pump, ider pullys, and tensioner as i have 190000 on it now, i had the same thing done at 105000. anyway all went fairly well, everything was replaced including all new cooling and heater hoses. the manual said after the belt was installed to tork down the idler pully and tensioner bolts so i started and the first bolt on the tensioner snapped. i have no idea how to get the bolt out of the motor, you can't see it from the top or bottom, to get a drill bit on it to dril out a hole so the extractor can get a bite. short of pulling the motor is there another way? thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

I am not so familiar with the V6 setup. Can you take a picture? One from far back and one closer will help.

That is odd that the bolt snapped. Did your manual say in-lb, and did you set it to ft-lb?

 

You said this happened when you were torqueing down on it? So the bolt was loose right? It wasn't like it snapped when you were loosening it?

If so the part that's still in the engine is probably able to spin freely since the head of the bolt is gone, theres nothing holding it in place. That means you can probably just spin it out by buying left hand drill bits at Autozone or something.

But to do that you would have to be able to get the drill bit on to the part that's still in there and not veer off into the block itself. This might be hard to do if the bolt goes in sideway and I think that's what you're trying to say here. I had the good fortune of unfortunately snapping a bolt off on the head but that bolt was clearly visible and facing up so I had an easy time spinning it out using left hand drill bits and there was no resistance whatsoever. In fact the drill bit didn't even have to go into the bolt, it wore a tiny dimple on it but the torque alone was what spun it out. I had to get it out of the threads and then use gum on a toothpick to catch the broken part and fish it out of the hole the bolt goes into.

Check the part that broke off, if it broke off flat and not like a slope you can probably just try it. But be careful and don't go off into the sides. If you can't do this I don't know, you might have to pull it.

God this brings back terrible memories of that summer day when I thought I knew what I was doing. Let me torque it down with the torque wrench I said, I must have went down on it at least ten times, still not hearing a click or feeling one. Let me go down on it once more <SNAP>, wrench instantly felt loose. I pulled the wrench off and the bolt just pulls out. I just sat there in disbelief sweating like hell, the whole moment was surreal. You can bet I've never done something that stupid ever again. Oh those days...