Fuel Filter Woes
 

Attempted to replace the fuel filter on my 2006 3.0 today but one of the bolts that holds the huge undercarriage panel up is rusty and stripped as I tried to remove it. Now it just spins in place but is still holding the undercarriage up and therefore I can access the fuel filter.

I’ve never had to remove a bolt like this. What should I do? I tried penetrating spray but it’s stripped, just spins. I tried prying at it but of course that didn’t work. Any hints would be greatly appreciated!

You cut the plastic and pull over the bolt.

I just had to do the same on my bumper cover.

Three of the spring nuts were entirely melded into the screw.

I used a small wood chisel and cut the plastic right at the outside of the screw. I pulled the bumper cover off through the screw head then I used angle grinder to cut the bolts off.

Rather than spring nuts I used metal drywall anchors and washers to anchor the replacement screws (and of course I had to use large washers to cover the big hole I made to remove it).

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In my case the screws were too deep to cut them with angle grinder. You might be able to directly access the screw head to cut them off.

No angle grinder? Sawzall, Dremel, hacksaw will all work. (you will likely need to hold the screw while cutting with vice grip or similar)

Depending on how/where the screw is located, you can cut a slit with utility knife and pull the plastic over the screw head. If thermoplastic vs. thermoset plastic you can even melt if back together


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The bolt that is stripped actually runs through the metal bracket that is up underneath the driveshaft, so cutting the plastic won’t work.

Add this to your tools collection:
Damaged Screw Extractor Set, Werkzeug 20 PCS Stripped Screw Extractor Kit for Broken Bolt Extractor All-Purpose HSS Bolt Extractor Screw Remover Set with Magnetic Extension Bit Holder & Socket Adapter

Use a small pair of vise-grips and "bite the bolt, tug and turn CCW" at the same time...

Neva gonna happen. The spring nut and bolt are fused as one. It's likely the exact pair I just had to saw off to remove my bumper cover.

The screw extractor won't help the screw turns just fine, the problem is the nut also turns.

If you can get behind with vice grip to hold the spring nut there is a time honored tradition with fused bolts on cars (especially with exhaust clamps); turn clockwise!

With bolts 8mm and smaller it's often a lot easier to turn the bolt/nut clockwise to remove it.

I'm never going to reuse an exhaust clamp bolt so about 1/2 to 1 turn clockwise is usually enough to pop the head off the bolt. The same can work on this if you can get behind with a vice grip to hold the spring nut.

If it's a sheet metal screw vs. machine screw like mine were, those will almost always come out once you can stop the spin.

If it's a machine screw forget about it; Neva coming out, cut it out.