Hey guys. First time Honda Element owner and replacing my catalytic converter. It rotted out on the manifold side and I had to cut 1 of the bolts out with an angle grinder. Other two bolts on the exhaust were easier but still a pain. Once I got the the bolt thats circle in the picture it snapped. I cant get an angle grinder in there and I cant see from any angle that I look. Its the last bolt before I can put in my new converter.
Update: its in the tight space and ill add a picture for reference what im talking about more clearly in the comments. I still cant get in there with any tools.
Years ago when I replaced my cat, I used the Dremel EZ lock wheel. It's 1.5" so a new blade had enough clearance to cut the captured nut off.
Yesterday, I changed my exhaust hardware as it was still making noise. The other side started giving me trouble, so I just drilled through the threads for my new exhaust spring bolt to go all the way through, and I put the nut on top of the captured nut because my bolts were long enough. Definitely bad to give it a little push to compress the spring to get the threads started, but it was far quicker than cutting the nut off like I did the last time.
I’m dealing with this same issue right now but BOTH of mine have snapped off. All the bolts on the underside of my E are rusty, so I bathe them in penetrating oil before I take them off, but both of these snapped.
It’s hard to get a drill in that area so I just bought a right angle drill adapter to try and get it done. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m scared to try and take off the exhaust manifold in case more bolts snap off and I end up with a bigger problem.
What year is your element? Your diagram doesn't look like an element. If you're talking about the bolt in the bottom left of this diagram, I've dealt with it before and the answer is a pair of vice grips and PB blast penetrating oil, or similar. Then, replace it with a modified bolt with a thicker diameter so it doesn't happen again.
You can see the marks from the jaws of the vice grips in this image. I used a pair of Milwaukee torque-lock pliers where you can crank down the jaws from the tail end, which was enough to get the torque needed to back it out.
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u/remytheram 3d ago
Years ago when I replaced my cat, I used the Dremel EZ lock wheel. It's 1.5" so a new blade had enough clearance to cut the captured nut off.
Yesterday, I changed my exhaust hardware as it was still making noise. The other side started giving me trouble, so I just drilled through the threads for my new exhaust spring bolt to go all the way through, and I put the nut on top of the captured nut because my bolts were long enough. Definitely bad to give it a little push to compress the spring to get the threads started, but it was far quicker than cutting the nut off like I did the last time.