I was changing the starter on my '98 Accord V6, and long story short I broke off the bottom bolt.

I am curious as to the ramifications of leaving it like this; attached with only one bolt.

any advice would be much appreciated

Thank you in advance,

Kevin

 

I wouldn't leave it like this, attached with only 1 bolt.

I haven't had a V-6, so I can only presume that access is difficult to remove the end of the bolt.

Had a similar problem with an alternator bracket a long time ago (not a Honda) and I really mucked it up. I tried to drill a hole in the bolt so I could use an easy-out, but the drill bit kept walking off sideways & I ended up damaging the block. (I'm presuming there isn't enough remaining bolt that you can grab??

So take your time fixturing a drill so it stays centered. Got a dremel-tool or some way to prepare the fractured face of the bolt to help the drill stay centered? You might want to try to find a left-handed drill bit (hard to find but they do exist). That way the action of the drill itself might back the bolt out.

 

It appears that you would only have friction of single bolt clamping to resist rotational forces on starter engagement and release. Ii would not trust a single bolt.

However if starter end engages positively (overlapping) w/ opening in bell housing then you have something to resist starter torsion and a single bolt should work. I could not discern from shop manual whether starter positively engages bell housing.

Best way to remove broken stub is to weld a nut to remaining end, even if broken flush w/ block. See videos on exhaust manifold replacement by South Main Auto and Robinsons Auto on youtube.

good luck

 

Most people don't have welding skills. Another way is to use a bolt extractor.

You will drill a hole into the center of the bolt using a drill bit that is slightly smaller in diameter than the extractor. You will tap the extractor into the hole and after a bit of going in, when it bottoms out you can then start pulling the bolt out with a ratchet since the extractor is righty loosey, lefty tighty, unlike the bolt