It is always the little issues isn't it. I am trying to swap my rear licence plate frame. The bolts are stuck! So far I have tried

Penetrating fluid - liquid wrench
Impact Driver
Screw extractor - snapped off the top of the screw
Screw Extractor again - Screw extractor stuck in bolt
Mechanic - Didn't want to charge me the $95/hr to do the job

I have not tried a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. I only have access to a cordless drill.

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

I have one in the exact same shape. I did try and remove it for about 45 mins but figured something would go wrong and I would wind up damaging something on the trunk and have just been dealing with it.
Would be interested to see what others say and /or what you figure out.

 

Before anyone suggests it, I also pulled the trunk liner to see about access from the back. There is no access. Looking behind the plate it appears that two nuts are welded to the panel behind the plate.

 

Correct as I have done the same and found the exact same thing even though I have a TLS

 

i know you mentioned a cordless drill....

but I would drill them motherfuckers out.

 

<-----------King of snapping bolt heads off.

oye.
currently, Im dealing with snapped off front engine mount bolt.
and I lost the key to my wheel lugnut locks and most likely will have to drill the lug nuts off.

sucks. big. time.

 

If your extractor doesn't work drill it out. Then re-tap with 1/4-20 thread.

Then to make sure you don't have to deal with this again in the future, go to the hardware store and get some nylon bolts, you won't have the corrosion problem again. I always change them when I get a new car, the $0.30 is worth it to never have to worry about that issue.

 

Had the same thing happen... bolt broke off, no luck with the screw extractor, wound up drilling it out with a carbide tipped bit, didn't damage the threads enough so I could get a new one in. I went with some stainless bolts and coated them in lithium so there will no rust/seizing issues. I did mess up my trunk trim a little though cause my hand wobbled holding the drill.

 

Assuming your lugnut locks are OEM, believe it or not there aren't that many unique keys. If you go to a local Honda/Acura dealer, I bet they can get them off for you in no time. I lost the key to the ones we had on our MDX and thought for sure we would get a flat and be screwed. Brought it in to the dealership and they took them off, no charge

An excellent idea regarding the nylon. The Mrs. Lexus has the nylon bolts.

My issue is getting the bit to bite. Bolt is so rusted and uneven it jumps all over and my concern is as you did messing up something on the trunk when I go at it too hard

 

Try using a smaller bit first. This will give the point of the larger bit a place to locate and should keep it from jumping around.

If you aren't comfortable with the risk of damaging the sheet metal it may be worth it to have a body shop take a look at it. As this isn't something that would take too much diagnosing you should be able to call around to a few places and find a decent price.

 

If I get ambitious, I may take a file to it first so I have a relatively flat surface to start with and have been using a pretty small bit. I wouldn't take the time to bring this to a body shop, but appreciate you offering up the idea.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how I coudl start the drilling? I have a screw extractor stuck into the bolt that already has the head snapped off. I assume I could just try and snap the extractor off with some vice grips. Worse case a hack saw?

Assuming I get it to snap near where it enters the screw should I start with a bit that is larger in diameter than the extractor or does it not matter because the initial contact will be with the extractor?

 

Do I wish that this was covered by a recall like the ECU cover. Being in an area with salt ont eh roads could nto have helped these bolts.

 

i forgot to mention, they are aftermarket.

 

Really? You want Honda to preform a recall because you can't unscrew your license plate? That seems a little excessive.

 

It would be absurd to expect a recall to cover this, but it seems to be a systematic issue. My parent's 99 Civic had a similar issue. Before I said the make of my car the mechanic guessed it was a honda. I want them to come up wit a system less prone to this issue. Nylon sounds like the way to go, but another to the cost of each bolt could also solve the problem.