Hey folks...I changed my oil this weekend and discovered a bolt that just spins in place but doesn't come off. Its one of many that holds the plastic undercarriage protector. Luckily I was able to leave it on the spin the cover around to get to the drain plug and filter. How do remove this bolt? It's one of the 2 or 3 that is attached to the radiator support bar.

 

it's cross threaded. There's a clip on the back that it screws into. You need to hold the clip in place with pliers and then force the bolt out. After you get it out it's toast you'll need to replace the clip and bolt. I happen to me. I even tried chasing the threads and that didn't work. The clips are mounted on plastic and once the plastic rips its a goner. I ended up making a new plate out of aluminum bar stock, put a nutsert in it and riveted to the plastic. Work like a charm now.

 

This bolt is not screwed into a clip, but into the radiator support beam.

 

ok if it's screwed directly into the beam you need to force it out. get a wedge and slide it between the bolt head and the beam. I would use a trim remover (looks like a V-shaped cut, kind of like a weeder). while pushing on the lever so that you're trying to pull the bolt out turn it with a ratchet. This sould give enough bite to get it out. it may take a lot of force so give it to it. Since it's spinning you cant use an extractor but need to just force it out. Once it's out you can try chasing the threads in the hole with a thread chaser (looks kind of like a tap, but not as aggresive) don't use a tap cause it will just chew it up and cut out what's remaining. If that doesn't work you can either enlarge the hole and retap to a larger bolt or drill it out and use a nutsert of the same size as the original bolt. A helicoil won't work the metal is too thin.