Bured philips head screw

Try an impact driver

Yeah impact driver is the best, failing that give it a couple of good smacks with a pin punch about the same diameter as the head of the screw and then get a centre punch and centre pop it near the edge of the screw head but not that close to the edge that it will tear the metal and then proceed to tap it gently but firmly in the same centre popped mark with the centre punch at a 45 degree angle so the force is going in a anti-clockwise direction until, fingers crossed, it moves. This is all assuming you have enough access to get the punch and hammer on to it. Impact screwdriver is the best and not with an el cheapo phillips bit in it.

Drill it out??? The chewed out "slot" of the Philips head should be a good pilot hole. If you can get the other screws out you can work on the stuck one with a bit more freedom of movement on the workbench

Impact driver will only work if you have something solid behind the screw otherwise you will have more alignment problems than you started with.

If you can get to the rear of the screw and if it a machine thread, is it possible to put two nuts (locknutted) on the thread and wind the screw out "backwards" from the inside of the panel to the point where you can get a good grip of the head of the screw with vice grips?

It might be too late for this, but try dipping your screwdriver in valve grinding paste!

Hello Brent,
There is a tool you can buy from Jaycar Electronics that can come in quite handy, It's called a Grabit' .... part number ; Cat TD-2059 on the jaycar website$49.95 ! Although I would recommend making a barrier out of blue tack that will hold some penetrine or wd40 in a small puddle against the screw in question, leaving overnight to ease in it's removal.

Yep, scrape away surrounding paint so a penetrant (CRC, WD40, even diesel) can get in, keep it there over night with a dam or soaked rag, tap the bolt regularly to 'worry' it. Judicious use of an impact driver is very handy.

If it's raised, you can cut a slot in it with a coarse hacksaw and use a large flat blade with the square shank to turn with a spanner. If countersunk, you have more of a problem. Tap tap with a hammer is often a winner.

Can you undo the other screws and 'encourage' the remaining one with the latch itself? (ie: use the latch as the 'screwdriver')

Brent
Its only a Nissan ------ Oxy Acetylene!!!!

eerfree

G'day Brent.n, try cuttin' into the head of the screw with a hack-saw and make it for a straight head screwdriver.

Yes lapping paste can be good if not too damaged. If more damaged clean out the drive recess as much as possible then lightly hit the head several times with the ball part of a ball pein hammer. Then insert the screwdriver and give a few solid taps to the handle with the hammer to seat the driver into the recess. Now use as much force as you can to push on the screwdriver and simultaneously turning it, while keeping it square. If this doesnt work you are pretty much left with drilling/easy-outing it.

Hi Brent

the last thing i would use is a drill and an easy out - my experience with so called ezyouts is you start with a problem with a reasonably soft bolt or screw that you could drill out at a pinch but end up with a very hard broken ezy out in the middle of the very thing you wanted to get out - they usually break before get the problem solved - it is as good as impossible to drill out a broken ezyout.

Another post mentioned a hammer - I like the hammer solution only I would use the correct phillips head screwdriver in good condition - give a couple of very sharp hits with the hammer and it will probably come out - give it a couple of more hits and try again. It is also a good trick for most phillps head screws on door locks and hinges - they are usually frozen with thread lock or rust - if it wont let go - give the screwdriver a shap rap or two and it will usully come out.

Hope this helps

smort

Tapered reverse thread easy outs are engineering at it's worst
As torque is applied the easy out winds further into the drilled hole.
If the wall thickness in the damaged bolt/screw is a bit reduced from the drilling the easy out expands the screw tighter into the thread, making it harder to remove.

There are other better designs, parallel fluted drive in bolt removers.
Drill a pilot hole with the correct drill, drive in the screw remover, slide a special nut down the flutes until it bottoms and then unscrew.
If you select the correct sise and use as per mfg instruction successful on most occassions.

Although paint damage may occur a strong blue flame applied to the area, sufficient to cause metal expansion, will normally loosen the tightest screw.
Often required if a strong screw lock adhesive has been used.

Bob

I'd try the slot for a flat screwdriver first, but the maybe try drilling a hole and tapping(hammering) an allen key into it and hopefully unscrew. Make the hole a bit smaller than the key. Worked for us with a snapped bolt that holds the bellhousing on the back of the motor.

If you have to remove screws and can’t get them with the standard tap easy-out (which from my experience it cant be real tight if you can), then I strongly recommend you get your self some Snapon Multi-spline screw extractors.
We use then to get corroded screws out of equipment that doesn’t like you to be too rough with as it costs millions and a lot of the time it cant be repaired, and have found these to be the best of everything we have tried.
You can actually get some torque on to them while you give it a sharp tap with a hammer, just don’t overdo it and snap them off in the hole as they take some drilling out.

Snapon screw extractors