I am hoping that one of you techie types has run into a solution or other info that might be useful here. I have an eight year old Kitchenaid cooktop with sealed burners. Each burner is held on with two torx head 'bolts', (quotes because they are at least now these wide thread things like self tapping screws). At this point, all but the least used burner's bolts are frozen on and it appears that my only solution may be to drill all the heads off, remove all the burners and then the glass-top, and replace the Burner Holders at ~$35 each. The good and bad news is that I am fairly handy with a good (but not perfect) selection of tools.

When new, and during the first year or more, I was often removing these screws to modify orifices and clean under burner plates. A #20 torx bit driver is now a permanent kitchen tool. But they became more difficult to remove and I annoyingly got new screws from KA. I was essentially on a first name basis with KA for this and other issues with this cooktop. The new screws didn't really seem to fit cleanly and I cautiously replaced some but not all because of the odd fit. KA today says that there is a new part number for the bolts.

With time, and striped screws, I just gave up on removal for cleaning until this week when the ignitors started clicking. Having removed (sometimes successfully) various bolts with hacksaws to easy outs, I knew I was in for a battle. I was under the perhaps incorrect impression that the burner had to be well attached for proper flame operation. I decided to work only on one burner so as not to ruin the whole cooktop at once.

I initially had tried freehand drilling with these two sided burnish/easy out like bits with almost no penetration or bite. In preparation, I purchased some alleged quality bits from a local industrial supply company. I removed the cooktop to my very old, huge Drill Press. [Turns out that my drill press table wasn't raising/lowering properly so I raised the cooktop on a box; it wasn't going to be perfectly flat anyway with odd things on the bottom]. The torx head helped with good centering but the heads were hard to drill, but with a larger bit, I was easily able to drill the heads off and remove the burner. I had assumed that I could grab the stubs with a vice grips and turn them out. I used some PB Blaster (penetrating oil) but only for a few minutes. Unfortunately, the stubs were variously fragile, stuck and hard. They tore off with the vice grips. I was able to drill one almost deep enough for a #2 easyout but it didn't quite bite and the other stub never centered. I tried files for flatening and a punch but the burner holder has moderate flex. Anyway, even with moderate damage to the integrity of the bolts, they won't drill out enough to disintegrate.

I suppose that I Might have better drilling luck if I had drilled off all heads, removed burners and glass top, and separated burner holders. However, then without success, I would have a non operative cooktop with no way to rebolt burners. My current loose burner does seem to work OK although of course it is not grounded and its ignitor spark has nothing to jump to.

I am hoping that I have missed something obvious, but it looks like my only solution is to buy all new burner holders and bolts. I suppose that <$150 for parts isn't all that bad to repair a cooktop, but I don't see why this likely won't happen again even with a #20 torx bit sitting in the kitchen drawer. Well, at least with all the moving and banging around (or a lucky burner choice), the clicking ignitors went away!