Genesis S310 broken screw and gas leak test

[Mr_Pacman]

Hey everyone,

2 years ago I purchased a charcoal Master Touch and have been having great fun with it.  I've burned a few steaks along the way but I'm getting the hang of things.

I have a 10 year old Genesis S310 with the 3 burners and knobs on the side. Last year, it decided to attempt suicide by self immolation as the greasy ribs I cooked caught fire and melted the cookbox.  I was plannig to give it away for free on craigslist and just use the charcoal master touch, but my wife wanted me to keep it around so she could use it.  Weber was great and sent me a new cookbox under warranty which I tried to install this weekend.

My 2 challenges are:

1) the screw holes in the cookbox were not threaded........so I broke a screw off in the hole as I was screwing it in.   It's the screw that is supposed to hold down the burner tube in the cookbox.  the burner end has some play and is not secured down.  Would you suggest perhaps trying to drill out the screw and then using another screw?  I could just leave it, but not sure about the slight amount of play the end of the burner has.

2) I'm not very handy and this was a bit of a job for me.  I want to make sure I don't have any leaks at all.  I was very careful and followed the instructions, but I did have to disconnect the fuel hose from the manifold and also had all of the burner tubes out.  Is it safe to say that if the gas lines are connected and the BBQ is lit , that spraying soapy water around all the connections is the best way to test for leaks. I was concerned about the fitting screwing into the manifold as that seems like an area that could be a source for a leak, but it appears to be fine.

Any other tests that I can do?

Thanks
James

[addicted-to-smoke]

My understanding is that the soapy water test is sufficient for letting you know about a leak.

If the screw broke off in a hole that was not threaded to begin with, I don't see how you have anything to lose by drilling it out and trying it again, possibly tapping some threads next time. But you want to secure it, as that play you mentioned can easily wiggle the burners OFF of the valves, creating either a leak, or a gas fire at the burner, or both.