DJSang

I was putting my plug cover back on, and I torqued the hex bolt too tight, and the tip plus a bit of thread tore off. Now the piece is stuck in the valve cover, and I'm sitting here with the hex tip. What do I do??

Uncle Fester

Do you mean you torqued the head of the bolt right off? If that's the case, you might have to obtain a reverse drill bit (aka "easy outs") to get the rest of the bolt out.

Drill a hole down the center of the shaft of the bolt that's still threaded in the valve cover. (Of course, use extreme caution during the entire process). It might be easier to start with a smaller drill bit, and then move to a larger one. You must use an easy out that is sized appropiately for the bolt you are trying to extract. The size of the easy out also dictates what size the drilled hole must be.

Once you have carefully drilled the hole, drill into it with the easy out. Because the easy out is a reverse drill bit, you'll actually be drilling in with the bit rotating counterclockwise. This is good because counterclockwise is the direction for loosening a bolt. I've used this method a couple of times with success, but you must take your time and be careful.

If anyone else has any ideas, let's post them up and help this guy. I can imagine how he feels...

xviper

Have you tried removing the rest of the bolts and taking the cover off? If there is no head on that broken bolt, it might just slide right through the cover and you might see that there is enough of the bolt thread sticking up to grab with pliers. If not, do what Bob Vila ........... Oops, I mean "Uncle Fester" said.

The Unabageler

i used my finger to get mine out when i did that. the threads weren't torqued down into the hole, just the head was overtorqued and tore off the top with the cover on. those things are weak.

DJSang

cool, thanks guys, I'm gonna try tomorrow... hopefully I won't have to do the reverse deal... thanks again...