I really was trying to be careful. Had my 5mm allen socket firmly in place. Dangit. Stripped! Has there been a consensus on the best way to remove a stripped spark plug cover allen bolt? I have a set of drill based screw pullers. One is the older craftsman style ... the other is a set of 3 reverse screw type bits. I can't see my drill as having the right torque to get this bolt out. The other one, which I did manage to get off (stopped at bolt #2 = stripped) was on pretty darn tight.

Ugh. Why did Honda use allen head bolts?!!?! For a company that makes bipedal robots, I sometimes wonder about some of their engineers.

Methods I've read about:

1. Tin foil in the bolt, get a snug fit on the allen wrench.
2. Drill out the bolt head, it will pop off, the rest of the bolt will come out easily when the spark plug cover is off.
3. EZ out (not sure how different these are from my newer drill based screw pullers).
4. Make the bolt head into a flat head screw head.

Does anybody make a better aftermarket bolt that is less prone to stripping / sticking?

Ok, I'm gonna go smash something, then cry in a manly sort of way.

 

1. Did you overtorque them previously? They only need a few foot*lbs to snug them up.
2. It's important to have a good fitting hex wrench and to "snap" the bolts free when you remove them.

I've taken off my spark plug cover tons of times and never had a problem. A little anti-seize helps, too.

I'd probably try using a dremel or other tool to notch the allen head to take a flat head screwdriver.

Don't despair. The metal VTEC cover is easy and fairly cheap to replace even if you need to cut into it.

 

I'd try to get an impact driver on it ( the kind that you hit with a hammer to turn), using the appropriate 5mm allen key if you can rig that up somehow. Otherwise the tin foil method would be my next choice. They usually only strip when the wrong sized allen key is used, or they have been cranked down way too tight. When I install mine I put anti-sieze on the threads , and torque them to 8.7 ft lbs, and they never get too tight to get out the next time. Make sure you are using 5mm and not the next closes SAE size.

 

An easy out would work, too.

But I'd work up the ladder of aggressive.

 

When you replace the bolts use a touch of anti seize.

 

I removed a stripped spark plug cover bolt from my S2 this afternoon. Had to drill a small hole into the center of the bolt, then I was able to remove it using a reverse bolt extractor bit. Worked perfect.

Got my set of 3 extractors from home depot for $20. Also got new allen screws, exact same as stock, which are 6mm x 20.

 

You can try shoving a torx bit into the bolt and back it out.

 

Mine were damn near welded in. I stripped 2 badly. Before I went to drilling them out, I stuck a brand new torx in there and tapped it with a hammer a few times. It came right out.

 

How long are the bolts? I'd love to stop by Lowes or Home Depot later and get a new set of 4. 6mm x 20 x ???

Thanks,

DT

 

^^ Replied via email.

Im seeing a few wrong choices up here so I'll share more advise

DONT use a torx bit to try to unscrew it. The bolt heads are made out of aluminum. You will strip it even more. The Allen pattern in the head is actually also a reinforcement. Once this is gone (Rounded) the remaining material is like butter.

When installing them, no need to torque them. Just turn lightly until your hand stops. Use a short wrench.

DONT try to cut the head to make it into a were a flat screw driver can be used. You'll end up cutting/scraping some of the valve and spark plug cover itself since the bolt head sits pretty flush with them.

Use an extractor. That's what they are made for. They use a reverse thread pattern that penetrates into the bolt while being driven counter clock-wise so the bolt will be unscrewed.

This is the one I got:
Grabit