Valve Cover Bolts Snapped....What To Do

[BigMike18]

To my luck with my rusty 4th gen, my valve cover bolts on both sides sheared off almost exactly the same (Pictures below). They've got a bit of thread on em and arent fully inside the hole.

Tried vice grips, attempted a botched center punch with left hand bit/screw extractor (tried both), but the drill just cant get in there at the angle.

I was gonna try and get one of those right angle drill bits, but has anyone ever actually used those? Not sure how much faith I would have in it. They arent cheap either. Or maybe just go out and get one of those right angle drills themselves.

Im tempted to just go get MIG welder and weld a washer and nut on there and then heat the base up and see if that will break free. Problem is I've never welded before. Easy thing to do, will probably keep the welder to learn more about and mess with it to get better at it.

Any ideas would be great.
Mike

 

[MikeinNH67]

Im tempted to just go get MIG welder and weld a washer and nut on there and then heat the base up and see if that will break free. Problem is I've never welded before. Easy thing to do, will probably keep the welder to learn more about and mess with it to get better at it.

This is the best way. Cover the area with something to keep the slag out of the vital bits of course. The heat of welding is super helpful to freeing the bond. You could try heating the bolt up before putting vicegrips on it but the aluminum sucks the heat out kinda quickly. You need a welder anyways.

 

[djpope09]

I agree with Mike that welding would be a good way to go and it is a good excuse to buy a welder.

With that much of the bolt sticking out, have you thought about trying a pipe wrench with a pivoting head/jaw? I have a really old one kind of like this that I used to get some stuck thermostat bolts off my Ranger. If you apply some heat and good lubricant/penetrant I bet you could get those out without a welder.

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[Inv4drZm]

I would try the weld and heat idea.

Might also fit in an angle grinder or dremel and grind 2 flats on the bolts to then use a wrench on.

 

[AuSeeker]

I would try the weld and heat idea.

Might also fit in an angle grinder or dremel and grind 2 flats on the bolts to then use a wrench on.

I would be very hesitant to try and use an angle grinder anywhere near those aluminum heads, one slight slip and you have ground a deep groove in the sealing surface!!

 

[Buckaroo]

Looks to me like you have plenty sticking out to get a pair of vice grips on it. Spray the threads down with PB Blaster (keeping it out of the engine), let it sit an hour or so and repeat. Then gently move it back and forth a little (clockwise and counter clockwise) to get it moving. Should come right out.

 

[BigMike18]

This is where im at regarding it.
I've tried the vice grips before and the pictures dont do it too much justice, the angle at which to get at the bolts is not ideal. I can try again or recruit some buddies who might have some more strength on them.

I had an idea of possibly putting on a nut either equivalent or slightly smaller than the bolt itself, but applying Red Threadlocker (permanent kind). Letting it cure fully and then attempting to just remove it all at once with a socket or impact? Any thoughts on this? My immediate thought process for possible failure is just another break in the bolt farther down. Not only making the problem worse, but also probably piss me off more.


Welding is my last resort just because it is the most expensive, and a larger learning curve. If it does come down to that, is there any welder that someone might recommend? Been eyeing an Eastwood beginner type MIG welder, but what do I know.

 

[BigMike18]

Cant sleep so figured I would keep digging. I found this pretty elementary technique of stud removal/installation that I might give a shot before the Threadlocker attempt. This method most likely wont work for all of them due to length left, but all I need is two and I will be happy. That gasket seals surprisingly well on the valve cover.

Jam Nut Trick - Double Nut Technique for Removing/Installing Studs - YouTube

 

[MikeinNH67]

Worth a try if you have enough purchase. I would still heat the bolts as much as possible with a torch and spray some penetrant on there while it's still hot. The heat seems to pull it in.

As for welders, I like my inexpensive Everlast iMig. Does a nice job and I like not dealing with flux core. Before that I beat the crap out of the cheapest Harborfreight wire feed welder, paid less than $100 for it with a coupon I think. Removed many broken bolts with the weld on nut technique.

Access to this page has been denied

 

[MrSeth]

i had the same happen on my 1968 mustang. I ended up buying a MAP torch and using vice grips to slowly extract them while they were extremely hot! Then chased the threads. No more issues once I used antisieze on them.

 

[JBR14]

This is where im at regarding it.
I've tried the vice grips before and the pictures dont do it too much justice, the angle at which to get at the bolts is not ideal. I can try again or recruit some buddies who might have some more strength on them.

I had an idea of possibly putting on a nut either equivalent or slightly smaller than the bolt itself, but applying Red Threadlocker (permanent kind). Letting it cure fully and then attempting to just remove it all at once with a socket or impact? Any thoughts on this? My immediate thought process for possible failure is just another break in the bolt farther down. Not only making the problem worse, but also probably piss me off more.


Welding is my last resort just because it is the most expensive, and a larger learning curve. If it does come down to that, is there any welder that someone might recommend? Been eyeing an Eastwood beginner type MIG welder, but what do I know.

Personally, I don't think the threadlocker idea will work. I assume the nut you attach would come off rather easily. Welding one to it will be the "easiest" solution. If you dont have a welder or the skills, there are probably some mobile welders that could come to you and do it. No idea on cost, though I can't imagine it is too cheap. I would assume a minimum fee would be involved given that it would not take them too long to weld them on.

 

[Ultarnr]

Did you ever get this repair completed and if so, how?

 

[inscarguy]

There are a couple ways to approach this:

Get a heat induction tool. It's the safest and cleanest way to get them out because it heats the area around the broken bolt, not the bolt.

Get a set of sockets that will bite onto the stud an twist out. It also allows you to see if the broken bolt is moving out or about to break. Mark the bottom of the broken bolt with a colored marker. If you feel it start to feel it move, stop and see if you have see threads under the marked area. If you do then it's moving, if not stop because it's going to break.

Heat is your friend. You don't want to heat it so much that's it melts the aluminum. Heat up the area around the broken bolt, not the broken bolt, there will be some heat transfer to the bolt but not as much as the area around it. If you heat the bolt it will expand and make it tougher to remove.

If by any chance you break the bolt flush with the head while trying to remove it and have to drill, as said before cover the area well, put a small amount of grease on the bit sides. It will catch a good amount of material that might fall into the head. If you need to do a helicoil type kit, look into this one. It is great. I used it on my broken skid plate bolts, broken chassis bracket bolts. It comes with everything you need. Also if you doo need to helicoil it, put some red locktite on the helicoil so it locks it into place . Let it dry so the locktite does not get onto the new bolts

Amazon: Metric Thread Repair Tool Kit | HSS Drill Bits Taps Threaded Inserts Installation Tool and Tang Break-Off Tool Set for Repairing M5 M6 M8 M10 M12 Internal Screw Holes, 131pcs

Copy and paste this on amazon.

 

[MikeinNH67]

Did you ever get this repair completed and if so, how?

We never did get closure on this.
[MENTION=376432]BigMike18[/MENTION], what did you end up doing?

 

[BigMike18]

I actually have been out of the country for the past 6 months away from my 4runner. I never actually got the chance to try anything out, but will definitely be doing so once I return.

 

[nsxspdfreak]

While in the process of doing a top-end rebuild on my 4.7 I had 5 valve cover bolts break off flush with the top of the head. I first tried drilling one out using a small bit, but it was impossible to drill a hole without the bit wandering from the center of the bolt. Since the bolt was frozen in place, using an Easy-Out extractor was out of the question due to the risk of it breaking off and making further drilling impossible. So, I was back to trying to drill hole in the bolt to install a Helicoil, but I still needed to drill a hole in the centerline of the bolt. As it turned out, the 6m helicoil uses a 1/4" drill bit, which happened to fit almost perfectly in the valve cover bolt hole, so I bolted the cover back in place and used the cover as a guide for the drill bit. The centers of the holes weren't 100% perfect, but there was enough room in the cover's holes to allow for a slight out-of-alignment. Within 45 min I had repaired all 5 holes. The heads were out on the work bench when I did this, so I'm not sure how difficult this was be to do with the heads still on the block.

 

[dasx86]

This happened on V8 - my mechanic taped off the valve train and drilled out all 4 (maybe 5?) lower bolts on both sides. Had to remove the motor mounts and lift the engine in order to get the proper angle to drill, using a right angle drill to deal with lack of space...

All the creative ways to get these out without drilling failed. I guess the backside of the bolt is open to the elements, allowing for corrosion