broke valve cover bolt off

[BenSwanson]

i was feeling really proud of myself as i finished my valve adjustment at 0130 this morning

then God decided to humble me a bit

i broke off THE LAST bolt i was putting in on the back valve cover (one of the small bolts at the side)

it didnt seem as though i was torqueing down on it to hard, must of started it in wrong thread or something, but the head is off and the rest is down in there

i really dont know how to handle this situation as i have never had this happen. Im guessing drill it out and rethread it, any other suggestions?

 

[BenSwanson]

uhh...i just searched and found about 10 threads on this topic. so if i tried to just punch the broke piece out will i ruin the threads. what about with that sears tool? is there a way to do it w/o ruining the threads?

 

[bybyc5]

if the bolt is above the head you could use a pair of vise grips and back it out, if it broke off below you could use a small drill bit and a screw extractor.

 

[BenSwanson]

the bolt is buried down in there (not sticking out at all) if i use the drill bit to get it out, will it ruin the threads?

anyone got an extra valve cover bolt, one of the small ones at the side?

 

[MOSHO92]

Wow. Im sorry, the exact same thing happened to me when i did the job. Same crappy side bolts. I ended up drilling out the entire thing after breaking two easy-outs in it. (the easy-out actually was stuck in the drilled hole, then i had to re-drill through the easy out!!) Finally got through and used a helicoil. Works perfect!

 

[BenSwanson]

what is a helicoil?