Coil Pack Bolts Stripped/Cross Threaded

[ridered74]

I had a shop replace all of my injectors recently, and the first thing I wanted to do when I got it back was put fresh spark plugs in. Four of the six bolts that hold the coil packs down just spin endlessly and feel very tight. Not sure if the idiot cross threaded them or just over tightened the crap out of them.

As someone who has always been meticulous when putting bolts and screws in, I have never stripped or cross threaded one myself and had to deal with getting a bolt like this out. Is there an easy way to remove the bolt? I have tried applying upword pressure on the coil while I turn the bolt but it does not want to come out at all.

Between this car and my last one I have probably done the plugs six or seven times. Putting that bolt back in correctly is the easiest part of the job. I can't comprehend how someone can f*** that up 4 out of six times when being a mechanic is what they do for a living.

 

[Johnbigdog]

Cut off the bolt head and order 2 new valve covers, gaskets, some rtv and 6 bolts.

And it's a good time to check tappet clearance! Kinda funny with all the over maintainers on fluids, no one really checks the vale train clearance since our cars dont have lash adjusters

And maybe talk to the shop who did the work.

Unfortunalty that evil called flat rate means the bolts were probably not started by hand and some power tool was used to find home and tighten the bolts down.

 

[luigisho]

Unfortunalty that evil called flat rate means the bolts were probably not started by hand and some power tool was used to find home and tighten the bolts down.

I agree with this. Speed and power tools

 

[krewat]

If you're into doing it yourself, I'd probably duplicate what the shop did - put a power tool on them and spin the crap out of them to completely strip them. They might come out easier. Then heli-coil 'em.

What I've done in some similar situations is, put a power tool on them (in this came, a cordless drill would work great) and as you slowly rotate the bolt counter-clockwise, put lateral pressure on the socket which forces the threads of the bolt harder against one side. It might be enough to overcome the tight fit and back the bolt out.

 

[citysmoke]

If you can slightly pry on them giving some upward pressure and use a air ratchet or impact driver and see if they will back out. Then Helicoil them. Good luck

 

[Johnbigdog]

I'm going to bet ridered74 has plastic valve covers and the brass insert is spinning in the platic cover. Hard to helicoil plastic.

 

[krewat]

I'm going to bet ridered74 has plastic valve covers and the brass insert is spinning in the platic cover. Hard to helicoil plastic.

Eww... you're probably right. Phooey.

 

[Airborne]

If you can slightly pry on them giving some upward pressure and use a air ratchet or impact driver and see if they will back out. Then Helicoil them. Good luck

Definitely the best fix!

Hopefully not plastic, then yes, new valve covers. That's why I do all my own work.

 

[ridered74]

Definitely the best fix!

Hopefully not plastic, then yes, new valve covers. That's why I do all my own work.

Just one of the many reasons why I also try to do my own work as well. I was a little worried about what I don't know as far as replacing injectors go. Still not sure I would have done everything right, but I guess the bright side is I'm OK with replacing the valve covers if it comes to that, it's just a real inconvenience not being able to replace my spark plugs right now. When the #2 cylinder was misfiring, I put an older plug in that cylinder and a new coil when I was troubleshooting the problem, so I'm driving around with 5 plugs that have about 5K miles on them and one plug that has closer to 20K on it. I did re-gap it before I put it in, but I just don't like having mismatched plugs in.

I like the power tool idea. I was trying the other things suggested, but was using a hand ratchet while lifting on the coil and trying to put side pressure on the bolt. I probably wasn't spinning the bolt fast enough for that to work with the hand ratchet.

 

[Airborne]

I do remember fixing stripped inserts in motorcycle plastic. Remove bolts with impact, carefully put some JB Weld between nut and plastic, run a tap in the threads after it hardens. Worked back then, worth a shot

 

[ridered74]

If you're into doing it yourself, I'd probably duplicate what the shop did - put a power tool on them and spin the crap out of them to completely strip them. They might come out easier. Then heli-coil 'em.

What I've done in some similar situations is, put a power tool on them (in this came, a cordless drill would work great) and as you slowly rotate the bolt counter-clockwise, put lateral pressure on the socket which forces the threads of the bolt harder against one side. It might be enough to overcome the tight fit and back the bolt out.

Bought a cordless drill and got the first one out (front right). I couldn't get anything under the bolt so I ended up using a prybar to lift up on the coil while I was spinning the heck out of the bolt.

Overtightening is the winning answer here. Once removed, the bolt spins freely into the fitting from top to bottom. Now to figure out a way to reattach it to a plastic valve cover and have it hold.

The real challenge is going to be getting the back two out. Not sure how I'm going to get the drill in those tight quarters, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

I appreciate the ideas! Getting this out has lowered my rage level considerably. I'm almost to the point where I feel like I can have a rational conversation with the mechanic.

 

[SHOdded]

Don't feel too bad. There are a LOT of bolts in the powertrain that are quite the opposite of hub nuts or lug nuts with regards to the amount of force required. If you ever have an opportunity to peek at the specs for the transmission control parts, you will find a light touch is required there as well. Specifying in in-lbs does NOT help, LOL.

 

[ridered74]

Turns out I spoke too soon. The second one up front was crossthreaded badly as well as stripped out. I used a tap and die to get the threads on the bolt and the other part as clean and repaired as possible, but it still wouldn't go all the way thru. The bolt would get almost to the bottom and stop no matter how many times I ran each piece thru the tap and die.

Being 10% macguyver by birth, I used about 8 metal washers on the bolt so that it is still applying downward pressure on the coil with the amount of thread that I can get the bolt into. I used a bit of superglue to hold the fasteners to the valve cover. If that lasts until next weekend I will tackle the back two, but I am going to find a more appropriate glue in the meantime. I don't have anything that is specifically for plastic.

 

[luigisho]

There are things like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Right-Angle-Drill-Adapter-DWARA50/203867866

Not sure about fitment back there

 

[ridered74]

There are things like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Right-Angle-Drill-Adapter-DWARA50/203867866

Not sure about fitment back there

I have a 90 degree adapter, just not sure if it will bind up when I use the drill. If it does I might have to buy that one. It looks like there is plenty of room on at least the back left one, the back middle might require removal of some other stuff.

Didn't know those existed, thanks for posting the link!

 

[NoSlo]

So, are we not going to make the shop buy new valve covers and the labor for someone qualified to repair this? Nothing would be more infuriating than a shop destroying an engine they were supposed to be fixing, because they can't read a service manual or torque specs, or even have the incompetence to not first turn a bolt backwards until it clicks into the existing threads. They would have to know the damage they caused while doing it.

Why I haven't let these monkeys ever touch my car. The tire places I have to subject the poor thing to can't even mount tires the right direction, or the wheels the right direction, or follow my instructions not to hammer fishing weights onto the wheels, or not break the lug caps, or gouge the wheels chiseling off old weights.

 

[ridered74]

So, are we not going to make the shop buy new valve covers and the labor for someone qualified to repair this? Nothing would be more infuriating than a shop destroying an engine they were supposed to be fixing, because they can't read a service manual or torque specs, or even have the incompetence to not first turn a bolt backwards until it clicks into the existing threads. They would have to know the damage they caused while doing it.

Why I haven't let these monkeys ever touch my car. The tire places I have to subject the poor thing to can't even mount tires the right direction, or the wheels the right direction, or follow my instructions not to hammer fishing weights onto the wheels, or not break the lug caps, or gouge the wheels chiseling off old weights.

Going to try but past experience tells me they are not going to admit that they did it. It's a pretty difficult thing to prove. We use this place for all of our work fleet vehicles, so I can't just go off on them like I would any other place. The car was at a dealer for four days before I had it towed to them, so they could also blame the dealer.

 

[luigisho]

Why I haven't let these monkeys ever touch my car. The tire places I have to subject the poor thing to can't even mount tires the right direction, or the wheels the right direction, or follow my instructions not to hammer fishing weights onto the wheels, or not break the lug caps, or gouge the wheels chiseling off old weights.

I agree with this also to include valet parking

 

[PaulTAutoX]

Going to try but past experience tells me they are not going to admit that they did it. It's a pretty difficult thing to prove. We use this place for all of our work fleet vehicles, so I can't just go off on them like I would any other place. The car was at a dealer for four days before I had it towed to them, so they could also blame the dealer.

That you use the place for work vehicles is leverage. You're a bigger customer and they may be more likely to make it right for you. The work order should show who worked on that part in dealer vs. independent.

 

[ridered74]

That you use the place for work vehicles is leverage. You're a bigger customer and they may be more likely to make it right for you. The work order should show who worked on that part in dealer vs. independent.

It's a family owned shop and it's just a father and son, but the son does most of the work, so there is no question as to who worked on the car. We have been phasing out the fleet vehicles over the last few years, so we don't really take them a ton of business lately or in the future. We are down to just three guys that still have company vans, and it might be once every six months that we take any of them in. They are way out in the stix outside of town, so they don't do regular maintenance for us, just major repairs when something breaks down completely.

I think he will make good on the situation, I'm just not yet to that place yet where I can have a rational conversation about it with him. I'm going to try to get to the last two rear ones out this weekend. If I am able to get those out and get temporary fixes on them and get new spark plugs installed, it will go a long ways towards my ability to have a rational conversation with him without every other word from my mouth rhyming with the word truck.