Stripped valve cover bolt

[CaptainMurphy27]

Hey guys, I was looking my SHO over today (1992 3.0L MTX) and found one of the valve cover bolts to be loose. I tried to tighten back up, but it just spins, so I suspect the threads are stripped. I haven't had time to pull the valve cover off yet to see what's going on, but I was thinking about using a Heli-Coil? Has anybody else had this happen? Thank you!

 

[luigisho]

Yes and yes you can do this. Make sure there is not a piece of the stud still in the hole. Everything is soft aluminum so be careful

 

[Irish Pride]

Pull the bolt out and make sure that it's not broken. Very common for people to over tighten the VC bolts and snap them. If it isn't broken and the threads are indeed stripped then helicoil will be the next step.

-Chad