Jeremy Dunn

By the title and what you see here can i get that out at this point? I tried drilling a hole but as you can see its off center. Or if any of you are in the north Houston area ill pay you 40 bucks to do it for me. Thanks

TomCat39

Usually you center punch the broken bolt to create the start point for drilling, then you use a cobalt drill bit to drill into the hardened steel of the bolt.

Usually an easy out at that point will work as those bolts are typically broken from the user over torquing them and snapping them, not from corroding into place.

Jeremy Dunn

So can I still get it out though? This is my daily so I need this car up and going again

mk378

Punching first so you drill in the exact center is important. Get a left-handed drill bit. When it grabs the bolt, it will often back it out.

To drive somewhere you can put the cover on with the other bolts (do NOT overtighten) and put duct tape over the hole for this one.

Jimi Hondrix

+1
OP: Left handed drill is also referred to as a reverse drill bit in case you have trouble finding one (which you shouldn't). Torque specs for valve cover bolts is (IIRC) 7-9 ft/lbs. A lot of foot/pounds torque wrenches don't start that low so you can use an inch/pound and convert foot/lbs to inch/pounds with an online calculator. A method I use is to tighten VC bolts with extension socket hand tight and then socket wrench drive another 3/4 turn for final tightening.

TomCat39

No calculator needed, multiply/divide by 12.

7 ft pound is 84 inch pounds. 12 inches to a foot.

Jeremy Dunn

I might plug it up for now. Can I just use a spare grommet and plug up the hole of the grommet?

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

yeah, you can. i've seen corks, etc jammed in them over the years

Jeremy Dunn

So i put the grommet on and covered it up with gorilla duct tape and there are no oil leaks anywhere. Thanks for the help.

Jimi Hondrix

Man's second best friend.

jorge74

If you start getting leaking valve cover,
HeliCoil would be a good option I had to do 3 on mines pretty easy to do also.