I got done doing a valve adjustment & was putting the valve cover back on.
So it has the 8 studs that come up through it that u put the nuts on to tighten it down. 4 of the studs are on each corner of the outside edge of the cover & 4 are in the middle of the cover.

Well i set my torque wrench to 7 ft/lbs like the specs say & began to tighten the nuts down. Well on one it just snaped the stud right off, dam it. It was one of the ones on the middle part of the cover.

So my question is will this cause oil to leak, probably past the seals around the spark plugs so it will drip down on the plugs? Or is it not a big deal since i still have 7 of the 8 tightened down. Obviously i plan to replace it, but i was just wondering if i should be ok to drive it around for maybe 1000 miles or so until i have time to replace the stud?

 

Well, on my d15b7, two of the studs have stripped threads so the nuts only turn (but don't come off). I think one is on the radiator side left of the valve cover and the other is in the middle... the only problem I have is a bit of oil on the plug in cyl 3. Other than that, no real issues, and I've been driving around like that for a year or so now (i'm putting another motor in anyway). Since yours broke in the middle, I don't think you'd have to worry about any external oil leakage. To fix it you will need to drill out the hole, tap it, and install a new stud (I believe machine shops will do it for a small fee)... Hope that helps somewhat.

 

yea thanks. i figured it would not leak outside the valvecover since its the inside stud. but i was worried it might leak a little oil on the plugs on that side now

 

I really hate the design they have, I wish they'd have used steel inserts or something. Guess torque specs always pwn us. I'm planning on fixing the head I got in a trade (all FIVE toast). I'm going to try mediablasting a few bolts the same thread size (to reduce their size a bit), filling the holes with JB weld, then threading those bolts (covered in oil) into them, then retapping. If it works, it will be better than filling & blindly tapping, since it will leave the most metal in there.

Either that or I'll have someone weld it then I'll retap it.

 

A broken valve cover bolt is nothing. It won't have any adverse effects. Oil can't get in the spark plug tubes even if all 8 bolts were missing because as soon as the cover is dropped onto the head, the seals slide over the tops of the plug tubes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EnzoSpeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A broken valve cover bolt is nothing. It won't have any adverse effects. Oil can't get in the spark plug tubes even if all 8 bolts were missing because as soon as the cover is dropped onto the head, the seals slide over the tops of the plug tubes.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats not true, on d-series valve covers there is a gasket that is placed with the bolt to prevent oil from coming out, pretty much, its an open hole to the valves, and if you just took one bolt out, you would see oil on it.

 

Oh yeah

You'd have to plug the holes in the cover with tape or something.

 

actually... I miss read your post. You were talking about the spark plug holes. I wasn't. But still, oil will get everywhere.

 

Wedge a small, folded piece of a clean rag under the spark plug wire cover to keep the crankcase vapors from making any more of a mess than it has to.

Replacement part number: 90014-PR3-000 (about $4 to $5).

 

mine was 5.80 something after tax.