we were puttin my valve cover back on cus i had it painted like the type r red one, and my friend was tighting the nuts and busted the head off, it was the one closest the plug wires down in the grove, on my 99 LS, and then one on the back of it to the left.. the 2 in the front wont come off now so i guess im screwed.

 

yeah the torque spec on them is real low, i think only 8lbs if im not mistaken. make sure you get it fixed becasue you will leak air if you dont

 

moral of the story...be gentle, read directions and DONT RUSH

 

i sheared the top 2 off when taking them off a while back, i goy a set of complete valve and plug cover nuts and bolts but have yet to fit them.

 

ur not screwed. if u take the cover back off, you will see that that stud can be changed out. Acura charges like 10 bux for it i think for a new stud

 

yea i broke an outer one ... new stud was like $5-10 i think .. and with the cover off ... you can actually get a wrench around a square part of it .. and wrench it off .. and wrench a new one back in its place... easy stuff

 

what did u mean about the air getting in or out??


oh well listen to this, the 2 bolts up front that hold it down are stripped i think we couldnt get them to come off, they would twist but not come up, cus we were gonna take it off to fit the first one we busted off cus i went to acura and got the nut and the parts, but i dunno..it doesnt seem to be leaking oil anywhere

 

Yeah, just go to acura and buy the studs. Pop the valve cover off, and use a vice grip to pull the studs out. Place the new stud in and this time use a torque wrench and factory specs when working on an aluminum head!

he he, also the worst thing that could happen is a little oil could leak outa the gasket. no big deal, a valve cover is no more than a fancy pancy dust cover, it keeps dust out and oil in... not like the valves or gonna shoot our or sumpin.

 

its pretty simple. try what these guys said.

 

I have broken these studs on 3 different cars

I now use my torque wrench religiously. I have even broken the valve adjustment screws. I torque them also now.

 

This happens to a lot of people actually (I've busted 2 of them ). Invest in a torque wrench and torque it to spec, which is 7.2lbs/ft.

The good news is that this can be fixed very easily. Go to the Honda/Acura dealer and get the stud/bolt. Remove your valve cover and you will see that you can take of the broken stud (you'll need a deep socket). Put in the new stud/bolt and make sure you torque that sucker to spec also (20lbs/ft). Its easy, once you get the part and take off your valve cover you'll be able to figure it out for yourself.

David

 

I did it once on my civic, it didnt leak air but it did leak oil. I just backed the stud out with a screw driver and bought a new one.

 

For the valve cover, I highly recommend a torque wrench that reads in-lbs. You can use it for spark plugs, too. Most larger torque wrenchs aren't as accurate on the extreme lower end of the scale.

 

good thing is its not leaking any oil


thanks guys!

 

i just busted a bolt to the spark plug cover. will it affect anything?

 

Same thing. You will need to replace the stud. I don't use that cover anymore, I'm too lazy to take it on and off.