So the original black on my valve cover was peeling off so i decided to buy some engine paint and paint it. Got everything off and painted and the gasket was good so i go to put it back on and all hell breaks loose.

The manual says to torque it down in this order
7 3 1 5
8 4 2 6

thats if u were looking directly at it and to torque them to 7.2 lbs-ft. Well i set my torque wrench to a little bit past 7 and start tighening them slightly then i go around again to get them the whole way. Well before the wrench clicked i ended up breaking studs 1, 2, and 4 i didn't even realize i broke 1 till i tried to get the spark plug cover on. Well i just tightend the others till there were tight and started the car to see if it would leak any oil.

No oil leaks after about 5 minutes at idle so i figured i'd take it for a spin around the block to make sure it wouldn't leak under any running. No leaks there either. Thank god.

Do you guys think it was a malfunctioning torque wrench or just the studs are old and i need new ones? What honda part number are they if anyone knows?

 

Did you torque down the studs without lightly hand tightening each studs? What I do is hand tighten each of the studs in order and then I torque down the stud to 7.2 lbs-ft.

 

i tightened them down lightly the first run through to get them started then i torqued them down....

 

get new ones and be careful next time.
also are you usind a big 0-150 ft-lbs or the in-lbs one?the big one is way too big for those studs.