[Bulti]

Well, I'll make the story short, but paint a picture of the situation I'm in:



The guy who set my cam timing also snapped off a bolt of my valve cover. He did not have the time to fix it the same day, so I was brave enough to try and fix it myself (needed the car).



When trying to extract the piece of bolt, my extractor sheered off and the piece is, off course, stuck.



Is there a way to get me out of this horrible mess?



The screws of the cover seem to screw into some kind of metal spacers (can't find the English word for those) which seem to be pressed into the aluminium. Is there a way to replace those, together with the remains of the bolt and extractor?



Please don't say "well, you need to take off your cilinderhead to do that". :-).



Why me, whyyyyyyyy?

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[flash]

bummer - i've done that. depending on how and where it is, the typical methods may yield results. a penetrating oil designed to loosen things may give you enough to back it out. heat may work too. of course, you could try to drill it out, but that is likely to put filings exactly where you don't want them.



even if you do get it out though, you'll be right back where you started, and i would be looking at other means of removing the broken screw.



p.s. if one broke, odds are another one is on the verge. i would change them all, or at least have some spares around. the rubber grommets underneath age out too. the torque spec on the bolt is designed to compress the rubber and reach torque before bottoming out. once those get old though, that no longer happens, and the bolts bind up at the bottom, which leads to breaking them

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[Porsche968CS]

I've had the same trouble a couple of weeks ago and solved it by TIG welding a normal 13mm bolt on the remains of the original.

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[flash]

lol - i've had to do that on bolts in the past. crazy how innovative you can get when you have no choice

a chisel and a "pop" or two might break it loose too, as long as you do it in the right direction

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

Neem de kleppendeksel weg , de bout heeft een voetje die een tik geven met een koud beitel .

Zorg dat je niet niks laat vallen dus afdekken de boel er lopen kanalen naar beneden .

Als je niet zeker bent van je zaak . Zorg dan dat je er iemand bij haalt die er wel verstand van heeft .

Succes

Sorry guys in dutch with a warning not to drop stuff in there .

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[Inkedupfatboy]

Google translate works too - well it's close enough - lol



"Take the valve cover off, the bolt has a foot that give a tap with a chisel.

Make sure you do not drop anything so cover things there are canals down.

If you are not sure of yourself. Then make sure you are someone who gets there by understands."

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[banditsc]

One of mine I just ground a slot in it and turned it out with a screwdriver.

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[Bulti]

Well, what's left of the extractor has only a very small piece that sticks out the top of the cilinderhead. Maybe i can use that ATF/aceton mix I read about in another thread? I don't know where the stuff wil drip into when it get's past the remains of the bolt and extractor.



As for the grommets: they are brandnew. When I removed the valve cover, some bolts where much tighter than others, so I suspect my Dutch friend of not having used a torque wrench when fastening them... So much for that "specialist".



   

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

that looks bad .

Only one thing left really drill the remaining piece out and install a insert (helicoil)

only 1 change doing it right .

if you mess up the hole is will be to big and you need someone to weld it close , it can we done with the head still in place , it is going to be difficult getting the surface flat afterwards , but it can be done .



good luck , that is a big bummer .



Also the valve cover gasket should not be glued to the head like that , use a new one and only use a sealant in the corners , i don't use any and have no leaks , so i would go without .

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[Bulti]

Mr Vliegwiel, thx for the advice, I really, really hope I can drill it out, what are the best drills to use? I use kobalt ones at the moment, are there better ones available?



I installed a new gasket and used it whitout any sealant just weeks ago. No leaks at all.



This mess is another present from Wolfs at Maatricht I'm afraid. Nice guy, but his employee never touches my car again, that's for sure.

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

if there is only a piece of the bolt stuck in there cobalt wil work .







I had a car here (domeinen ) a guy i new bought it , and it came from there as well , the sealant was all over the place , very bad habit with these cars .

I gave him a call because last maintance was done there , he said the engine was rebuilt car resprayd etc , mint condition , i woud not even have considerd buying , it was a mess with a lot of not original parts installed , a specialist does not do that if you ask me .

And to be honest i could not get the idle right , the car runs fine but shakes way to much at idle , but cheap motormounts , and i suspect an aftermarket flywheel wich is not suited for this car , guy did not want to spend any more money on it .

It should be a smooth car engne etc , they messed it up completly .

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[Bulti]

Not just the bolt, drilling a hole in that one went just fine. I have to drill the screw extractor out, which is made of hardened steel.



Are cobalt drills the hardest?



Inked, google translate works better than I expected, but I don't think the translaters of this world need to fear for their jobs ;-)

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[Inkedupfatboy]

That it true - lol

Sorry I can't help on the bolt thing - have you been soaking it in PB Blaster or something - hopefully that will assist when you try to drill out the hole.



Do you have room to mark it with a punch to center the drill?

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[gbarrier]

Carbide drillsa re harder than cobalt but more apt to shatter also. Cobalt may work but don't see how you are going to get a flat spot in the center to start. If any way, place a nut over top and weld the center fast then turn it all out with the nut. There's something about the heating and cooling that tends to loosen things also.

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[vliegwielolaf1234]

Take it to someone like an expereinced motor shop , they fix up broken studs on daily basis .



If there is still a piece in there of the extractor used , it is not going to work with a hand held drill and a cobalt drill bit , the metal of the extractor is very hard .

that is if the extractor is what i think it is .



you need somthing to keep the drill in place , i would use a thick piece of iron 3 cm thick and place it above/on the place you need to drill , put smaller hole in it and start with a small drill and work your way up , you need to support and bolt it in place over the hole that way you can drill exact in the middle and in a 90 degree angle and keep the drill in the right spot , maybe you need to take one of the caps off from the camshaft to do that o.r even the whole camshaft



I made work a few times like that , but wasted a hand full of drill bits in the process







My advice again find someone who can do this for you or has another way (like above heat while work sometimes .

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[Bulti]

Yup, I can punch a little dent in it right in the middle, the surface is flat enough to do that. Hopefully that will save me (and indeed a bunch of carbide drills). I will WD-40 it untill it drowns in the stuff.



If drilling it out with my hand drill doesn't work, I'll throw in the towel and have an experienced mechanic worry about it.



The heat thing I will not attempt, I like my cilinderhead unmelted. I'm brave, but not that brave :-)



Wish me luck!

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[flash]

you could use a soldering iron to heat that up. it would give you a lot more control than a torch. it'll take a while, but it will heat it up.

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[Bulti]

Okido, one soldering iron coming up. I needed to get me one of those anyway.



Maybe a stupid question: isn't heat going to make the metal expand and get it even more stuck?



Happy 24,000 by the way!

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[Inkedupfatboy]

The dis-similarities between the metals make them expand at different rates I believe.



That is why you heat up the area when you put a bearing in - the cold bearing slips in as it is the smaller of the two - then when the out area cools, it snugs down on the bearing...or when you heat an exhaust, you heat the outer tube, cool the inner one and you can work them apart.



Not sure if you heat what is left of the bolt or the block around the bolt. I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

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[Grandpa#3]

Anyone buying a cheap Extractor Set for bolts or screws is asking for the trouble you are now facing. As mentioned welding a nut to the broken bolt is the best way of removing it. By trying to drill out a bolt that has a broken extractor still lodged inside is only asking to maybe ruin the head by the drill bit wandering to either side of the hole making it much larger. You do not have that much area as the sides of the hole are not thick enough to risk the drill bit going off center. Since the shop mechanic broke the bolt off I would talk to them about covering the cost of the repair.



Cheers,

Larry

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