Coil pack bolt broke on sr

[S13240]

Unfortunately my first coil pack bolt broke in half a couple months ago and the other half is stuck onto the valve cover I believe or to what it bolts to on the inside. You guys have any ideas how to take out the broken half that is still screwed in the valve cover? I was thinking about drilling it out, but I don't wanna risk it.

[godspeed]

take the head off and punch it out from the inside out, i guess you could put in a knew head gasket while you are at it, good luck

[burgy240]

Actually that would be the valve cover and the valve cover gasket wouldn't it? Just get the screw bits from SEARS that screw into broken screws and get them out. I would take the valve cover off before doingit though.

[S13240]

Yes it would be the valve cover and valve cover gasket, but I'm going to try to drill it out with a smaller bit first to see if I can get the broken half out of my valve cover. And if that doesn't do squat I'm going to have to try the alternatives.

[godspeed]

oh yeah, humm....well sorry, don't really have a car right now to look at....good luck

[RatedR]

I actually had a similar problem with my Sol back when I still had it. I broke off the mounting stud for the valve cover to be securely screwed onto. I suggest measuring the bolt and going to a hardware store for a tool called "Easy-out". You drill it into the broken piece and simply tap it out. Let me know if you need help, I'll try to drop as much knowledge as I can....

[S13240]

Thanks RatedR, a fellow Freshalloy member recommended me that tool and another recommended the drilling myself first to see what I can do.

[RatedR]

No prob~! You might want to make sure no sheddings from the stud falls into the head...get a vacuum cleaner to suck it out or something.

[S13240]

I was thinking about taking off the valve cover to do that drilling job. : )

[RatedR]

Well, if the KA is anything like my D15 (HAHHAH I had the S Sol~!), the valve cover itself wont have the mounting stud. It would actually be on the head....but that's just a thought. You'd have to take the valve cover off to find out. Logic tells me that it would be stuck to the head of your engine, cause there's no way the stud would just be on the valve cover and not all the way through to a solid piece such as your head.

[martin]

The retaining screws for the coil packs do just screw into the valve cover. Have you removed the coil packs to see if there is any of the broken stud protruding? That should be your first step. If there is you should be able to grab it to turn it with small vice grips or pliers. It shouldn't be too tight, as it probably proke due to miss allignment. Of the 3 SR's I've pulled coil packs off all three had at least one of these bolts bent. It's probably due to missalignment of the coil packs and the fact that the coil is threaded. So if you threadthe bolt into teh coil pack and don't have it rotated properly to line up with the threads in the valve cover it will bend the bolt as you try to force it... that's my thoery anyway.

If you can't get it out with vice grips/pliers, the E-Z out as alreday suggested is the way to go. This involves drilling a small hole in teh center of the broken bolt - not always easy with an already small bolt, then screwing the E-Z out into it - E-Z out is a left hand thread tapered thingy that will grip and bind as you screw it in (left handed) and unscrew the broken bolt. At least that's the thoery! More expensive ie. Snap-on stud removers work differently, you drill the hole and tap in a cross between an alen key and a torx bit, then have a nut that fits over it which then just allows you to unscrew the broken bolt. These tend to be more sucessful because you drill a specific sized hole for the part you tap in which just allows it to grip, rather than continually forcing out on the broken part like the wedge type do.

Anyway I hope this helps. My bet if you can get it out without any fancy tools.

-Martin.