Sripped screw(any ideas?)

[TK_Encore]

not at home right now so i dont have a pic for you guys at the moment, so bare with me until i get home. my engine has been smoking/overheating, so when i go to take off the valve cover(SOHC) i got off all screws but one. the first screw of three on the driver side just spins both ways. any ideas on how to get it off?

[S13Joe]

if it spins both ways freely you should just be able to pull it out, its not running on any threads if it spins both ways. either just pull the screw out or pull the valve cover off with it.

whats the color of the smoke btw?

[TK_Encore]

i tried to pull it out but its in an odd place if, wish i had a close up pic to show you. and tried to pull the whole cover off to but no go, it spins free but kinda stuck in there.

and it was at night but it was a dark color. i had to put a full 2 liters or more of water in each time after it happend

[SirSilvia]

oh wow, hope its not a cracked block, you could be getting antifreeze in the block.

[S13Joe]

wait... what were you putting water in?

[TK_Encore]

wait... what were you putting water in?

lol the rad...the first time it overheated i thought maybe it was just low on water and it was really really low, but it turned out to be more than that

[I_Farted]

aaaaa only mustang drivers poor water into their motors remember...

try lifting the valve cover off slowly and pry it out

[S13Joe]

aaaaa only mustang drivers poor water into their motors remember...

try lifting the valve cover off slowly and pry it out

lol, didnt want to see a repeat.That was the most epic thread of all time though.

[Bstrd240SX]

sounds like the upper part of the threads are stripped out and the bottem part of the threads dont want to catch. try slipping something rather thin between the head and valve cover (like a wire coat hanger) and then push down on the far end of the valve cover while you turn the screw

if im correct in my assumption, the screw should catch and spin out, even if its hard to turn

[I_Farted]

[TK_Encore]

ok so sounds like im gonna have to pry and pull, guess it doesnt matter if the cover breaks or whatever because i have a spare....thanks guys

lol, didnt want to see a repeat.That was the most epic thread of all time though.

so im just wondering if anyone has a link to this thread, sounds good lol

[S13Joe]

ok so sounds like im gonna have to pry and pull, guess it doesnt matter if the cover breaks or whatever because i have a spare....thanks guys

so im just wondering if anyone has a link to this thread, sounds good lol

http://mustangforums.com/forum....html

enjoy

[TK_Encore]

haha wow.....thats all i can say

[Dattebayo]

Don't pry it off. You can damage the VC mating surface.

I would try to lift the cover off and have a buddy try the screw again whilst pulling the cover up. With that extra bit of pressure pushing the screw up, the threads that are still good should catch and you can probably remove it all the way.

[SX APPEAL]

Um, I know this isn't really the topic of your post, but why are you trying to take the valve cover off anyway? If you're losing that much water, you should either be looking under the car for leaks, which I'm sure you would have noticed by now, or doing a compression test or cylinder leak down test to figure out how the water is getting into the combustion chambers, neither of which require the removal of the valve cover.

[Dattebayo]

Um, I know this isn't really the topic of your post, but why are you trying to take the valve cover off anyway?

You have to take the valve cover off to take the cylinder head off.

Maybe he's going to swap heads and gasket? Noooo, that couldn't be!

[Bstrd240SX]

or doing a compression test or cylinder leak down test to figure out how the water is getting into the combustion chambers,

well the options available on this will fit on a sticky pad sheet

bad intake gasket - only happens on intakes that have coolant passages that come off the headbad head gasket

and considering the cars overheated (numerous times?), a head gasket isnt a bad idea, even if thats not the problem

[Dattebayo]

The head on either KA is notorious for warping when overheated to much. This can further cause overheating from the extra strain put on the components inside the head from being out of spec. I have heard of it going as far as breaking a camshaft in some extreme cases, one even recently on here...

[tercel drifter]

take a drill bit drill through the screw tap an oversize hole and call it a day

[sr20detman]

if you put a screwdriver under the valve cover, put pressure pulling the bolt up. trying spinning it out that way.

[JdrifterCA]

http://mustangforums.com/forum....html

No effing way.......

[TK_Encore]

well the smoke was coming from the back of the the block, so my first thought was maybe the cover has a small crack or somethin. when i found that screw that was my only focus lol

.....oh and you wanna know the weird thing, my car has overheated in the past but it was really normal. no smoke and the temp. meter would go up so i could tell it was over heating. but this time the meter said it was a normal driving temp, but there was smoke everywhere, what does that mean?

[safin]

[SX APPEAL]

You have to take the valve cover off to take the cylinder head off.

Maybe he's going to swap heads and gasket? Noooo, that couldn't be!

I'm quite aware you have to take the valve cover off to remove the head. And I'm also aware that its a lot better to find out exactly whats wrong with your car by diagnosing it rather than ripping it completely apart looking for the problem.

well the options available on this will fit on a sticky pad sheet

bad intake gasket - only happens on intakes that have coolant passages that come off the headbad head gasket

The KA has the upper radiator hose going into the intake manifold...

Guess I'm just not much for throwing parts at a problem and hoping it goes away, I'd rather figure out what the problem is and fix it right the first time, but to each his own

Anyways back to the original point, if the holding pressure thing with the screwdriver doesn't work (it usually does) then drill it out, tap new threads and helicoil it, that way you can still use the same size bolt.
Modified by SX APPEAL at 4:46 PM 2/10/2009

[TK_Encore]

well i got the screw out using all 4 of my hands lol, but it is freezing out today so thats all i did. cover looks fine btw, so maybe ill do a compression check when i can get some help because ive never done one before.

and did anyone have any info on the temp meter reading fine even though there was clearly a problem?

[SX APPEAL]

I find that my stock temp gauge reads the same whether the engine's at 130 or 200, so I wouldn't trust it. Plus I don't know your exact circumstances, it could have been that your car still had a large enough volume of water in it at the time to dissipate the heat even though a lot of it was going... wherever it was going lol.

[Dattebayo]

If you have smoke coming off the back of the motor, maybe one of the heater hoses has a crack in it.

I'm quite aware you have to take the valve cover off to remove the head. And I'm also aware that its a lot better to find out exactly whats wrong with your car by diagnosing it rather than ripping it completely apart looking for the problem.

I was not going to be a d!ck this time and automatically assume the guy did not diagnose his problem. Sometimes people are good like that. Jaded much?

[SX APPEAL]

Jaded much?

By this place? Noooo, that couldn't be!