One valve cover torx bolt stripped

[PolarGlade]

So the title says it all. All the valve cover bolts were torqued or frozen so tight I almost stripped half of them. I'll give you one guess which one did strip. Yep, the pain in the ass passenger side that is closest to the body in the rear lower corner. So here are the options I see for getting my S4 back up and running, they are as follows.

1. cut off the head of the bolt and once the cover is off, try like hell to grip the stump and break it loose.

2. bust the corner of the valve cover so I get better access to the head and block it to get a good grip.

3. put it all back together and watch my S4 leak all over the place like a VW bus for the rest of the time I own it. (I really hate this one)

4. put it on a flat bed and take it to the dealership and stroke a huge check.


Pick your favorite or please post other ideas.

this pic was hard to get lol

[brndll]

You have other options. There are several type of stripped head extractors.. here is an example. Its just the first one I spotted. Not the best, not an endorsement, just an example of another option.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...0125xMPTLSx025


The key is that you dont do anything rash. Think it through and check out all the options before you proceed to cutting the head off. I think you have more plays than the ones you listed.

[SeattleAWD]

Yeah. I hate it when this happens. The most fail-proof way to handle it is to use an extractor bit. http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/searc...word=extractor

In cases where I haven't had one of these handy, I've successfully used a thick rubber band in between the stripped bolt and my torx bit. It seems to give some additional grip.

Regardless, get some PB Blaster on there and loosen those suckers up. Good luck.

[PolarGlade]

I guess the reason this one is so bad is the location. There is only about an inch from the head of the bolt and the engine bay metal. There is no way to get any of the extractors in there. The only way to get at it would be to cut a hole through the wheel well. There isnt even enough space to get a standard ratchet with a torx on it.

I'm gonna try the rubber band just in case.

Ugh, why in the hell did Audi use Torx rather than good old hex heads?

[thomasskull666]

An extractor bit would be a real pain in the ass to fit in there. You would literally have to cut the bit down to just the head, which would leave almost no tip to grip with.

Those who have done it know, there is almost no space to fit anything on top of the bolt. Your two best options are 1) Dremel the head of the bolt off and, like you said, hope you can get the shaft of the bolt out or 2) find someone who can weld and have them weld a piece of metal (preferably a long tube to get some leverage) onto the bolt head and spin it til it's loose enough to either wrench it off or cut it, knowing you can twist the rest out once the cover is off.

The bolts are also easy to find, I'll find a replacement in a minute and post a link. Best of luck bud.

[PolarGlade]

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...0125xMPTLSx025
.

I am going to visit Sears in the morning and see if they have any of these that would fit a #30 Torx. Im going to need a better low profile ratchet to get these things to bite.

[s4buckeye]

You could try the rubber band and use one of those flexible extension drivers but I don't think that thing will give you enough torque to get it to turn even with the rubber band.

If you can get a small Dremel in there with a smaller grinding/cutting wheel you can grind a slot in the head and either use a right angle ratchet with a flat head bit or just put a flat head driver bit in a small pair of vice grips and coax it out slowly with a ton of PB Blaster.

[PolarGlade]

Ok here is the order im going to try.

1. Rubber band (SeattleAWD)

2. Sears Torx extractor with low profile ratchet (brndll)

3. Groove the head with a Flat bit and low profile ratchet. (S4buckeye)

4. Dremel off the head of the bolt (thomasskull666)

I will post results and remember: I will hold no one here responsible for the destruction that will most certainly be explained here in the next couple of days.

[HIERLEVELZ]

Dremel a slot in the head for a large flat head screw driver. Or grind the head of and remove the valve cover. Once valve. Over is removed use a set of vice grips and try and grab the stud and twist out.

[audisline08]

Dremel a slot in the head for a large flat head screw driver.

^^^This

[SurferD]

The dremel trick works but make sure the slot is fairly square or the head will break off.
I have a set of these and they work way better than standard extractors.
http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....roup_ID=675457

[mankytron]

I vote try to cut the head off and then remove with visegrips, but can you get a dremel in there to do it. I have one of these...it may fit

http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Grinder-.../dp/B004I7Y32M

[PolarGlade]

Well both covers are out and relaxing in a light coat of oven cleaner!

Here is how it went.

1. Rubber band - Torx bolt was too stripped for this. It did bite for a sec then shredded.

2. Bolt extractor - Couldn't find any that were for hand tools, only drill type. I went to Sears, Harbor Freight, Tool King as well as every auto part store in around here.

3. Cut slot - with the #30 Torx there was not really enough material in the center and getting a flat to torque that hard on the edges was impossible.

4. Cut the head - With a Dremel extension that looks like a long snake I was able to get a fiber cutting wheel in there and start knocking off the head. After only about 20 min of careful grinding the valve cover popped off. The best part is the stump of the bolt was so loose I just spun it out with my fingers!!!!!! This was torqued on WAY too tight for sure.


I did find a perfect tool for this job while I looking for the extractor, as long as some DB didn't over tighten the bolts for you this is at every Harbor Freight store. It's a right angle screw driver for like $9.00. Item number 92630. The quality is slightly above the usual Harbor Freight norm.







Thanks everyone! Next pics will be from High Plains Raceway!

[tenspeed]

Glad to hear that the valve cover came off.

I have a right angle screwdriver set like that but it won't stand much torque. Use the bits on a boxed end wrench to break things free first.

[s4buckeye]

Good job OP.

[SurferD]

Gotta love cheapo harbor freight!

[tboo72]

Anybody know the part # for the valve cover bolts? I cant seem to find it anywhere.

[RicardoTG]

Short Bolts: 077-103-831-E
Long Bolts: 077-103-831-D

[andy.w]

one should always spray bolts with PB blaster, jet stream or some type of penatrating solvent. if the first few came off with a fight then spray all of them. dont know if anyone has heard of jet stream but in my opinion it works better than PB blaster (looks like used motor oil, good stuff)

[Mr. Corey]

This happened to me as well a few yrs ago. I welded the bit to the bolt and got it out. But what a pain in the ass.

[verstappen]

Fawwwk, I started this earlier and the same damn bolt is stripped, I even made a wrench with a torx 30 but they made it so freaking tight it won't budge, of course it is a bit stripped now. So it is time to cut that screw, buy a bit wrench like the HF one posted above and find a damn screw, anyone knows who has cheap screws? On ebay they go for 20 bucks a piece!!!

[S4orgy]

Get a slightly bigger size and tap it in with a hammer

[S4orgy]

Never mind lol

[2004B6S4]

when this happened to me I tried most of the same suggestions, after dremeling a slot in it I had the same problem with the hole in the middle being too big, I didn't have a wide enough flathead bit to grip both sides of the slot. What worked for me was to place a chisel against the outer edge of the slot and pound on it with a hammer. by that point it had also been soaking in pb blaster for quite a while, of course.