Hello Friends.
I love this forum, can't get enough. But today I ran into a problem that I couldn't find a related thread here so I decided to make one.
Kind of a long story . . .



In the winter I was having issues with my fuel pump (I had a thread posted to get some help) truck would start, rum for 5 minutes and then shut off. Finally figured out it was a bad shut-off solenoid, combined with a pinhole in the fuel line and a few more things.
The truck ran fine for a couple of months, but in a february evening it overheated on me and hydrolocked. With little to no money to spare in the winter, I had to wait till I had means to throw a new head gasket on it. I opened up the engine, and sure enough the gasket was the issue.
So I pulled the motor out, because in the mean time I had found a zf 5 speed to replace the old c-6 slushbox.
And today I finally installed the head gasket, which brings me to my problem, . . . .
I was tightening the head bolts, and yes I was trying to be cheap and use the same old bolts, retapped nice and clean (please I'm already kicking myself in regret for this but it is what it is), and durng the fouth sequence (80 ft.lb.) one of the bolts snapped.
It is the first one of the bottom row closest to the exaust manifold counting front to back.

I was just wondering if anybody had a problem like this? what did you do about it? Was it ok to run the engine like this, with a missing head bolt? Or should I just get ready to find new motor?

Everything else went fine ( head was nice and clean) I had time to really get it all prepped up, and It was a lot easier with the motor out in a stand.

Please only constructive comments, I'm already hating myself enough for it.

 

pull all the rest of the bolts and remove the head carefully. I would not run the motor like it is. An easy out should get that bolt out with easy. since one bolt is bad i would replace all of them

 

Any chance I could use the same gasket again? Or do I have to get a new set?

 

If the Engine is out where you can get to the broken bolt I would try drilling it for an easy out before I took the head back off make a bushing to keep the drill centered on the stub that is still in the block If you can find a left hand twist drill the right size it might just back right out I have done it more than once on other engines. In case you have never seen a left hand twist drill bit you can find some here.:
Left Drill Bits - Lowest Prices & Best Deals on Left Drill Bits - Pronto.com
there are other methods that may work but that is what I would try first if the head bolt wasn't bottomed out in the hole it will probably come right out if you can get it to turn at all

 

I doubt any kind of extractor will be needed- Usually head bolts don't break flush when over-stretched, so you should be able to get a pipe wrench on the stub once the head is off.
If you try it with the head on, be very conscious of where the chips go- You don't want your freshly put together engine to be taken out by a little chunk of metal. Use a left handed drill bit, and the bolt should just back out. if it doesn't, pull the head. An easy out would just make a bigger mess of things. Make sure to stuff rags around the area you are working in to try and contain the chips.

 

Thanks guys, I'll try the left hand drill bit (it's just going to have to be a long bit because it is one of the deep bolts on the outer part of the head). As for chips falling into the head I kinda doubt I'll have a problem because the bolt is one of the outer ones, and my valve cover is already on. And I would not even think of an easy out, I had more problems with easy outs than anything else ( I have a lot of carbide bits to prove it) :-P
I'll let you guys know houw I make out over the weekend on this!
Thanks again.
FTE Rules.

 

That bolt will only be tight if it bottomed out which it probably didn't it should spin right out.

 

make sure your using a carbide bit...a regular bit wont drill through that head bolt becaust of the heat-treating its gotten.

 

i would go with pulling the head back off buy removing the other bolts and lifting it off... if it broke clean it will just act like a stud guiding the head on straight ya know you should be able to lift it right off there

 

it could have bent when it broke though, if he did that then the head got stuck....be one big job and a half to get it out w/o damaging himself or the engine or head.

 

Did you run a die down the bolts? If you did they are all ruined, makes sharp ridges instead of rolled threads. If not and you just tapped the holes you should be fine,is it a 6.9 or 7.3? You may also slide a plastic straw down the hole and stick a welding rod to the remainder and get it out, requires some skill and sounds easy but having experience with this I would try it. if nothing works pull the head.



ANd post your location so we know who to send for help.LOL

 

Thanks guys for all the replys.
So I came back home from work today and with a cooler head and fresh thoughts I went back to the engine and looked at my bolt carefully, and I noticed that it broke with a little lip on the side, so I wondered if I could try to apply some down pressure to the bolt and turn with a wrench, maybe it would grab the stud just enough to get it to turn, . . . and it did! I guess I got pretty lucky on that one. The bolt turned off no problem and then I just went with a magnectic tool to fish it out of the hole.
Now all I need is a new head bolt.
Does anyone know if the dealership sells just one bolt? ( I had read it here before that since it's just one bolt I can just torque it to the spec and I sould be good.
I'll post pictures of the miraculous bolt as soon as I find my cable for my camera.
Thanks again guys!

 

Hey typefour,

It is a 6.9l 110k on it. It was sitting on someone's yard for 5 years, I'm slowly bringing the whole truck back to life.
And as for my location, I'm in Rhode Island, and looks like most of the folks here are from the midwest, I might be on my own on this one!
Thanks for the input, I'm learning a lot from you guys.

 

GOOD I didn't think it would take much to get the stub out unless you had it bottomed out in the hole. now all you need is another head bolt to replace that one and you should be good to go.

Also 2x what typefour said abut running a die down the head bolts causing problems

 

wouldn't you want to replace all the head bolts if one was weak enough to break off?