Valve Cover Problem
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Junior User
Joined: Dec 2010
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Valve Cover Problem
At this moment I am checking my rocker springs. So I need to take my valve cover off. I remove all of the bolt accept one but it was the only bolt that wasn't OEM and it was rusty. It turned a few times but only got harder and harder to turn until I accidentally rounded the edge with my ratchet , because at that point it wouldnt turn any more. I cannot heat it up because every time I do it catches on fire and i cant pull the cork gasket out which goes up in flames. I put vice grips on it and it still wont move. what should I do?
New User
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: Snowflake, AZ
If you can get to it with a hammer, try giving it a couple of raps squarely on the top. Most of the time this helps loosening it a bit and also lets the penetrate seep in. Also the idea of welding a nut on topmight work. The heating and then cooling will sometime loosen a bolt.
Good Luck!!
Good Luck!!
Elder User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 778
Likes: 2
From: southeast Idaho
If you can get it to move, tighten it first, then loosen, when it gets hard to turn reverse directions a little then go some more.. Back and forth usually gets them out when they are like that...
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From: Regina, Saskatchewan
Grab yourself a punch. Most likely, you're not able to hit the bolt on the head at the right angle due to the messed up angles of the V engines.
Hold the punch parallel with the bolt angle into the head and give er a couple of good swings with your favourite hammer. Don't bash the **** out of it, but enough to vibrate the threads inside the head and loosen them a bit.
The next thing is to use the weld a nut idea on to the head of the bolt. It may be a pain if you can't get things to line up correctly and may actually make things worse cause then you can't get your ratchet wrench socket on there due to overlapping corners (depends on how stripped the bolt head is), but you should be able to at least get a box end wrench on the welded nut.
Loosen the nut, tighten it back up, loosen it some more, tighten it some more. Hit it with more PB Blaster, and let it sit. Repeat. It's all about trial and error when it comes to old rusty bolts.
Whatever you do, don't light the PB Blaster on fire. That stuff is HIGHLY toxic when used, and should be used in a ventilated room/area at all times. Lighting it on fire or allowing the chemicals to catch flame will only make things worse! Don't do it! I've done it before, and it aint pretty!
Cranky Old Guy
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,562
Likes: 6
From: Raphine, Virginia
Very good advice. Reps sent.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,782
Likes: 15
From: Lower Mainland B.C.
Another tip/trick:
Standard and metric sizes are pretty close. I've rounded heads off before and sometimes its not too bad, I've gotten cheap socket sets as gifts that are perfect for operations like these. Get the nearest size metric socket(if the rounded bolt is standard), and hammer it onto the head of the bolt or nut, attach ratchet or breaker bar and loosen, like others have said work it back and forth to loosen, I find this grips the bolt tighter than a visegrips and there is no heat issues to deal with.
Use cheap sockets, the first time I tried this I broke a brandname socket, which isn't bad because of the replacement policy but I could have done without the extra trip to the store. It did get the bolt out but split the socket up the side in the process. Now you have a use for cheap poor quality sockets
Standard and metric sizes are pretty close. I've rounded heads off before and sometimes its not too bad, I've gotten cheap socket sets as gifts that are perfect for operations like these. Get the nearest size metric socket(if the rounded bolt is standard), and hammer it onto the head of the bolt or nut, attach ratchet or breaker bar and loosen, like others have said work it back and forth to loosen, I find this grips the bolt tighter than a visegrips and there is no heat issues to deal with.
Use cheap sockets, the first time I tried this I broke a brandname socket, which isn't bad because of the replacement policy but I could have done without the extra trip to the store. It did get the bolt out but split the socket up the side in the process. Now you have a use for cheap poor quality sockets
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