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View Full Version : Help! Broken Camshaft Retaining Bolt. Have several options. What would you do?


jayracer
07-17-2010, 12:26 PM
Okay, so I was torquing down my cams on my KA24DE after finishing a headgasket and managed to overkill the #1 bolt with the wrong torque wrench.

I now have a broken stud in the head.

I've been researching options for the past 12 hours and came up with the following:

A) Buy a Drill-Out extractor kit and drill guide and hope i don't become another failed statistic. I've read many people attempting this and usually end up with broken extractors and/or need to end up drilling the bolt completely. I'm not too excited about drilling out an aluminum head.

B) Leave the broken stud and torque the second bolt down and run the retainer with 1 bolt. Figure 5 others should hold it properly, but the fact that it's bolt #1 and not some bolt in the middle might cause complications. I've read about people running without a bolt with no major reported issues.

C) Torque the remaining retainers down. Put a drop of JB weld onto the bolt and hope it holds together. I read about some guy actually using JB weld to back out the stud after it fully cured.


Here is my reasoning. In essence, I've already fcked my head. If i try to drill it out and fail, It'll probably be cheaper off buying a new head. If i run without the bolt and the motor blows up, I'll probably be buying a used motor. Either way, I'll be using a different head. Might as well run with it while I can right?

So... given the above options, what would YOU do?

I can get you pics, but they really aren't neccessary. It's the number #1 bolt in the tightening sequence listed in the FSM. Please help.

aNskY
07-18-2010, 09:32 AM
i would try extractors myself.. make a solid wall of blue tape so you dont get shavings everywhere and just start really really small on the drill bit with lube. but if you dont feel comfortable, why not just bring it to a machine shop?