I am an idiot.

[triroketman]

I had a little problem, thought the head gasket was leaking at the right rear of the engine. So in my infinite wisdom I thought I would tighten up the head bolts (I thought the shop may have not torqued them properly when I had it in there last). So I looked in the service manual and (this is the part where I am an idiot) and the torque was 50nm. Well I was looking at the wrong bolt (it was supposed to be 10nm) and I twisted off the only bolt I tried to tighten. I am not sure what to do next. Do I take it to the shop and tell them how stupid I am and what I did. I don't know what else to do. Any suggestions.

 

[Lester532]

Sounds like you might be in a little over your head. Time to let a pro handle it, if your real lucky your dealer might have one working for them.

 

[Sidecar Flip]

If you are real good with tools or have a friend who is, you can carefully center punch the top of the broken bolt, drill straight down into it and back it out with a spline drive extractor. The head bolts don't bottom in the threaded bores, they just torque one part against another so if it broke off flush, that's the procedure.

If there is any body of the bolt sticking up, you may be able to back it out with a center punch and a small hammer because, it's not really tight anymore, the head made it tight and you broke it off.

Finally, never just torque one bolt (actually they are capscrews). If you suspect the head isn't torque'd properly, you need to back them all out and start over. The head is progressively torqued in a certain pattern so you don't crack the casting.

If you arn't good with tools, hopefully your dealer has a sense of humor.

 

[wildrooster]

hey dont feel bad I snaped the tighter on the clutch cable, I thing if i backed it out it would loosen the harder it got the more i took it but no one explained that you tighten it to loosen it I limped it to the shop and then started to kick myself

 

[xhdskip]

Flips right again,
EZ out time.
No big deal, just get an ez out and do it.

 

[Manic_Mechanic]

Sounds like you are talking about a bolt that holds down the valve train rails (not sure if this is the correct terminology). If so it should be a simple fix but be careful. If you loosen up the rails to access the bottom of the sheared bolt, the cam has a tendency to spin out of time causing a worse issue for ya. Make SURE you have the cams secured. There is a tool for this however two small vice grips clamped on a non machined area close to the chain and then secured together will work just as well.

 

[spaceman]

I've done the exact same thing on a previous bike. Read the wrong torque setting and snap.

I made the situation worse by snappying off an easy-out bit int the hole. Luckily the bolt seemed to hold so I rode it for years like that.

If you use an easy-out bit, have patience. Drill the center hole as deep as you can.

Good luck.

 

[warp9.9]

Hey it doesn't sound like a head bolt which are not to be reused anyway according to the manual they are stretch bolts. Sound to me as if you are talking about the cam cover, could you be a little clearer?

 

[HeR3tic]

Good catch Warp.

 

[Lester532]

STOP>>>

I don't know which bolt you snapped off but if it is one of the cam ladder bolts do not start your engine or turn the motor over. Doing so may break the cam ladder and if you do that you are screwed and it will take a new head to fix it.

If you don't want to fess up to your dealer or possibly he is a long distance from you ask your local car repair shop to point you to a good machine shop. (The car repair shop may be able to remove the broken bolt too).

Using an "Easy Out" is an art form. Trying to get a steel bolt out of an aluminum head is loaded with pitfalls. It sounds so simple but one screw up and at best you will have to yank the head to have it repaired, at worst you may have to replace the head. For once have a pro look at it... No offense to your skills

Toystoretom's right. I've worked on planes for over 20 years and drilled out hundreds of screws (no exaggeration). But still every once in a while one kicks my ass.

Plus the best part of taking it to someone else is it becomes their liability.