So after having an oil leak at cylinder 5 due to bad tube seal, I order the new 6th gen Rear Valve Cover and went to assemble it today and snapped the valve cover screw in the block. My Haynes Manuel says to use 9 - 22 lbs of Torque so I used about 15. The first 2 screws clicked fine but the 3rd one just snapped. I guess the Torque Wrench I have isn't precise under 20 lb's of Torque. The Precision Instrument wrench is a 20-100 3/8.

Any advise on getting the screw out with out messing up the Threads would be great. I don't have a drill, looks like l might be buying one if I can't borrow someone's. Maybe they make some special kinda drill bit to protect the Threads?

Geez this sucks monkey *****.

 

Damn man sad to hear did mine didnt torque **** just snug and maybe a 1/2 a turn more all good and no leaks, on my 03 which is gone, need to do the same on thise 02 but been putting it off, you can probably drill it out, or with some type of extractor, but it is probably going to be a pain, maybe someone will have better advice on how to get em out.....GL Man...

 

Can you take the valve cover back off and unscrew that bolt with some pliers?

 

JESUS........

From the 2002 Nissan FSM....



NOTE: Nissan FSM uses IN-LBS not FT-LBS...I converted IN-LBS to FT-LBS for you......

Did you use the proper tightening sequence? You are supposed to tighten them basically just a tiny bit (snug just to basically hold it on while you tighten others) the first sequence, then the second sequence through tighten them a bit more (MAX 6.5FT-LBS)...no where near 15FT-LBS (TWICE THE MAXIMUM RECOMMENDED BY NISSAN).....thats why it broke (surprised the others didnt). Haynes manual SCREWED you.....Those bolts are really tiny. Also did you reuse those same OLD azz bolts that have been in that valve cover XXXXX amount of years or did you order brand NEW valve cover bolts? I would NEVER use those same OLD azz rusted out oil contaminated rotted out bolts with a new valve cover and GASKET. Order new ones...they are $2.66/each from Nissanpartsasap.com x 20 = $53. I would rather pay $53 and get fresh new bolts than use same old bolts and break them off and end up with more heartache and pain for a simple installation. I usually take the opportunity to order new bolts when Im doing things like that. If you had new bolts disregard what I said about new bolts.

I have no idea how you can get that bolt out. I would just take the car to the dealer and let them get it out.....

Good luck.....and dont use the Haynes manual anymore...go online and look up the official Nissan FSM.

 

I made the same mistake. Bought a cheap inch pound ratchet from Harbour Freight. I was able to drill a small hole in the bolt and use an easy out. I borrowed mine, but those are cheap at HF as well. Took all of 5 minutes to replace. Since those bolts break so easy, it should not be in there very tight.

Thankfully I had a 350z engine I could pull an extra VC bolt from till I could get a replacement from Nissan. You're going to have to wait for it to come in most likely.

 

I got a torque wrench from harbor freight and it works fine for high and low torques. I used it for my vc as well and it was in ft-lb or n-m so with the fsm all I had to do was convert.

 

The Screw isn't sticking out, it broke about an 1/8 of an inch inside the hole.

 

 

I did use that tightening sequence but didn't use new bolts since Nissan has to order them. The old screw didn't seem bad but then again they are old.

Well thank you for the time and that helpful write-up you posted.

 

Gotcha...
...then you're gonna need a drill. Drill a small hole and use an easy-out (extractor) to back the rest of the bolt out.