So the bolt is snapped in the bottom half right? Samething happened to me, I had to remove it with a drill and a friend out in a helicoil. If you take it to shop they can do it for you pretty quick
Exactly...I pulled off the valve cover after and almost flush with the cylinder head there sat the bolt looking at me like ... "what ya do that for??"
Removal was easy though...it was sticking out a tiny bit so at first I tried using needle nose pliers and then vice grips to grab a bit but then realized that it was spinning pretty freely and with just pressure from my finger I could just spin it out.
how many bolts are there? does it leak? Can you apply pressure from the top (eg expanding clamp between frame and valve cover)? Where did it break off (flush with block or is there a stub sticking out you can grap to back it out)?
How far out of spec is your torque wrench? Did you mix up ft-lb and in-lb? Have some trust in yourself, long before you are twisting bolts off the alarm bells should have been ringing in your head. (This could also have been a crappy bolt in which case you would have had no warning and your torque wrench may be fine).
There's four bolts holding the valve cover on. I didn't start the engine to see if it was leaking...decided against that. Break happened a little more than flush with the block. The torque wrench is new, my good one was stolen out of my condo locker (within 24 hours of putting it there...someone was watching). The replacement is a mastercraft crappy tire one, which is still good for what I use it for. I think I just didn't pay attention. I just kept going even though the voice in my head told me to stop. Literally was thinking as I'm turning..."why is this thing not stopping like the last 3".
Titanium drill bits (start small), then an EZ-out or other screw extractor. I've done it before with snapped exhaust manifold bolts.
Soak the snapped bolt with penetrating fluid. It can be done in your driveway.
I bought a couple of those extraction bits, didn't use them, but I intend to keep them just in case.
I wouldn't ride it if you value the lifespan of your bike.
That said, have you tried pulling the cover and seeing if enough bolt is exposed to grab and remove with vice grips? Only time I ever snapped one was on the POS oil filer bolts on my old CBR250RA, and when I removed the oil filter cover I was able to get the bolt out with vice grips since just the head a bit snapped off.
Also, if you can get it out, I'd check the parts manual/sites to see if that bolt is used elsewhere on the bike. In my case, the 250's oil filter bolts were the same as the front sprocket cover...so I cannibalized one of them, and rode without the sprocket cover for half a week (while waiting for the new bolt).
I called a buddy in the morning and he said you could probably ride it but it might leak and then you'd have to clean off the leak. So I'm like...nah, too lazy. When it's screaming on the highway (think cbr125) and if a lot of oil was lost...maybe a bigger problem I didn't need.
I actually bought some needle nose type vice grips cuz of your tip...but there wasn't enough exposed to grab on to. And yeah, lots of the same bolt everywhere after looking around. Like EVERYWHERE.
Valve cover bolts are sorta self-lubricating, so I'd say you have a high chance of success with a bolt extractor.
This is true...all the bolts were very oily. The busted one spun out so easily.
Soooo... I ended up getting a couple spare bolts from studio cycle by the next day and luckily was able to get the busted one out painlessly. I was pretty freaked out knowing what the worst case scenario was (heli-coil...is that even the worst case??) mostly because I really don't know what I'm doing till I do it. I've done most of the maintenance on this thing by learning as I go (even replaced the piston/rings on my own) but just didn't have the time to do it considering my M test was two days away.
Thanks for all your advice and questions, it got my brain going and helped with the mental pic of what needed to be done and what to expect. It really helped lots.
oh...and I failed the M test....missed the "no right on red" sign. :'(
