I have a snapped bolt on my valve cover, one of the one that holds the valve cover to the head, and i was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else and if so how much was it to fix it or did you drill out the bolt yourself? Any information would be helpful. TIA

 

Happens a lot. You can probably get the broken part out with a screwdriver is it is stuck in the head, or if that doesn't work buy an easy out tool. Replacement bolts cost a few dollars from the honda dealership.

 

Looking at the snapped off bolt you can see that thebolt shaft is recessed inside of the hole so a screwdriver probably wont work. I have also read some pretty terrible things about the easy outs




" Please keep in mind....."Easy-outs aren't" Be careful with them! If you break one off, you have just created a bigger problem than you started with. I trashed an engine block with a broken easy-out. The bolt will drill out nicely and allow you the option of inserting a threaded sleeve. Once an easy-out is busted in place you can no longer drill it out. The easy-out is made of some pretty hard steel. I never put anything larger than a tap handle on one anymore. The advise in these replies is good stuff, just go easy. "

 

First, if it is one of those that goes thru the cam bearing blocks, you can take all the other bolts out and lift the rocker assembly off as a unit. This assembly has a zillion moving parts, but it will come off as one piece. It will fall apart if you let the ends spread out. With the rocker assembly off there may be enough bolt sticking up to grab it.

If it isn't that simple it is relatively safe to go at it with a left-handed drill bit. Left-handed bits cut with the drill in reverse (turning counterclockwise). When the bit grabs the end of the bolt it will tend to unscrew it. Be careful to drill in the exact center.

Also before you start stuff rags in the drain holes in the front of the head so chips and parts can't fall down into your oil pan, necessitating its removal.