captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

Ok, I'm a dumb ***, idiot, newbie, and so on and so on. You can’t call me anything I haven't already called myself about four times over. Ok, here it is.. I was breaking in a new torque wrench while installing my valley cover. I was running the bolts in series a little at a time and all the while thinking my first click at 10 ft/lbs was never kicking in... I knew it didn't feel good, I was putting too much torque on it. Anyway, never got a click, but did end up with a striped bolt. The one with the arrow on it.

I checked the torque wrench with a box end wrench and finally got a click. After that I finished all of the other bolts up to 18 ft/lbs. The one I stripped won't go above 10 ft/lbs.

My question is simple for you long time mechanics. Am I screwed? Do I need to have it drilled and tapped or can I trust to luck that it will hold as is?

Undertow74

iTrader: (45)

Nahhh man, **** happens its all good. No matter how good/new of a mechanic you are.
I would not just leave the screw there loose, its not going to take a whole bunch of your time to drill and tap a new hole, or if you can helicoil it if it is not too far gone........

you learn something new every day, bet you wont do that again!

Good luck bro, easy business....

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

You got that right! Always break in a new torque wrench on something other than your project! BTW - I found in nice small print at end of the wrench instructions telling me to break it in first. Would have been nice if they had written it in nice bold print at the beginning of the instructions.

Thanks for the advice.

Notmyvette

iTrader: (1)

Breaking in a torque wrench? I feel dumb, I never heard of doing this? What do you have to do?

7th Darkness

iTrader: (15)

LOL it looks like it is going to break into a bunch of pieces and looks like your oil sending unit is broke.

cowboysfan

we all break things newbies or oldsklrs...... i never knew a tq wrenched was supposed to be broken in before it's intended use... i would remove the bolt and replace it. (you did say stripped bolt) and hope the bolt stripped not the block, if it was the block you can tap it and hope it holds or helicoil it.....helicoil kit are not expensive, you can get them at almost any local auto parts.

dckmn52

or use the unapproved dckmn52 method


red loctite

although i have found out that apparently red loctite does not always work
ie. flywheel bolts.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

Drill it out and use a Helicoil..

Pocket

iTrader: (22)

If you cant back it out with your fingers it should be fine. Think about what it does. Hols the valley cover down against the upper gasket. How much oil do you think will be hitting that gasket?

Things like covers and brackets dont require a specific torque spec. Yes, there is a spec, but you have to think about what each thing does. Generally, not falling off is about as specific as those jobs go. I snicker at people torquing their fuel rail bolts

Critical tolerance parts like rods, mains, flywheel to crank, rocker arms etc require a specific torque. More or less usually results in failure. Otherwise, go german with 'gudentat'

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

This the wrench just would not "click" until I put A LOT of torque on it. After I did that, I could drop it down to a low setting like 10lbs and it would work just find. After I read a little deaper into the instructions, they warned me about it and said in addition that if the wrench sits unused for a long time that I shoud again "break it in". Dont ask me, first "clicker" i ever had.

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

Ya, the sening unit is broke. I did that the first day taking the intake manifold off. I have the replacement, just not installed yet.

The valley cover is a brand new LS6 cover. I agree it looks a little funky on top, but that's just tye way it looks. It's some kind of coating they put on the top of it. Under, it looks clean.

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

Ya, I should have said "stripped block". I've got a budy with a tap set. I've not looked into the helicoil yet.

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

I've never used a helicoil but i've done some reading and looks like the good way to go.

DaddySS

Yes, use a helicoil. It will take you about 45 minutes to remove the cover and do it right.

Damian

iTrader: (89)

If all your other bolts are tight, the cover isn't going to leak with one bolt loose. I've pulled several engines apart with stripped valley cover bolts and they never leaked.

You should be fine. For a little extra security you can rub a very thin dab of high temp silicone around the perimeter of where the cover sits. Should be just fine.

hammertime

iTrader: (1)

Not sure what scale your wrench is on, but 10ft/lbs is so low that you can't rely on a wrench that scales up to 150ft/lbs to reliably hit 10ft/ls. That said, I can honestly say I have never heard of breaking in a torque wrench.

If you decide to fix it, don't tap it oversize. To do it right, use the helicoil set for the proper bolt size - it will have its own tap for the coil to install, and usually the drill bit as well. I used a GM kit (best bud is a dealer mechanic) when I fubar'd a head replacement on a 2.2, and it was really easy to use.

I agree with others that the valley bolt is probably not critical enough to worry about.

captainwizbang

iTrader: (1)

Well was going to helicoil but Murphy is alive a well. It's the second to the rear bolt and there isn't enough space to get a drill bit in even with a 90 degree adaptor on the drill. Naturally I couldn't screw up the bolt in the front of the block! I used a different bolt that fit and permitted a little tighter torque. I'm going to hope for the best.

BTW - take a look at the attachement. This is what I'm talking about when I say "break it in".

chrisfrost

iTrader: (8)

My experience with tq wrench at that low a tq is that the click is so weak that I don't feel or hear it , probably not very accurate at that setting . Yes , the one bolt should'nt create any problems .