Conekilr

Well I guess it's my turn to have problems with the removal of the lower valve cover....

Went to fix the leak from my lower valve cover after discovering an oil slick on my garage floor...

The screws were fairly rusted having been on the car for 12 years so they were liberally soaked with liquid wrench.....Untightening the screws was not too bad until I came to the two most rusted ones...When I put in the Allen socket and turned them, I doscovered that they were both rounded and would not grip... It appears that someone had tried to loosen them before and messed them up....

How can I get these out now or am I going to have to take the car to the stealers and have them do it...

Any suggestion on removing them would be apreciated...

Time for a...

Sumtoc

makes a set of sockets that are like female easy-outs. Forgot what they are called but I borrowed a set to remove a rounded out allen bolt like yours in my lower valve cover. It has teeth cut in a sprial pattern on the inside that cut/grip tighter as you turn it on the allen bolt head. Came right out NP.

Conekilr

Thanks Sumtoc...

I was able to get the two rounded bolts out but I still have one problem bolt...the one closest to where the heat exchanger hose connects at the bottom...It's very tight even after soaking it with liquid wrench and I can't get enough leverage with the L shape allen key or get an allen socket and wrench to fit flush...I'm afraid that I may round the head...

How the @#$% do I get that one off ?? Am I going to hve to take the heat exchanger off to get better leverage from below ??

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

hidden impact

i took a 1/4" socket (5mm i believe) and fit it to the long end of the L wrench. i then attached a short extension to the socket so that i would have more leverage(it made the longer part of the "L" longer)...after some cussing, swearing, and a bit of luck...it slowly came off without stripping the bolt.

hyphenf15

I used a set of vice grips along with the allen wrench. It was very difficult and certainly destroyed the screw, but it did come out. I thought I would have to make a trip to the dealer as well, but I was lucky. Not much room, but be patient - it will work.

Conekilr

Thanks for all the suggestions...I got it out...

After taking a break and having a , I decided to try the extractor and was able to get a stronger grip without worrying bout stripping the bolt...Worked like a charm...

JasonAndreas

Sears will occasionally have the complete set on sale for ~$10USD but for the amount of aggravation they have saved me from I would be willing to pay that much for each socket.

AOW162435

I have a set of these as well and found them to work perfectly.

Andreas