ok so heres the deal: i heard a weird noise cominng from the valve body which actually sounds like a puttering noise. i took off the valve cover and decided to clean around my 20 year old engine while i had the cover off with some Easy-Off (this stuff works great and fast!). anywho, i found this screw loose wondering if it was the culprit (it wasnt i still have the noise)
so anyways i have the cover off and there is a metal plate in the inside i remove and i spray them both with Easy-Off and let them sit for a while before rinsing them off, thoroughly drying them, and then setting them in the sun to make sure there is no moisture......(continued on reply below) if you cannot view these pics ( for some reason i cant) right click on the pic you want to enlarge and select open link in a new window.

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clean off the valve cover gasket (my new one is coming so i have to continue using the old one) which is craking apart (super glued it back together!) and coated all three with the engine oil im currently running in my car mobil1 0w 30. i put everything back together and as i am putting the bolts back in to hold the valve cover down "SNAP!" a bolt breaks...but not just one, TWO! the picture below shows the broken bolt and what the actual size of the bolt should be. also a pic of where the other piece is....i only took a pic of one of the broken ones but they are about identical in the place where they snapped off at and both are located on the same side of the valve. i have tried to retrieve the broken ends, but i cannot even grip them with anything. they are not flush with the surface....maybe half a millimeter is sticking out. anyone have any suggestions on what i can do to get these out?

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I've had this happen to me a couple times as my torque wrench just didn't seem to stop...It should be 14nm for the bolts by the way. I usually do 12 for safe measure and have had no leak problems.

If you can't grip them the only way to remove them is by using an EZ-Out. Be careful and cover all areas so no metal shards get into the engine. It's gonna be a pain...goodluck!

I suggest buying a full new set of valve cover bolts too.

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2016 Monsoon Gray Audi Allroad - 21k
2008 Black Mercedes E350 4Matic Sport - 131k
2014 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Sahara - 62k
2003 Gray Mercedes ML350 - 122k

what is an EZ out? and where can i get the bolts from? thanks for your quick reply

http://www.brokentap.com/easy-outs.html

Phil might have the bolts...go check it out.

I borrowed the tool from my dad, so do some searching and see if anybody carries it locally.

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2016 Monsoon Gray Audi Allroad - 21k
2008 Black Mercedes E350 4Matic Sport - 131k
2014 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Sahara - 62k
2003 Gray Mercedes ML350 - 122k

oh wow, im not sure if i should attempt that myself. i dont wanna eff anything else up.

Ismalley, as you probably already know you need to drill a hole in the remaining bolt portion in order to use an EZ-Out. Use a center punch so the drill bit has a good starting point. Best to start with a small drill bit and increase in size until the hole is large enough to accept the EZ-Out. Take your time and things should work out fine. As mentioned isolate the work area so you don't get any metal chips in the engine. You may want to apply some rust cutter sparingly to the bolt remnant threads before using the EZ-Out in the drilled hole.

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Fred Hoelzle