I was replacing a valve cover gasket. And, everything went fine until I was carefully tightening the bolts to 88 in-lbs as per my Haynes and two of the bolts broke off in the head.

What the **** do I do now.

Usually you can take the other bolts back off, and remove the valve cover. If there is enough of the bolt sticking out of the head, you can probably grab it with a pair of vice-grips or pliers and they should turn out pretty easily, as long as they are not cross-threaded.

If the bolts that broke, broke off during the final tightening, then all of the tension holding the bolt threads into the head should be relieved, because it is the head of the bolt that holds the tension against the threads on the bolt.

That would be where I would start, if that doesn't work, you could try an easy-out. I am sure other people will also have some ideas as well.

If you use an easy out, make sure you drill in the center of the bolts in question. You also do NOT want to break off an easy out. My understanding is that they are harder than the hubs of hell. If that fails, you can try drilling the hole out one size over and installing a heli-coil($20-40). I think they work for cast iron :?:

If you want, I can try to snipe two bolts out of the valve cover out in my garage and ship them to you as replacements.(pm me if that'* the case)

Yeah, I can't grip them with anything.

Some sort of screw extractor is nesseccary.

yup, try the easy out. usually available at locar hardware stores if you don't have them. get a drill bit slightly smaller then the bolt and drill it out some, maybe 1/4 inch, then try the easy out.

when drilling, be carefull and try not to hit the threads in the head.

hopefully that works

I suspect you used the wrong torque wrench. There'* no way it would have broken at 88 in/lbs. Did you accidentally use ft/lbs? If so, a screw extractor (easy out) may not be good enough.

Which two bolts, and which cover? Are they side-by-side, or directly across from each other?

Good news, I got the screws out. Bad news all the dealers are closed and I need those bolts ASAP.

Bill. I am just as confused as you are. I used a brand new Mastercraft wrench I got for Christmas. It CLEARLY says TORQUE IN-LBS on the side. The scale goes up by increments of 20 in-lbs. So I moved the collar past 70, until the collar read 18. 70+18=88 in-lbs correct?

When I was tightening I did feel I was doing way more then 88 in-lbs. I originally had the first bolt done, and I THOUGHT I had reached the torque amount...I moved on to the second bolt and it just snapped. Thats when I realized the first one had broken as well, I didn't actually meet the torque specification.

This is my first time using a wrench that you set the torque value on. Is the wrench just not supposed to tighten once the torque value is met?

They were the top two bolts on the front cover.

Right now I'm thinking my torque wrench is defective.

It should make a clicking or poping sound when you reach the set level of torque. That'* how all of the ones I've used work.

Well mine snapped the damn bolts before it did that...

When I did my valve covers I set the tq to 19 ft/lb, even though I didn't agree with the specs that told me to set it there. I tightened a decent amount being careful, and KNEW something was wrong right away. I backed them off and then torqued them to 8 ft/lbs (96 in/lb).

The torque wrench should make a clicking sound and have some resistance when the torque is met. To break the bolts you must have had quite a bit of torque on them. :? I'm not sure what it would take to break them, but if I did the full 19 ft/lb I had set first, it felt like I could have broken them, or at least cracked the valve covers.