Stripped Valve Cover Bolt

[AdamWebber]

Today as I was performing my maintenance, I stripped either a bolt or the head of one valve cover bolts. It didn't cross-thread. It just never tightened down. So now I'm guessing that the threads inside the head are gone but I really don't want to tear it apart since everything is working fine and it holds oil.

Can anyone tell me if this is a common problem and if there is a simple remedy? Will I require a heli-coil? I'm hoping that I stripped the threads on the bolt but I highly doubt it.

As far as everything else went on the maintenance, my first time flushing the brake fluid on an '05 ABS system was rather painless and quite simple. I could easily do it again.

[marc]

Yes, it is common. The screws captured by the valve cover have a shoulder. Once that shoulder touches the boss around around the threads in the cylinder head it is tight. Yet all too many folks, including some dealer techs, want to make it tighter. You've discovered the results.

You want an M6x1.0 helicoil kit. Take a look at the bottom of R1200GS: 60,000 mile service [page 4] to see some comments and picture where I fixed one of mine. Make sure you keep the drill bit (1/4" for the M6 helical) perpendicular to the hole. I measured the needed depth and marked the bit with some tape to make sure I didn't drill too deep.

[Bullwinkle]

As an addition to what Marc posted...
You may wish to reconsider going back in to fix it sooner rather than later. When the stripped bolt continues to turn, it "pulls" the stripped threads out of the head and releases them into the valve cover interior, which will allow the chaff to circulate throughout the engine when run. It is a very small amount of chaff, but you may wish to nip it in the bud if possible.

Good luck, regardless.

JP

[AdamWebber]

Thanks for the replies. I'll be sure to get that fixed very soon. It's not the kind of thing that I want to do but I would rather have it done than shred some valves or a cylinder with a few metal shavings.

I see in your pictures that you had the exact bolt stripped as I had.