the bolt winds flush with the step you see against the head.. there is then clearly about 1mm of thread viable on the end of the bolt.. so I would say it has snapped off 1mm below the surface of the head. Therefore it needs work to extract..

That bolt holds the cam cover on... if you have no leak of oil other than from the bolt.. you could replace it and seal around the bolt (but I wouldn't put excessive sealant on it as if a bit gets in the oil it will kill the engine). But obviously then plan to get it fixed properly..

Simon

 

Cheers Simon. So if I understand you right, this bolt holds the outer rocker cover to the inner cam cover and therefore the break is just inside the cam cover, but not in as deep as the head? But to get the cam cover off to get at the rest of the bolt, I'd need to unbolt it from the rest of the head?

 

no... the bolt thread is snapped in the thread.. the step / chamfer in the bolt does through the camcover and flush with the head..

I would estimate about 1mm into the head..

To remove the cam cover is no hassle.. except the mess and the clean up of 3bond sealant and oil etc etc.. the problem will be removing the broken bit of bolt from the head.. if currently the cam cover is sealed other than the missing bolt then reseal the bolt and wait until a nice warm spring day to tackle it would be my view.. obviously what needs to be done is the cover removed and the broken bit of bolt extracted or drilled out and replaced etc.. or pay someone to do it.

Simon

 

OK that's crystal clear now, cheers. I like the idea of waiting until the Spring. I can really do without the hassle of fixing this right now. It definitely looks as if the only leak was from this bolt. As long as it's not doing the car any harm by just being bodged in for the time being, then I'll happily just do the sealing and leave it at that for the moment.

One last thing then, how deep does the thread go into the head? I mean is it likely to be the sort of thing that can be backed out with a screw extractor or am I likely to mess up the head by using that kind of thing? I really, really don't want to try and lift the engine myself, nor pay anyone else to do it. What are the removal options?

 

about 10mm from memory..

just be careful with the sealant!!

Simon

 

Ah so it doesn't go right through the head, it's going into a 'blind' hole if that's the right word? In which case I'd probably have a go at drilling it out or using a screw extractor come the warmer weather.

 

no it only some minor bolt to hold the cam cover on..

Simon

 

OK I've got some Hermetite gasket seal stuff today, so I'll seal it up properly with that this weekend then.