Valve cover bolt snapped

RollingJKU

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Apr 29, 2024
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Virginia
Embarrassed to say that I over torqued the rear (closest to firewall) passenger side valve cover bolt and snapped it. See attached picture(not actual picture of mine) of the location of the bolt. My question is that I have enough bolt showing through the bottom of the head that I could grab it with vise grips. Can I just continue to turn that bolt clockwise and get to come out of the bottom or should I go counter clockwise to back the bolt back up and try to pull it out of the top?? Not a lot of room to work from above so thought it might be easier to go from the bottom if at all possible. It’s a 2014 jku with the 3.6 pentastar no mods

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It happens to the best of us! Where did the bolt break? If the break is above the cover rail on the head I would attempt backing it out the way it went in... It also depends on how the fracture looks. You don't want to try to pull it through the bottom and muck up the threads in the process.

Now, if the break occured below the joint (in the head) you're probably better just pulling the remainder through the bottom.

In either case I would chase the threads with a tap before trying again.
 
Thanks tJ! I will be honest, I was so angry with myself yesterday that I just walked away from it 🤬. I will pull the cover off again and see how far down it is. I was probably a little early posting here before I had all the info. Thanks for your level headed response, I can see things a little clearer now!
 
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Embarrassed to say that I over torqued the rear (closest to firewall) passenger side valve cover bolt and snapped it. See attached picture(not actual picture of mine) of the location of the bolt. My question is that I have enough bolt showing through the bottom of the head that I could grab it with vise grips. Can I just continue to turn that bolt clockwise and get to come out of the bottom or should I go counter clockwise to back the bolt back up and try to pull it out of the top?? Not a lot of room to work from above so thought it might be easier to go from the bottom if at all possible. It’s a 2014 jku with the 3.6 pentastar no mods

View attachment 127131been through the same crap with my waterpump bolts 3 broke..don't be embarrassed shit happens even too the best ..so what you do is get a I believe it's a 3/16 socket hammer it on the broken bolt and use your Rachet wrench and easily remove it ..if it doesn't move you may need too heat it up really good and work it out with the socket and wrench ..good luck let us know
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