- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 5 months ago by
.
-
Topic
-
O.k. so here’s the deal;
I adjusted my valves this weekend and was letting my girl help turn wrenches, so after adjusting I buttoned everything up to the point of putting the spark plugs in and valve cover nuts. I finger tightened all six nuts (followed the pattern given) and started on the torquing sequence of said pattern. So as fate would have it my mom who I haven’t seen in a long time shows up and starts chatting in one ear and my girl in the other one. I think about waiting until she leaves to start torquing them down but nah, how hard could it be, I mean they are just little ole nuts. It’s not rocket science, but I totally f**ked it up. How you might ask? I forget to reset the torque wrench from the previous 13lb spark plug install. The valve cover nuts are supposed to be 7lbs. Of course I over-tightened all six bolts and ended up breaking TWO (one corner) before I realized what the F**k was going on. Now, as I understand it the valve cover bolts actually serve a dual purpose as they also hold on the camshaft caps/bosses. I plan on replacing all six bolts. I already know that they have to be torqued to 16lbs and I plan to do this by myself but my question is this.The camshaft cap bolts have to be tightened down and loosened in a pattern, can I replace these six individually without going through the whole pattern?
Thanks in advance for any advice given, I need this thing up and running asap.
-
Replies
-
’95 Civic LX, not a CR-V. That said, my thought is that the overall torque value is already off, so since you have to replace a broken stud and bolt anyway, I’d suggest backing the other bolts off in reverse sequence as a proper Honda service manual would direct you to do. It’s not as if you’d be in significantly less deep if you tried to just extricate the two snapped-off fasteners. It’s only four more to do it ‘by the book’, without regrets, as you’ll be taking the tension down and bringing it back up gradually and evenly, compensating for the sudden alterations from the breakages. Does it really matter? I’m not an engineer, but my Honda service manual weighs about six pounds, and Honda’s engineers are fond of torque specs and patterns. Just sayin’. :whistle:
It’s probably misinterpretation on my part, or maybe you wrote in haste, but your math seems odd. You say the bolts need 16 lb.ft., though you broke both a 7 lb.ft. acorn nut stud and a 16 lb.ft. bolt with the torque setting of 13 from the spark plugs. :dry:[/color]
Not being a wiseass, I urge you to not be lazy about this. Six bolts? It sounds like you either have the physical manual, a CD-ROM, or maybe a PDF of the tightening sequence. Find it from Honda, not aftermarket — no offense to ‘them’ — and expend the extra effort, which should be nominal. You sound like a ‘torque nut’, and I value that 😛 , so go the extra step.
I’ll leave you with a final thought from me, and a quote from someone else. Get the bolts from Honda — a local dealer, eBay, or an online Honda parts site. I’ve used Honda Parts Unlimited and several others. You were likely planning to do that, anyway. B) “If you don’t have the time to do it right the first time, when will you have the time?” Kick it in the ass, and keep distractions to a minimum! 😉
My english isn’t the best but let me try again, there are 6 bolts that serve a “dual purpose”, they hold down the camshaft hat/boss/cap, whatever you want to call it. That bolt also has a much smaller bolt made on top as one whole piece which sticks out of the valve cover and holds the valve cover on with an acorn nut. The bottom portion of the bolt is supposed to be set at 16ft lbs, they do not turn at all when applying torque to the top half bolt/acorn nut, which holds the valve cover on. The bolt and nut are torqued separately. I was not torquing the bottom half bolt which holds the camshafts in place, only the the acorn nut on top. The acorn nut tq. value is 7-8 lbs, I used 13lbs on those little suckers. In order to replace them I have to replace the whole bolt. Hopefully that will clear things up, thanks for your reply!
Maybe this photo will clear up what I am trying to ask. This is not an actual picture of my motor, its some random photo of a k series motor
OK, even though I’m usually a stickler for torque procedures, the lazy side of my brain is in control today. Must be the hot summer weather.
If both of your broken stud bolts are on the same cam retainer cap, I’d release the torque on all of the hold-down bolts on that retainer cap as I was replacing the broken bolts. If each broken stud bolt is in different cam retainers, I’d just remove and replace the broken ones without undoing the other bolts.
Before removing any bolts, I’d rotate the crank so that the cylinder closest to the cam retainer cap has all of its valves closed. That should keep valve spring pressure to a minimal value, with less chance of deflecting the camshaft. If the retainer cap is directly between 2 adjacent cylinders, I would try to rotate things so that none of the valves for both cylinders were on the nose of the cam lobes, but on the cam flank, as close to the base circle as possible.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.