Valve cover studs

juicersr · juicersr's Garage

Just adjusted my valves this weekend and seems like more valve cover studs than last time unscrewed when i took the cover nut off.(Last valve adjustment, seems like only 2 or 3 studs came out and this time it was 4 on one side and 3 on another.) I used a vice grip to get the nuts off the studs (some of which were rusted on the studs), and simply screwed them back in to finish the job. Thinking now, should i have used loctite or something to keep them from backing out? Anyone else have this problem?

yelcab1 · 01-30-2006, 05:20 AM

I never had one come loose, you should have loctited them back in.

jimi_c · 01-30-2006, 05:45 AM

I had 12 come out the first time I did mine - I cleaned them well and used loctite when I put them back in. Generally, I found that it was almost impossible to use vice grips to take the nuts off without buggering up the stud- I actually had to replace a few studs when I tried that method first. I ended up putting two bolts on the other end, tightened the bolts by hand as hard as I could, put the double nuts in the vice and used a socket to pull off the stuck one on the other end - worked like a charm and didn't leave any scarring.

randyrap · 04-17-2006, 06:06 PM

I had the same problem today. One question I have is how do I put the studs back in? Can they be threaded back in by hand and rely on loctite to hold them in place?

Thanks in advance ........... Randy

aigel · aigel's Garage

Randy:

Put two nuts on there and fasten them against one another. Then use a wrench to screw the studs back in. Yes, use red loctite to reinstall.

George

jimi_c · 04-18-2006, 06:19 AM

I threaded them in by hand and haven't had a problem since - I did loctitie them, but thought that I'd end up backing them out again if I used the double nut method to re-insert them. I torqued them to spec and that was it.

vash · vash's Garage

i look at the ones that come out as a bonus. i install new ones with loctite....cheap, and easy.

Scott R · Scott R's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by vash
i look at the ones that come out as a bonus. i install new ones with loctite....cheap, and easy.

Same here, I have a bag of new studs from a local metric supply store, I think I paid like $20 for 50 or so.