broke cam cap bolt

have had all my cam cap threads time serted..snapped one bolt off probably from over torquing it..question is think i could get away with riding it for the summer? figuring that with the threads all timeserted they would with stand the stress of only 3 bolts in a cap as opposed to four..any opinions appreciated..

Get that bolt out of there,no sense in breaking a cam cap and lots of other things going down the road. :sick:

no, if it ain't broke don't fix it and if you can you should go all the way and actually repair it.

NO NO NO ..... dont do it...... :huh:

Also....don’t use a cheap extractor as they will break off and cause more grief.

load that bike in the pickup and take it to the machine shop. no sense in making it worse.

Ive got extra stock bolts if you need some

is any showing above the aluminum head?

Fix it, don't risk it.

Also, what did you have your torque wrench set at when it broke? Ed

I guess i didnt realize that timeserts were that strong. I guess ill have to switch over from heli coils.

heli coil will be just fine for low torque requirements on the cam caps... Screw the torque, snug feel is good enough.

Definitely get it fixed or if going with Heli-Coil....
* Start with a small drill bit dead center of the broken bolt shaft and start a pilot hole no deeper than the end of the threads.
* Then go up a bit size or two and enlarge the hole.
* Repeat up to 1/4" drill bit for this is what is required for the Heli 6-30 metric coils.
* Insert the coil with red locktite, break of the coil tang, all good...

OMR

This sounds very familiar to me. I broke the same bolt while rebuilding. It seems naturally to think you can go without fixing it. Don't risk it. Have it fixed. I ended up spending $100 at the machine shop they removed the bolt and helicoiled new threads. Be very careful as the torque specs in the manual are incorrect which if following you will end up breaking more. This seems to be a frequent topic. I the same people here commenting helped me when I had this issue and there is info on torque specs if you check my threads. Good luck.

Old Man Rock wrote: ...Screw the torque, snug feel is good enough.

OMR

That works for a person who has a great "feel" for what is tight enough but not too tight, and there certainly are some folks who can do that consistently. The problem is that most folks (me included) don't have that touch on aluminum engines even though working on steel or cast iron parts has never been a problem, so the risk of under or over-tightening a fastener is very real. Developing that "touch" very often involves stripping some threads before a person learns what's "too much" or having a fastener vibrate out because it wasn't tight enough. Using the correct torque wrench and keeping to the light side of the specified torque range would normally prevent heli-coils and timeserts from being needed to start with and would certainly prevent 99.999% of broken bolts. Ed