Alright, so i replaced my valve cover gasket on my 2005 A4. everything was going GREAT till i was torquing down the bolts. I did 7 of them just fine at 10-11Nm or what ever the number was and on the 8th one the bolt just snapped! i didn't over tighten it, it was on the first turn after it was finger tight.
there is no oil leaking from that corner, it runs fine and no check engine lights are on.

Questions. is my car good to drive? How much would this be to get fixed? is it something i could do my self and where could i find instructions on this?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

Opps! Hate it when that happens. I'm not familiar with how stiff the valve cover is on an A4, but you may develop a leak over time at that corner.

If you remove the valve cover again, you may find that there is enough of the bolt sticking out of the head to grab with vice grips and turn it out. Clean out the hole by running the correct sized tap through it. Put everything back together using a new bolt.

Next senario, you remove the cover and there is not enough to grab, but there is enough to cut a slot in it with a dremel. Be VERY careful not to get metal debris into the cylinder head!!!! Turn it out with a screwdriver and clean the hole as mentioned above.

Worse case, you gotta drill it out, retap the hole, install a heli-coil (sp??) and reassemble.

Hope that helps.

Gary

 

If you work on your own cars buy a set of these. They are reverse bits and extractors. Most of the time they will get stuck at the very end and twist the bolt out. Yours sound like it will be loose.
http://www.brandsplace.com/0246-irw11119.html