danielcooper9

danielcooper9

Not sure what happened to my text with the post with pictures so I'll try again. I was attempting to change spark plugs on 2011 Cayenne S. When I attempted to remove the male torx screw on the coil for cylinder 5, the screw snapped. I haven't taken this apart before and I'm unclear what I would see if I went ahead and removed the coil. Is there a shoulder or something I could get a vise grips on to get the broken bolt if I took the coil out or am I looing at drilling it and trying to extract it? The picture farther out also shows cylinder 6 coil. This reverse torx bolt is ready to unscrew at this point correct? I didn't want to attempt taking another one off for fear I would break it too. Any suggestions for what to do at this point would be appreciated.

jtakhtalian

I'm willing to bet you personally didn't break anything trying to take it off. There's a better chance the last person to tackle this project overtightened it and caused a stress crack. You simply finished the job. I've done it twice when I accidentally set my torque wrench at the incorrect value (ft. lb. vs inch lb.). You would think I would have heard the first one snap before moving ahead to the next, but I didn't.

There may or may not be a shoulder for a vice grip to attach to. These tend to snap flush with the head. However, in both my cases, I was able to lightly tap the broken part out of the hole with a small screwdriver. Surprisingly they weren't jammed in there. Your other option is to use a dab of superglue by carefully attaching the broken part to the part that's stuck. Let it dry well and carefully, with the least amount of of force necessary to remove it, attempt to twist it out. Drilling it out would be my last option. Just too small a location to drill without having to retap the threads for the new screw.

Don't worry about removing the coil. Go ahead and take it off so you can have some room to work. You can even drive with it unscrewed for a short period of time if you choose to have someone else deal with this for you. The coil will not pop off all that easily. These stupid screws break all the time. My dealer always has them in stock. Good luck.

deilenberger

FWIW - Porsche considers these one-time-use. Not that dealers necessarily follow that specification.

danielcooper9

The broken head flew out and is lodged somewhere I can't find it. I'll have to try an easy out. It appears to me that the threaded portion of the screw broke as you can see into the hole. You see a metal ring around that hole which the red plastic tab of the coil seems to slip over. I'm assuming that is part of the valve cover and not part of the bolt head. I have replacement screws on order and will tackle next weekend.

To remove the coils, like cylinder 5 as shown, does it just pull straight out? In my workshop manual it states a specific turn sequence but only for a couple of specific coils. The other coils just same "remove".

Quadcammer

The metal ring is part of the coil, so you may get lucky. just pull coil out straight and angle around airbox

jtakhtalian

I think what you're referring to in terms of the metal rink is actually a part of the plastic coil housing. I'm specifically referring to picture 2. It's all one piece (I don't recall if the metal ring is actually fused to the plastic or if it slips into it so be careful to make sure it doesn't fall in the engine bay as you remove the coil). The bolt actually slips through this metal collar and snugs up the coil when tightened. Without that collar in place, you would just break the plastic coil housing as you attempt to tighten the bolt. Again, I'm willing to bet that once you remove the coil, you'll see that the bolt is broken pretty flush with the engine. Regardless, I was able to use a small screwdriver to manually turn the bolt counterclockwise enough to be able to twist it out with a pair of pliers the remainder of the way.

The coil just pops off. Unplug it and try wiggling it while pulling up. Take it slow while you get a feel for it. It may take some upward force to actually release it off the spark plug but it's as simple as pull off and push on. If you're replacing the coils anyway, don't worry too much about causing damage. I've never had these fall apart on me on either my 2013 or my previous 2006. If it were an American made vehicle like a Ford, I would be a bit more cautious because the rubber inner coil boot would separate from the coil housing. Even in that case, I'd just take a pair of pliers to the rubber boot that would be lodged in the spark plug hole and pull it out. Essentially what happens is that after a while, the rubber can somewhat fuse itself to the spark plug which is why they slide on easy during install but take a bit more effort to remove after they fuse to the plug following many many heat cycles. You can always put a dab of dielectric grease on the top of the rubber coil boot to prevent this.

I tend to overthink things sometimes and it seems you're sort of in the same boat on this project. The bolt breaking certainly doesn't instill confidence but don't worry, it happens... just go out there and take this coil off. It'll all make sense once you do the first one.

danielcooper9

Agree. I do tend to over analyze when I'm unsure. I'll just have at it and sort it out as I go! Thanks for the inputs

CAVU

Snapped one myself. Just slide the coil out. No ezout will be required nor recommended. Since the threaded male portion is not tight, if there is not enough metal exposed to get something on it to unscrew it, take a wooden dowel with a smaller diameter and tap it several times without out changing its position on to the top of the broken piece. The wood will shape itself over the broken shape. Apply downward force while unscrewing.

DrBillyD

Add me to the list of those who've snapped off the aluminum coil retaining bolt while changing spark plugs (2014 CTTS). After I snapped it off, I just hand tightened the remaining ones and used *very* light torque on the engine cover screws that attach to the head of the coil retaining bolt.

In my case, I didn't lose the head of the broken coil retaining bolt. As others haven noted, the screw portion broke off just about flush (actually just inside) with the cylinder head. Thought about trying to drill it but since it was in the furthest rear cylinder and the screw is pretty small, I couldn't figure out a way to do it. So I attached the broken off head to the engine cover using the engine cover screw and hoped it would be enough to keep the coil in place. That was over 10K miles ago and so far, no problems.

Appreciate the suggestions of trying to work it out with a small screwdriver, the wooden dowel and the tiny dab of superglue on the broken off head. Next time I change out the plugs, I'll try each of those in order and see if I can work out the retained screw.

Thanks!

Quadcammer

You can also drill a small hole in the remaining bolt offset from the center and then use a pick or small screwdriver to unthread it.

hotrod2448

Using a left handed drill bit in the center of the bolt also works really well. A lot of the time as the bit bites it will spin the bolt out for you.

danielcooper9

I worked on this again and I cannot get that bolt out. It snapped flush with the cover. I could not get it to turn freely with some of the suggestions mentioned. I tapped and drilled a hole for an extractor. I get good bite with the extractor but it will not budge and I'm afraid I'm going to break the extractor off if I try harder. I've tried heating it as well. So now I'm not sure what to do. Maybe take it to a machine shop? I don't feel comfortable going larger with the drill bit and retapping as I don't know how much mass I'm working with around the screw. Even though I used a center tap, I am slightly off center as well since the bolt snapped leaving one side slightly higher than the other. Any other thoughts?

deilenberger

This is one of these probably won't end well sort of situations. It does get really ugly when the extractor breaks off in the broken bolt. BTDT. I'd suggest the machine shop.

You might also try soaking it with some release oil like KROIL penetrating oil or similar. If it won't turn easily it's probably got some corrosion between the magnesium valve cover and the aluminum threads. Of course, you may have already done this..

danielcooper9

I used PB blaster a couple of times.