Can you reuse head bolts? Or why can’t you? , The in Depth video of Why 🤷🏻‍♂️ you may be surprised

[@pjj12345789]

On a boosted vehicle always change them… they can snap when you tq. them down.

[@sharpcarco]

I definitely agree with you. I think at one point in the video I did mention that. If you’ve got thousands of dollars in your engine I don’t think you’re even considering reusing the head bolts.

[@privatedata665]

I reused a LS Engine head bolt , it's now a hitch pin on my lawn mower . So there ya have it , yes you can reuse head bolts

[@ahcs2001]

Lol, mine hold other engines on engine stands...

[@charlypr88]

As a aerospace technician I worked with thread rolling machines for a while and you can get away using the same bolts in a lot of applications. I know lots of ppl don't have access to a shadowgraph but with that you can see and measure the pitch and thread of the bolts. For automotive tolerance vs aerospace is quiet huge gaps and you can get away re using a lot of parts if the car don't have crazy miles..

[@maxpert1540]

the oem bolt has an extended taper pilot tip and the aftermarket bolt has a flat bottom, that length comparison was not useful

[@norain31]

2014 to 2019 gmc 6.2 first 22flb second pass 67flbs third 84 flbs in sequence gets you away from the 70 an 90 degrea ..Thankyou for such a good video ! couldn't get over why nerds have to make easy stuff so hard and waste hard earned dollars . Yer one of the smart ones Clay !!

[@dave0z96]

I work on Diesel engines and I have gotten away with reusing torque to yield bolts on connecting rods just fine on a 6068 John Deere, but the head gasket blew . The head gasket blew after about 200 hours . I changed the head gasket and it’s got around 12 thousand hours on it and it’s fine .

[@antiochiaadtaurum3786]

what do you mean? the head gasket only lasted 200 hours with the reused head bolts? and then lasted 12,000 hours with brand new head bolts? Did you install a new head gasket again? What you've said is about as clear as heavy fog

[@dave0z96]

@@antiochiaadtaurum3786 Yes one engine only lasted 200 hours with reused head bolts . After I changed the head gasket I used brand new bolts and it was fine . I have reused torque to yield bolts with a lot of success but I just don't like doing it after that 200 hour head gasket failure .

[@MrPicoli]

I changed my first head gasket on a 2009 3rd gen prius. I didn't know what I was doing so just went cheap and reused the bolts. It blew again 90k miles later. I'll change the head gasket again but this time I'll change the bolts...

[@sharpcarco]

I would also consider may be changing the way you drive my father-in-law has 400,000 miles on his Prius and has never had a head gasket issues… I’m just saying.. I think you kind of missed the point of the video

[@Splitthatpie]

@@sharpcarcowere he lives is a big deal cold kills cars we got bad gas up in the mid west

[@sharpcarco]

Well, I’ve had an awful lot of cars, not have the same problems as other folks cars. I drive like a grandma. And not like a 12-year-old I don’t mean any shade by that. I just have seen a lot of younger folks nowadays beat the piss out of their cars. And then wonder why they’re blowing up . But I totally get where he’s coming from. I just think 90,000 miles is not that bad if he didn’t resurface his cylinder heads but better safe than sorry I was just saying that this is what happens to him and my personal opinion, I reuse them all the time, but there’s nothing wrong with buying a new parts Especially when working on cars is not your thing.

[@MrPicoli]

@@sharpcarco the prius is 370k miles and drives great. It's my wife's car. I don't feel she's driving it that hard but it's very hilly around here so maybe that's hard on the car. I was so impressed with her car that I got an other 3rd gen prius for me.

[@siliconvalleyengineer5875]

thank you for checking the depth of the holes, it would appear to be about .400 thousandths of space. You may want to tell your subscribers and viewers to use a botton tap which doese not have the long starting pointy end to chase those bolt threads, thats what i use. I reuse my head bolts too, but I install new crank mains bolts

[@sharpcarco]

Yeah, I would definitely never recommend this on crank or mains thanks for confirming

[@ArmyGrunt1986]

My opinion is that yes you can re-use them as long as they weren't over torqued/stretched or abused. However the price of new bolts vs the possible cost if you use bad bolts. So to me the $70-$150 is definitely worth the peace of mind knowing my engine won't go into Self-Destruct mode. Again that's just my thoughts.

[@sledgenwedge]

For a 150 bucks, you can get Arp headstuds.So why would you bother buying torque to yield

[@dontibbitts9490]

Yes they will fit . But the yeild point is where the material will not spring back and start to stretch. It's a different curve for every material. The further you stretch a bolt past it yeild point the less force it takes to stretch it further until it breaks. Plus it lowers the elastic strength. Even if it's very small. Every time a combustion happens some of the power pushes the heads up and the head bolts act like a spring. They do wear out just like a spring. Especially if you have already stretched it further past it's yeild point. It may be fine for a while.. but if you want you head gaskets to last 100k plus miles.. listen too the engineers.

[@ihopness1668]

Good info

[@Toniez0]

This is an perfect opportunity for an experiment in my case what could go wrong 😁

[@sa-ma-dhi]

If you scared, go to church! Or buy more insurance. Take a risk, it's minimal.

[@sa-ma-dhi]

Brand new parts fail every day.

[@rotate85]

As long as the bolts were never over torqued you can safely reuse it. However it does require a higher torque on its second use so that it has the same clamping force. I would say 5-10% more. I would not use it for the 3rd time. If you’re worried about the bolt bottoming out then put a good quality washer and call it a day.

[@sharpcarco]

I guess I wasn’t very clear but I wasn’t worried about the ball bottoming out I was showing people that it wouldn’t bottom out.

[@sharpcarco]

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[@fullautocare4403]

This is a very tough subject. When I reuse try, I just torque it about 3% more than spec to insure a bit more stretch so the bolt will grab the way it was designed. I've never had a single problem in 15 years.

[@ek8710]

Do you re-use on boosted vehicles also?

[@sharpcarco]

No … conventional

[@edwardherrera2239]

Happy Easter , Quick question would you use any type of threadlocker on the Headbolts ?

[@sharpcarco]

Should not be necessary no I wouldn’t recommend it.

[@edwardherrera2239]

Awesome !!! Thanks for the information and keep up the good work ...

[@LouiseTurner-x9z]

I have been using K-Seal in the cooling system to seal the head gasket with favorable results for a few years. The latest problem is that oil is now getting into the spark plug wells due to brittle O-Ring seals under the rocker cage. I ordered a complete top-end gasket and seal set. How flat does the under-side of the head have to be in order to be considered flat enough so as to not compromise the head gasket? What is the safest way to UN-stick the valves head from the cylinder head? The car is a 1989 Honda Civic DX 1.5 Any helpful thoughts are welcome?

[@himeedajew]

Hey thanks for the info! Not to be the backyard youtube mechanic heckler im just asking.....i recently did a head job on a 3.7 jeep Cherokee, i could have sworn it said in the repair manual the bolts were not torque to yeild and to just make sure bolts werent necked.Maybe some models are different?

[@sharpcarco]

Yeah, I don’t know. You’re probably right different years probably had different Bolts, even though they were the same.. head bolts are going to stretch no matter what because of pressure.

[@marknegrete9353]

If I have an oem bolt that stretched out and bottoms out before achieving correct torque on head can I add some washers and not damage? Washers are not in the way of anything,

[@sharpcarco]

If I remember right there was about 6 mm to 8 mm of depth left inside the hole if it’s that long I would recommend replacing it the only reason it would hurt anything putting washers on it would be if it struck the cam. But if it’s that stretched I would consider buying new ones… And I’m about as cheap as they come

[@marknegrete9353]

@@sharpcarco thanks for the reply. I was measuring from the top of the head.which was giving me incorrect spec length. Also I was thinking it was bottoming out cause I had coolant leaking from head. Turned out to be three stud holes for the exhaust manifold. What a week . Thanks anyways brother. Keep up the great work.

[@sonoramurphree6538]

we had a problem with one of our head bolts on 2007 Cadillac escalade with 305 ltr .we could only hand crank motor half the way each direction and then it stopped .we torched to 22.2lbs as per our guide said.we removed the rods one at a time and tried to hand crank still it got stuck and continued to be stuck ,until we started on head bolls .any ideas about what's going on? motor has 250k on it

[@raymondconnor5022]

I've reused head bolts on every engine...which is many....never had a problem...ever

[@garylarson6386]

I liked the old hard bolts that you didnt stretch just torque, if you overhead and aluminum engine the new bolts stretch more and the head gasket leaks !!!

[@alpha_cg5]

I know you explained it, but does this apply for Honda head bolts too?

[@sharpcarco]

I’ve reused Honda head bolts several times

[@alpha_cg5]

@@sharpcarco okay gotcha, appreciate the info.

[@bseries8826]

Was wondering this as well. I know I have a super low mileage JDM K24A so I'm going to reuse it

[@DjDestinyChicago]

The first head gasket I ever did was on a Civic… I reused the head bolts and drove it for another year afterwards with no problem

[@raullopez9639]

Thank for you video 👍

[@MrLoso19]

Random question I just had a head bolt snap when torquing down. Is it possible to re-use one of the older head bolts if I can extract the one that snapped without removing the head? If I were to take the head off to get this bolt out, would I have to replace the new gasket I just pressed in?

[@ky-effect2717]

And another point to consider- torque isn't the best measure of clamping force due to the friction at the threads and at the bolt head. Bolts are like springs so if it stays stretched too far and didn't return back to normal then its clamping force probably decreased. It would be interesting to see the test done with a load cell.

[@kellycoberly3634]

So if you reuse them after they are stretched should you torque them the same? Polaris goes to 26 foot pounds plus 180 degrees. I wish I knew what the torque value was after the 180 degrees. It would seem after the first strech it might be better to just torque to the proper spec and not stretch again??

[@ImNotHereToArgueFacts]

I just have 1 question... What would cause you to need to reuse the same headbolt several times?

[@sharpcarco]

You’re taking the word several to literally….. I’ve rebuilt more than one engine. I’ve rebuilt several engines, so I’ve reused several head bolts. lol good try though if you don’t wanna reuse them, don’t reuse them like I said in the video I’m just telling you my experience

[@ImNotHereToArgueFacts]

​@@sharpcarco😂 I get it. Do you have any records for like torque to achieve 90° on a new vs once used bolt? OD just above threads?

[@roryt420]

Thanks

[@vendetta1306]

Much obliged

[@kingkotkot2341]

100% love your video

[@sharpcarco]

Well thank you for taking the time to say so we greatly appreciate it welcome to the Channell we’re very happy to have folks on board just like you

[@flintknappingtools]

God Bless!

[@patricktrous]

they are good at least one more time so long as they arent pitted or damaged, i would not reuse more than onse after the engine was built origonaly. never had an issue

[@harrish1978]

Hey mate my Manuel says loosen to on in the torque procedure. Is it mean torque to specs then loosen it then torque again ?

[@Mike-qo4kp]

You can not re use tty head bolts i verified this myself. They are very easy to remove once used, they lose clamping force big time.

[@sharpcarco]

Do you have a channel called the Mike Way? Because this is the Clay way not the Mike way….. I’m just saying

[@jab5521]

You can resues toilet tissue it will work. 😂😂

[@sharpcarco]

😂😂😂 but only if you really wanna save the landfills…

[@hastyhillfarmand4x480]

Couldn't I just over torque them by 1 lb?

[@MoeLarrycurly1]

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼🏍🖖🏼

[@PaulHenreid]

ten big bolts, cmon, torque to spec and reuse.

[@sharpcarco]

This !!!!

[@lanceamerica9405]

Face diaper = done

[@sharpcarco]

🤔lol funny thing is you have no idea why I’m wearing the face diaper and it’s not because of the reason you think it is….. 😂 You see during Covid the dog ate my false teeth and Governor Gretchen Whitler shut down all the dentist…. Yeah I never got those teeth replaced, but I’m not really embarrassed about it anymore.

[@galesams4205]

This is such bull shit about not reuseing head bolts this is just parts supplyers wanting to sale more parts. Im a diesel mechanic . I can tell if there is a STRETCHED head bolt or NOT. On cumming, cat, detroit, the old HEAD bolts are reused on these 500 HP engines.

[@lucientjinasjoe1578]

If i tell you that in the third world mechanics in the hinterland welding these broken head bolt and torque them to specification

[@user-ds9zd8eq6u]

New Bolts are Chinese! Use the old bolts! Unless you you wanna buku bux on ARP!

[@BP021]

Reused many head bolts. Even on boosted cars. Never a problem

[@sonoramurphree6538]

sorrey the motor was a 403

[@electricbaylinergoesfishin870]

youre by yourself, talking to your hand held camera and wearing a mask

[@sharpcarco]

Yes, because I was embarrassed….. you see governor Wittler… shut down all the dentist during Covid… and before Covid I was doing good business, so when Covid came along, I had money but not for long because everything was shut down… including the dentist, which I could’ve really used because the dog ate my false teeth…. Had nothing to do with Covid

[@Toniez0]

If we just use our head for a second there should be no reason you cant reuse several solid metal bolts

[@skatertrash4205]

Il with u brother am poor too😆 no rich person realize how crap these parts are