Originally Posted by dedwards0323
These screws are really simple to remove with an 'easy out'. I simply center punched the broken thread & drilled the pilot hole using a 5/64" drill bit. And you don't have drill a very deep pilot hole. Then using a #1 'easy out', the broken screw came right out. (Note: The broken screw is aluminum so the screw extractor or 'easy out' will grab real easy.) Didn't even have to remove the breather cover to perform this repair. And as I stated earlier, I replaced all the aluminum M5-.80x16 Torx SHCS with standard carbon steel Hex SHCS's I found at Lowe's.
Something else I discovered when I looked more carefully at the SHCS's I picked up at CDJ parts counter earlier today. The replacement screws are M5-.80x18 SHCS's!
When I tried to replace the initial screw (doing these one at a time to minimize losing the new breather cover seal), that extra 2 mm length is enough to make the screw feel like it's either 'bottoming out' or possibly out of threads when tightened (as discussed earlier in this thread). So I stayed with the carbon steel screws from Lowe's. But will continue looking for screws that would be possibly better applicable for use with the valve covers to lessen the likelihood of any chemical corrosion down the road.