Broke timing cover bolt NEED HELP!

In this case because I really don't like messing with these generation threes I would probably go with your friends advice there's a PCV system there's not a lot of pressure in this area It's just oil falling if you will running down towards the pan not back up towards your broken piece of thread that's sticking in this hole take a little RTV gray and put a dab in there You don't have to fill up the spot and level it or anything just a good squirt and let it dry let it skin well before you start having vapor blowing through that area or running the engine giving an hour or two let it dry then see what you have If nothing happens it looks like maybe the bolt was too long for the hole and bottomed out and broke so where it broke is a little bit of stud sticking out into the timing cover portion that should help a little bit little bit of silicone or something like that should do the trick I mean you can if you can get a tool in there and a drill and whatnot You could try and have your way at it or pull the engine out and fix it and put it back in but that seems hardly not worth anybody that I knows time but then again you never know

 

This page might help, to identify which bolt location/type:

Timing gear cover & rear end plate for Toyota Prius XW30, 3 generation, restyling 12.2011 - 11.2015 - Toyota Car and Auto Spare Parts - Genuine Online Car Parts Catalogue - Amayama

 

How to extract?
Do I understand?
From the picture, it appears you can access with a 90 degree drill.
Drill a hole in the center of the bolt , extract w/ an Easy Out, retap the threads to "check", and replace with new bolt.
(Worst case, the treads are damaged and you may would need to Helicoil before installing a new bolt)

If the bolt is "stubborn" to remove a little heat may aid removal.

Good luck.

 

It's going to be tough getting the center punch on what's broken with it sitting in the car so then when you're drilling you're really flying by night. Possibly an alternative might be left-handed twist drills if you got really lucky even without the center punch the twist drill twisting backwards and biting into what's left of the bolt might grab it and twist it right out and it'll be on the end of your drill run a blind hole tap to chase the threads in the hole blow it out with your air if you have such a thing or some computer compressed air and a can and manually run in a bolt with some anti-seize on it with your fingers and see how far it goes and the length is correct and then just the final tightening two turns or what have you with your ratchet a tad shorter bolt in this situation will always be better than something too long when you bottom out you stop turning and go backwards if the bolt is too long get a shorter one trim off the one you have with your grinder run the die up it and stick it back in I think the dab of FIPG on the whole will probably be fine here it's this looks like it's reasonably up so oil is falling down and it's not a mating surface so as the oil gets slung up against the mating surface from the chain it'll hit the mating surfaces of the timing cover where the timing cover joins to the front of the engine and just run down It shouldn't come weeping out of that hole there's no reason for it to especially if there's some FIPG in there to stop it it'll just back up and run down where it's supposed to go I would imagine there's nothing happening there to keep it there gravity is our friend.

 

This is a possibility; there’s several bolt spec. Where there any the same diameter but diff length?

 

I'm not sure but I want to say I think so I've only pulled the bolts out one time I think I have them all sitting in a container I need to go take a look and then I have a timing cover sitting here too and I can look at the bosses but I think there's a couple that are different lengths and they're all basically the same diameter and thread pitch I know there are in other timing covers that I mess with more frequently they're also larger diameter bolt but that's beside the point I can't remember to be honest on the two ZZ

 

if the broken piece of bolt "wiggles" when you try to move it, it's not tight and can easily be removed.

File the threads off the bolt head you have to make that section of the broken bolt smaller. Put a very small dab of superglue or quick cure epoxy on the tip and insert it until it touches the other piece. Just don't put so much adhesive on it that it squeezes out and contacts the sides of the hole. The bolt shank will keep it centered while the glue bonds. Then just carefully spin it out.

 

Attachment has a map of the timing chain cover bolts (A~F) and their lengths:

 

The video in the description of a screw extract kit on Amazon (2nd “pic”) has good instruction.

I might try the glue it together method first but any oil will make that difficult since the piece of bolt is likely tightly bottomed out (too long) or stripped and jammed (worse yet).

As stated above, you really need a flat surface of the broken part still in the engine. Getting the reverse drill bit centered is key. Sometimes the reverse rotation when drilling will walk it out. In your case removal of the cover might be required if access or an irregular break makes drilling difficult.

I would wait and see if it leaks. These covers leak easily with all the bolts after a little thermal cycling. Some leak a lot.

https://amzn.to/4ep8ACN

 

If it was a case of too long bolt, there's likely a too short bolt somewhere else.

 

Did post #5 just belatedly show up, or did I miss it. Anyway: put the pieces together, get a rough idea of it's length, and check against the pics I posted above. If it was too long for the hole, another will be too short somewhere.

 

It’s Priuschat’s one mod not approving new posts sometimes for days. Then it gets put back at the time of the op’s submission.

 

Also, as often as not, pages need a manual refresh, or you’re looking at stale data. This REALLY bites when you do two edits to a post in close succession: it’ll show the old version, and if you’re not on your toes, re-save it, your first edit is gone.

especially on an iPhone. Maybe just?