i took my coil overs off today to check the compression of my engine (136,000 miles)
when i went to put one of the coil overs back on.. i was screwing in the bolt and realized that it wasnt going in any further.
i looked down and could see the threads that i was screwing the bolt into was spinning.

i dont think i can get the bolt back out because it went in about 1/5th of an inch.. and obviously if the nut is spinning while the bolt is spinning, its counter-productive.

my question is.. does anybody know of a way to get the stubborn bolt out?
and if i do manage to get the bolt out, how do i keep the nut on the valve cover to stop spinning?

i dont know a whole lot about the valve cover.
i do know that it is covered in plastic.. but i dont know if the nut is encased in plastic only or if it was attached to the metal of the valve cover and broke loose.

i mean.. do i need a whole new valve cover because of one stupid bolt encased in the valve cover to screw down the coil over??!

i just left it the way it is for now.. but i think eventually i will want to change the plugs or replace the coil overs.
the only thing i can think of is to remove the one functional bolt and snap the coil over off with a hammer .. then replace the valve cover (or maybe just the valve cover plastic?)


for what its worth.. my compression results are as follows:

154 145
150 153
153 155
front

**edit**
my engine is the 2.7 liter

 

Thats about it.....

 

i was looking at pictures of valve covers for sale.. and it appears that if i clip the top of the bolt off and remove the coil over, i could probably attack the nut from the side with a soldering iron.

melting the plastic and adding a drop of solder to the side of the nut should prevent it from spinning anymore.

and if that doesnt work, i will probably try to remove the nut (first by gently prying on it to remove it - then if that doesnt work, use some heat to melt the plastic around the nut to help removal)
then, with the nut out, i will use some JB weld to glue the nut back in place.

to make certain that the nut is in the perfect position.. i will add the nut to the tip of the bolt and apply the glue to the nut and set the coil over in its normal position while the glue dries.
this will keep the nut perfectly lined-up with the bolt when everything is dry.
(careful not to glue the bolt to the nut..!!)

what do you think of this method?
and does anybody know if that plastic will melt easily?

if somebody could tell me how the nut is encased in plastic, i would be well informed to know what exactly is supposed to come out of the plastic when i do the extraction.
one thought would be a nut with grooves that the plastic has been molded around (grooves keeping the nut from spinning)
another thought would be that the nut is quite big and may have some sort of a washer on the bottom to prevent coming out (and this would make the extraction more difficult, so i dont ruin the plastic completely where there is nothing left to glue the nut to without rebuilding/re-molding the plastic 'stub' )

i've had JB quik come apart in hot water.. so i will have to purchase some tubes of JB weld.

i think i will put a piece of tape on the bottom of the nut so the bolt doesnt become glued to the nut in the process.
but then i might need to hunt down a re-threading tap and tap/thread further down into the glue so the bolt will screw all the way down.
does anybody know if JB weld will drill out with a re-threader?
and if not, do you know of a better solution to glue the nut back in place?