Let me start off by saying I did not do this. I decided to tackle my valve covers this week. After all the reading I’ve done the key is to take your time. I did the drivers side first on sunday with no issues, other than cursing audi out for using torx bolts wtf. I thought the drivers side would be the hardest. I get the airbox and all cleared out on the other side, I’m like hell it is tighter on this side. I look over all the heads and tell myself it shouldn’t be that bad and then I look at the bolt by the heat shield. To my horror it was already striped from the last time the dealer replaced them. Also over tightened the gasket hanging out and you can pull on it. Damn audi of cary. I’m still seeing red from being so mad. I can’t even get my dremel tool in there. I’ve tried to use 3 different types of extraction tools, with no luck. I’m waiting for a flexible dremel head to see if I can get that in there to cut a slit in the head to use a flat head bit. How screwed am I here?
If its the one im thinking about that is a monster and it being stripped that makes for an even bigger issue.
you said you used extractor bits. Did you use a drill to start and then a counter clock extractor.
If its really bad you can pull the core away from the snub mount to help rock the motor forward or back a little to help
http://[URL=http://s1254.photobucket.com/user/luvsspeed/media/Resized_20161215_152216_zpsabbst052.jpeg.html]
http://[URL=http://s1254.photobucket.com/user/luvsspeed/media/Resized_20161215_152216_zpsabbst052.jpeg.html]
I actually started to grind down the head. It was my only option since I had no space to get anything else in there.
Good luck with the fix…I’m glad I’m not the only one that this dumb shit happens to 
I tried to post a pic, but for some reason I can’t. I couldn’t get a drill bit in there, without catching the valve cover on the side of the bit. Its the lower rear bolt on the passengers side cover. It would be fine if that bolt wasn’t so close to shock tower bulge. I started to grind the head down and got about a quarter of it ground off.
I thought I was the only one honestly…lol My bad luck
I fixed the link tags but even if i take your full url it says the picture link dose not exist
I guess I can’t post pictures
If you can get a jpeg link you can post it. I tried to follow your link back to it sorce to help you so I could both see whats going on and help post a picture but i wasnt able to
you got the picture to load. Thats the good news. The bad news you already know.
Something I have done in the past. Pull the front core support to allow the motor to tilt forward and back then put a jack under the front sub frame. From there take and back off the sub frame and carrage bolts about 1.5 inches you can go further if needed as all the lines and plugs have that much of a slack in them. Droppiing it down like that allows you more space and ifyou need you can rock the motor forward that bolt sucks to get to when its not messed up.
the other tip I have for you is to make sure the bolts on either side of that one are tight before you try to loosen the one. Having some of the tension taken up by the other two bolts makes it eaiser to get that bolt out.
Sorry it took so long to reply back. I had started to grind the head down after I took that picture. I stopped about a month ago and had not tried anymore. The dealer had over tightened that bolt, if you look hard at that pic you can see the valve cover gasket sticking out at that bolt. This is a northeast car so I would fear removing the subframe bolts and that is more than I care to try. I had normal sanding rolls for my dremel and I was eating though them trying to grind down the bolt. I another attachment for dremel grinding so I don’t have to burn through sanding rolls so fast.
The sub frame bolts are the very big bolts that hold the sub frame up. There should be no issues with any rust there. They are too big and too strong to give you any issues. You dont actually have to take the bolts out you just have to loosen them. The more you loosen them the more the sub frame will drop you can gain an easy 2inches and that will give you so much more space then you have now.
Well I don’t feel comfortable doing that. I had another car where the subframe bolts broke when the dealer tried to remove them. I’m not going through that again. I’ve been trying off and on for 3 months trying to get that bolt off with no luck. I’ve come to the point were I will let a shop try to remove it or just let the valve cover leak. I’m rocking 2 different color covers now so it is what it is.
That makes sense if you don’t feel comfortable then it is best to pass on that.
If you think you might want to try it I don’t let the sub frame free hang. I use a jack under the sub frame I lower the bolts and lower the sub frame using the jack so there isn’t any load or weight on the bolts.
Sometimes when you have a bolt like that you can hammer the next largest torq bit in there. I know that one is hard to get to, but you might be able to get an extension on the bit. I doesn’t matter to much if you are at a slight angel, as long as you can get it to bit. Just make sure not to use a metal hammer on the extension. I have messed some up by using metal on them. Also, if you have a torch, a little bit of heat on the head bolt can help, obviously you don’t want to get carried away with the firewall liner that close. Hope that might be of some help.
Thanks I already gave up on it though. Besides not much of that head left. I’m just going to take it to a shop and have them deal with it. I hate that I have to stick someone else with the problem, but I’ve used to much time that I needed for other things. I used a vacation and a half trying.
With this kind of issue a shop with more tools and the ability to drop the motor down a bit will really pay off. that bolt is hard to get to even when its not messed up.
let us know how it goes.