164 Concerns - Cylinder Head Bolts

["Bob Abhalter" <gt1300jr1@domain.elided>]

Greetings Alfisti - Especially mechanically minded 164 or other V-6 owners.

Twice now I have had an unusual experience with the head bolts on my '91
164L. It happened most recently this weekend when I had to remove the  rear
cam cover to reseal a leaky spark plug well gasket. While I had the cover
off, I checked the cylinder head bolts with my torque wrench just to see if
things were all tightened up. I found that one bolt, only, was loose and
took perhaps a half turn or more to bring to the minimum torque spec. Note
that I did not go through the proper retorquing procedure of backing off,
then retightening the bolts, I just applied my click-release torque wrench
to see if any of the bolts would move. It was pretty unnerving when one did.

This situation has me concerned, but not nearly as concerned as I was two
years ago when the same thing happened, only with a different bolt on the
same head, just before I set off on a cross-country trip. I have traveled
many relatively care-free miles between incidents. The engine idles smoothly
and seems to have relatively good power, burns little oil but loses some
coolant periodically.

I figure someday my luck will run out and the whole thing will go boom.

Anyone have this happen to them? Any guesses on what is  going on?

Bob  Abhalter
Grand Rapids MI

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