I think it's easy for people to get fooled by the fact that it almost feels like you pulled something out when the bolt is stretching. It gets easier to turn while that's happening. It's kind of exciting the first few times you do it. Just keep doing your 90 degree turn, don't stop or slow down.
The only time I remember a guy having a problem with these head bolts breaking when he was trying to torque them. The parts manager kind of thought it was weird that he kept coming up for more bolts. I asked the dope how much is 90 degrees? But that guy was a special kind of stupid.
lookin for thoughts ....
Just in the process of replacing my head gaskets on a 2003 LR D2 4.6l - and following the instructions. Everything was fine up to the second 90 turn, and bolt 1 (top middle - one of the 3 longer ones) all of a sudden just seemed to 'let go'. Basically it was really hard to pull through the 90, but about half way through it lost all tension. I finished the remaining 45 but not feeling good about this. The other 9 all seemed to maintain the torque being put on them.
As an added point, when I removed the head bolts this same bolt didn't need to be cracked - I made a mental note that it seemed loose .... I guess I should have looked a little closer before the assembly.
So when you say it feels different is this what I'm feeling on just this one bolt. I have a sinking feeling that this bolt hole is now stripped.
Thanks