Stripped Water Pump Bolt

ksdst1 · Post by **ksdst1** » 28 May 2011, 11:51

Hi all....i was using a new torque wrench to tighten water pump bolts and I stripped one and the bolt head snapped off about half way up the thread area. Am I f@#*ed or should the gasket still be sealed enough?
Ideas/suggestions?
tnx...kevin

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 28 May 2011, 14:57

Hi Kevin-

Were you changing the pump at the time, maybe along with a timing belt change? New pump come with new capscrews? If so I'd pull the pump back off, take out the broken bolt with vise grips and use one of the old ones going back on. Little loctite blue recommended to hold the old bolt, but probably not absolutely essential.

if you didn't change the pump but was just tightening it while you had the cover off, you may be OK. Old gasket is probably adhered to both surfaces and it is unlikely to leak. Something to consider though, is what position the bolt is in, side thrust from the timing belt may tend to pull that side of the flange joint apart and without that one bolt allow enough flex in the water pump casting to cause a leak.

Jeff

ksdst1 · Post by **ksdst1** » 28 May 2011, 15:06

Hey Jeff....actually I was just replacing the gasket so I was using the old bolts. The bolt is at 4 o'clock so I have to look at the belt direction to see if you good point about force possibly pulling on it.

I didn't want to pull the pump back out before I got some timely feedback. I am worried that there will be not enough remaining protruding bolt to vise-grip it and definitely not enough room to drill (have never done it before).
kevin

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 28 May 2011, 17:18

Hi Kevin-

Actually I'm quite surprised you broke the bolt instead of stripping the female threads in the aluminum.

It seems at 4:00 position it should one of the least-stressed bolts by belt tension, so I think you are probably good.

During my shipboard engineering days I've seen a lot of flanges and pumps and what not missing a bolt here and there, in most cases there weren't any problems.

If it was my car in this situation, I think I would go ahead and fill up the cooling system before going any further with the timing belt job and see if she leaks. If not, I would put it together and run it. Did you use any gasket compound? That would help seal it in that area, as you first over-compressed the gasket under that one bolt, then took the compression force off when the bolt broke.

Opinions on usage and types of gasket sealer are as plentiful as best brands and grade of oil and spark plugs, but I usually coat both sides of gaskets with Permatex spray-on copper, on cars, diesel and other equipment with flange gaskets with excellent results. Besides sealing, one of the best thing about that stuff is the gaskets come off easily afterwards without having to scrape it. Good luck!

Jeff

ksdst1 · Post by **ksdst1** » 29 May 2011, 08:37

Tnx for the reply and input Jeff. I'm not sure if the threads stripped before the snapped bolt or not. I thought is was something going on with the new wrench so it is hard to say.

I did coat the seal with spray-on copper. I may have to give it a shot and see what happens as I can't imagine a way to get that bolt out w/o pulling the engine for direct drill access or something like that.
cheers..

instarx · Post by **instarx** » 29 May 2011, 23:22

Not sure how much room there is in there, but would a right-angle drill fit?

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 30 May 2011, 05:08

Agreed, it would be pretty tough to drill without straight-on access and my experience with drilling for an ez-out in a steel bolt surrounded by aluminum hasn't been good. Even under the best of conditions It is hard to start a hole in the exact center of the bolt and keep it there and not have the drill wander off and go into the aluminum. Then you would have problems.

If you are still worried about it then pull the pump and see if you can grab the broken bolt with vise grips. If it is below the surface of the threaded hole than seal it up real good with a new gasket and good compound - maybe some hardening type in this case or an anerobic sealer like Loctite 515 (good stuff for problem areas as it seals gaps up to 0.015"), torque the remaining bolts proper then forget it till the next timing belt job!

Jeff

el diablo viejo · Post by **el diablo viejo** » 30 May 2011, 23:55

Not sure if you have enough room, but after taking the pump off, see if you have anyplace on the broken face of the bolt where you can get a bite with a small sharp punch, nail, icepick, etc. Then tap the punch with a small hammer and see if you can back the bolt out enough to grab it. If the broken face is clean smooth, and you have a good small sharp punch, sometimes you can punch an off center indentation in the face which gives enough perch to turn it by tapping on it.

ksdst1 · Post by **ksdst1** » 06 Jun 2011, 07:19

so the finality is that I got a 90 degree drill and another 90 drill adapter and used a grab it pro drill bit. had to squat, sweat and groan to drill dead center into the stud but managed to do so in order to see the stud bull out a bit...then turned the bit around to the "unscrew" end and the broken stud came out....happy days!

toolmanjsp · Post by **toolmanjsp** » 06 Jun 2011, 11:59

Congrats! I think you left out "stand on my head"!

Take any pictures???