Major Problem During Water Pump Install

[Evil Joe]

I was installing a new water pump and broke the head of one of the bolts off in the engine block. Its the rightmost bolt (looking at the engine) that is NOT connected to the A/C P/S bracket.

I put the rest of the bolts in and added coolant - the pump leaks live a sieve! Please help!!

1.) How do I fix this bolt issue? Do I need to remove the old head somehow, or what are my options?

2.) Where can I buy a brand new water pump bolt set?


Thanks so much,

Joe

[BilLster]

remove the water pump and see if you can get vise grips on the broken stud or weld a bolt to it to extract it

as for the bolt just take one of the other ones into a hardwarestore and replace it.

it wont seal untill you relace that bolt

[Evil Joe]

The bolt was broken off inside the timing chain cover. Is there anyway one can weld a bolt when its inside the cover? Perhaps epoxy?

Anyone else know of place that sells a water bolt kit?

Thanks,

Joe

[bigred90gt]

Try a drill and a set of easy outs. If that doesnt work, you may have to drill the old bolt out and enlarge the hose a bit, re-thread it with a tap, and buy a bolt to fit.

[Shaggy]

Sounds like you need to take the timing cover off and see if it broke off flush with the block if it did then you will need to easy out it. If it didn't grab what is sticking out with vice grips and carefully take it out. as far asd getting bolt for the water pump oyu can arp hbut if it was me i would just go to the hardware stor and buy just the one bolt i needed.

[billheis]

I do believe Shaggy is right, that timing cover will probably have to come off. While you have it off run a tap through all the holes and get all new bolts (most Ford dealers have them too) from the hardware store and use anti-seeze on them. Make sure the block is clean or the new gasket will leak! Good luck and may your patience be with you!

[Evil Joe]

Well....here's an update:

I went with some of your suggestions and tried to drill and tap with a larger bolt. While this was successful for attaching the water pump to the timing cover...the timing cover started to leak where the broken bolt was. So, I pulled off the timing cover (what a pain the the ***) and gained access to the bolt. That was probably the MOST stubborn bolt I've ever seen. It was like welded to the engine block! After much trial and tribulation, I drilled the bolt out and re-tapped the hole. UNFORTANATELY, I somehow cracked the block in the process. The crack is extremely small (hairline) and away from any water or oil. (Basically, the upper right hand corner water pump bolt). Tomorrow, we will try to weld the crack shut.

And to think...I started all this because my car was running about 5 degrees to hot. (Yes - I changed everthing else first: thermo, radiator, flushing, etc.) But still...I am a dumbass.

[mpj76]

Hey,

I feel your pain. The EXACT same thing happened to me in the EXACT same hole. I was replacing my cover and while re-attaching the subject bolt, it felt like I stripped it. I took the cover back off and noticed that the block cracked on the "ear" of the bolt hole. I very carefully removed the chipped piece while it was still hanging on before it fell into the pan. I decided to put everything back together the way it was and hope for the best. When putting the front cover back on, you will notice that it's a real pain the *** to keep the front cover/oil pan seal in place. The trick is to drop the pan a little bit. Don't try to work it around too much because your RTV will get too tacky and then won't keep oil from leaking out (happened to me). Instead of welding and tapping the block, I RTV'd the water pump back onto the cover like normal, but used JB weld as a gasket around the subject coolant passage. It's held up for two years now (30K miles). I can't believe it. My car is stock but I still get on it a lot and I haven't had any problems yet.

[USMC302]

Well at least you didn't break off an easy out inside the bolt.....I did that about about a year ago But hopefully the hairline crack works out for the best like mpj76's

[Evil Joe]

Its finally finished!

I ended up renting an arc welder from home depot and welding the crack shut. That may be overkill, but it sure doesn't leak anymore!

Check this out. After I put everything back together, I started up the car and its idle was extremely rough. I replace the timing chain, so I started to freak out...thinking, that maybe I screwed something up. After turning off the engine, and looking around, I found the problem. My dumbass forgot to put back on 1/2 the spark plug wires!! So, only the left side was actually getting a spark. After putting the wires back on - she ran smooth...

This ends my saga in changing the water pump and timing chain.

[Bad89stang]

Good job! Doesn't it feel good when you fix a problem that is a total nightmare like that?

[mpj76]

So did you weld it and then re-tap it?

[Evil Joe]

Yeah, I fixed the crack by first welding it shut and then re-tapping the hole. I rented an arc welder from home depot and got some free cast iron sticks from one of the many (semi-illegal) 'welding' shops out in the middle of Nowhere, CA. Anyways, I'm not the best welder in the world - but it doesn't leak anymore.

Due to the urgency, I started a new thread on this exact topic:
http://forums.mustangworks.com/showt...threadid=37628

[mpj76]

I just changed my balancer. The thing almost came apart in two. The rubber starting creeping out of place and was torn in some spots. The new one cost $80 at autozone. My steering wheel would shake bet. 800-1100 rpms and vibrate from 3000 up. The shaking kind of felt like braking with bad rotors. I only tolerated the shaking sympton for about one week. It was really easy to replace. You don't have to remove the radiator, fan, or shroud. After replacing it, the engine felt so smooth. It made me realize that the higher RPM vibration that I had for about a year and a half was due to the balancer when it first started getting worn. Your timing readings won't be accurate because the two pieces aren't lined up anymore like they used to be. When the shaking symptom started, I couldn't even pick the marks up with my gun.

Fun fact: Before liquid dampers, offshore boats with inboards would sometimes sink themselves when the balancer came apart at high speed and shoot through the bottom hull.

[Evil Joe]

You didn't, by chance, happen to take a pic of your messed of balancer did you? I'd like to see one.

I checked my balancer when I had everything off and it wasn't that bad. Very minor hairline cracks and stuff like that in it...but it didn't seem like anything serious. Then again, I dont have any vibration issues at low or high speed.

Just curious...how did you get it off? Impact wrench? I wedged a wrench between the balancer and a bolt on the engine block. Very crude...but it worked! (I did the same to get it back on, too...)

[mpj76]

I don't have a digital camera, so it might be a while before I can get a pic made and scanned. I used a harmonic balancer puller that autozone lets you borrow for free.

[PKRWUD]

For future reference, the easiest way to get the crank bolt out is to get a breaker bar, a 4" extension, and the socket for the bolt, put them all together, and place the socket on the crank bolt, so that the end of the breaker bar handle is resting on the ground, to the drivers side of center. Disconnect the coil, and go bump the starter with the key. Bingo, the bolt is broken loose for you. Works every single time, except on Honda engines that are reverse rotation.



Take care,
~Chris

[Evil Joe]

Chris - I tried your breaker bar suggestion for removing the bolt...but it didn't work for me. Everytime I bumped the engine, the wrench would just fall off the bolt. What I did was wedge a wrench inbetween the harmonic balancer and a random bolt on the engine. (Specially, I used a 6" wrench in between the harmonic balancer and a water pump bolt.) Once that was wedged in, I just loosed the bolt with a large wrench. This worked equally as well when I tightened the bolt down to 80 ft-lbs.

Just curious - Chris, what do you do to re-tighten the bolt? Without an impact wrench (or wedging the balancer like I described), its nearly impossible to get to 70-90 ft-lbs without turning the engine. And I can't see how you can tighten it by bumping the engine.

Joe

[mpj76]

To loosen or tighten the bolt, just use a socket and wrench. To keep the motor from turning over, put the car in 5th gear.

[PKRWUD]

Other than a Honda, that's the first time I've ever heard of someone having trouble doing it that way. If your tools aren't badly worn, it should have worked fine. I usually use an impact to put one back on, but I have used a torque wrench without a problem. Depends on the application.

Take care,
~Chris