Broken water pump bolt removal

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Furious65

Furious65

C-body Guy
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OK, had an overheating problem and found that corrosion had eaten through the water pump housing so it wouldn't hold pressure but would just barely weep coolant. Anyways, broke the lower passenger side bolt trying to R&R it. :banghead:

Questions: Will I have to pull the timing cover (small block) to drill this SOB out? I figure I have to drill it and then use an Easy-Out (easy my a$$!) unless someone has a better method. Also, where can I get a correct bolt to replace it?
 
Is this in your daily driver?? If not, I would soak the snot outta it in PB blaster. Take the timing cover off and put a little heat to it too. Ya might be surprised if your patient you might not have to tap/ez-out it. Good luck!
You should be able to get a bolt from hardware store.
 
Yes, it is my daily driver. Was hoping to get it done this weekend but that doesn't look to promising.
 
Combination of PB and heat and you might get lucky. Let it soak while you go to hardware store for the bolt. Could be worse ya could be up North and be freezin yer nards off! LOL
 
so its stuck in the block? You gonna haver to take the balancer off and the whole enchilada? I had to hammer a cover off when the bolt turned to cement after the head twisted off. So if you get the cover off, ATF and kerosene/acetone/thinner makes a good penetrating oil, douse it and go get yourself the correct length 3/8 bolt, grab the old one with some vice grips and gently turn. If it doesnt budge turn the the other way, back and forth. Heat helps on the block side, a hot bolt will expand. If you can hit the hot bolt with some freeze out of a air duster turned upside down, it may break the bond. Same thing happened to me but it was tht top, easier to get at.
 
Pishta thats the 2nd time I heard of ATF and acetone/thinner...I gotta mix up a batch and try it!
 
Torque test on a frozen bolt...kroil, WD40, PB, etc and none came close to cheap 50/50 ATF/Acetone...so dont recycle your old ATF, mix it up with acetone and put it back to use!

*Penetrating oil .......... Average load*
None ........................... 516 pounds
WD-40 ..................... ... 238 pounds
PB Blaster .................... 214 pounds
Liquid Wrench ............... 127 pounds
Kano Kroil .................... 106 pounds
ATF-Acetone mix...............53 pounds
 
I would not use an EZ-Out to extract this bolt. Broken EZ-Out's are ten times more difficult to remove than broken bolts.
 
Man, I bought a set of left hand drill bits on ebay for like 15.00 for removing broken bolts and do they work great....best 15 bucks I ever spent.....I am a full time maintenance mechanic and they never let me down yet.....You must have a drill that goes in reverse....then just drill into the broken stud as if you were drilling a regular hole....and it unscrews itself....amazing....I use to use those Easy outs and man , they suck....never had any luck with them
 
Same here Bbrown, ya know yer in s**t if you break an "EZ" out!! One of the rare snap-on tools I have is the left-handed drill bits. Set of 6 for $30, I broke one but the best $$ I spent on tools.
 
Those long shamk bolts that go through both parts and thread into the block. Spraying a penetrant where the head was probably never will reach the threads.
If it was anywhere else I might try drills and stuff but where this broken bolt is increases the difficulty.
I would invest my time and money in replacing the timing cover gaskets and front seal.
If i got in there and found I needed a timing set too, so be it.
I would have to go to town for a new bolt at minimum so why not buy what I know will repair the engine ?
 
jos51700 said:
I would not use an EZ-Out to extract this bolt. Broken EZ-Out's are ten times more difficult to remove than broken bolts.
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True, I had a broken trans cooler fitting that was broke off past flush on the case. Tried an EZ out and within couple turns that broke off also....... What to do?? So I fired up the tig welder and welded a Hardend Nut to the ez out. The ez out was past flush also so i had to build the weld up enogh and then weld the nut on. It came right out very easy with this technique. Then I took a very small file and filed the fitting in 4 places right to the threads, broke it up and it came out also. Cleaned it out good, chased the threads, thread sealer, new fitting, fixed. Trans was on an engine stand doing this fix.
 
I snapped that same bolt off once and it snapped off flush with the block. I ended up taking timing cover off, drilled in center of bolt with 1/8" drill bit. Then I drilled a couple more sizes up but not big enough to hit the threads. Then I ran a tap through the hole to remove the rest of the bolt. When I got done the block looked like new. Make sure you put RTV sealer on those threads when the new bolt goes back in.
 
340sFastback said:
I snapped that same bolt off once and it snapped off flush with the block.
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That is what I think mine has done as well by looking at what remains of the bolt. It has about an 1/8" of the thread still on the bolt. I'll have to see if I can find a ride into town to get me acetone and I'll try the acetone/ATF mix and some left handed bits. Thanks for the ideas and input.
 
The lower 2 bolts go into the timing cover as does the top center bolt The 4 side bolts go threw the cover and into the block. if it is a side bolt they usually break off do to being froze in the cover from aluminum oxidation. If you get the cover off the bolt should spin out fairly easy. Yes sometimes they do break at the block but not as often as in the cover. The bolts are a special size and fall between sizes you can buy. The lower cover bolts can damage the cylinder wall if they are to long. care should be taken on replacement of all bolts. I have the bolts if needed and covers. Steve
 
Oldmanmopar said:
The lower 2 bolts go into the timing cover as does the top center bolt The 4 side bolts go threw the cover and into the block. if it is a side bolt they usually break off do to being froze in the cover from aluminum oxidation. If you get the cover off the bolt should spin out fairly easy. Yes sometimes they do break at the block but not as often as in the cover. The bolts are a special size and fall between sizes you can buy. The lower cover bolts can damage the cylinder wall if they are to long. care should be taken on replacement of all bolts. I have the bolts if needed and covers. Steve
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Also, if the bolt is seized in the cover, use a cutoff wheel, cut thru the housing and bolt about 1 inch from the block face and remove cover. This will leave enough bolt to grab and extract from block. You will need a replacement cover and I completely cover the new bolt with teflon tape so it wont seize again.
 
Does anyone know if the standard Fel-Pro TCS65631 timing cover set has the crank seal included?
 
When I put my stroker engine together all the water pump bolts came from the hardware store. I didn't have any problem finding the correct lengths. But like said above don't use one that is too long or it will put pressure on the cylinder wall.
 
Neat information here.

Pishta,

Is it a 50/50 mix of ATF to acetone? I'm big fan of KROIL, but I don't own stock in 'em. I'll try this out.

All,

Yes, you can get bolts at the hardware store. To avoid breakage, let me suggest using Grade 5 hardware. Make sure it is US or Canadian sourced. The Chinese stuff has the worst metallurgy I've seen in fasteners. I've known Chinese stuff to have Grade 5 or 8 head markings and have the integrity of a Crayola.

Grade 8 hardware can be used but it's more expensive and if you're unfortunate to break one off below hole level, it is really tough to extract.
 
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