The WP replacement job went darn smoothly until the upper-most bolt sheared when tightening up the new pump. Somehow 65 to 81 ft/lbs seems like a hell of a lot of torque for this thing.

Anyway, can anyone give advise or recommendations for removing a sheared WP bolt without pulling the friggin engine?

Of course, the bolt is sheared right at the mating surface so there's nothing protruding.

Is the upper bolt high enough to drill a small pilot hole in and use a bolt excractor to back the bolt peice out ??

-matt

The spec is not in ft/lbs, that's just common sense. Check the FSM again.

you're right... i totally "F"ed myself.

the bolts are torqued to 61 to 86 in-lbs, NOT ft-lbs.

HOE-LEE KER-APP!!

somebody come and take this car from me before i friggin kill someone.

on my way!!

Inch-pounds. Ouch man, that sucks.

Not having done a water pump, I would ask the same thing. Also, there are right angle adapters for the drill that may be of help....

i'm thinkin maybe the Dremel with the flexi-shaft attachment and a strategically positioned mirror.

if that works, i'll see what i can ruin with an easy-out.

there's just gotta be something else really important and terribly expensive i can break.

... maybe tomorrow. it's dark out now and the more i sit here thinking about my "F"up the more i just feel like drinking.

in fact, i'm heading for the garage fridge right now... who's in?

... and for-the-love-u-mike you guys... please don't tell my wife.

Thats gotta be one of the worst feelings when a bolt snapps. I know a few guys that have done that on the valve covers cause its in/lbs not ft/lbs.

I think that top bolt is higher then the frame, so you may be able to drill a hole and easy out it out.

the ft lbs/ inch lbs thing has got me too. A ghetto bolt extractor method I've done is cutting a deep enough slit into the surface of the bolt so you can get a flat head screwdriver on it. Obviously this could turn into some frustration but I've made it work on a couple occasions.

hahahaha, sorry to laugh dude but thats funny.....

if it's really in there then drill and tap a new hole and bolt on the water pump with the new bolt and use a little more RTV around there.

i dont think he has room for a drill lol

i'm thinkin angle drill.

i'm not going to be able to do this...

there's just not enough space to get an angle drill or my dremel flex shaft in there so that what's left of the bolt can be met straight on.

i can't even get anything in there so i can tap at the bolt remnant with a stubby flat-head to see if i can get a grip on it like suggested above.

it appears that the engine needs to be pulled or at least shifted to get this job done correctly.

what would y'all's opinion be to leave the broken bolt where it is and just install the WP with two bolts properly torqued of course.

Not gonna happen

i have this socket head for a wratchet that I was imagining I'd use since a screw driver would be too long. You can get them locally but I think that might even be too thick.

You might not have to PULL the motor all the way out of the car. If you could angle it upwards on that side you'd have plenty of room to mess with it.

Is it flush with the cover or flush with the pump? Because if it's flush with the pump take the pump back out and use vice grips. Time to take the pump out regardless, that sucks.

Agree that 3-bolts are not cool, but if it comes down to it just pull the pump, clean it all 100% with brake cleaner, and permetex the **** out of it. What's the worst that's going to happen (If you continually check fluids) You'll be in the same boat = pull outer cover, chains, inner cover, fix it out of the car. ****ty ****ty situation wish there was a way I could help, if you get stuck again hit my phone up.

Sorry my post might be a little late.

I'm assuming you have everything out of the way. It seems like you have enough room to get some angle attachment in there. I'd be tough getting the drill bit on the bolt though.

Milwaukee has two attachments:
http://www.toolbarn.com/product/milwaukee/49-22-8510/
http://www.toolbarn.com/product/milwaukee/48-32-2100/

I've personally seen the 2nd one and it's pretty small. The handles can be removed. I'm not sure if you can get a shorter drill bit though. Anyway, I hope this helps.

Thanks for the sympathy, assistance and suggestions... the car's at the shop.

Had it flat bedded last evening.

Based on my initial discussions with the guys at the shop, pulling or at least "moving" the engine is a serious likelihood.

So... whilest in the hospital several "procedures" will be performed:

1. RSM checked out. This is under a 12 mo. warranty as I had these guys replace it last May but it appears to have busted loose again;

2. Snapped bolt removal and new WP installation;

3. Front and rear VC gaskets replacement.

It's sure a good thing that I've got more damn money than I know what to do with eh?... NOT.

Merry friggin Christmas Bink!!

Good news... well, relatively speaking.

Got call from the shop.

Motor drop;
Remove snapped bolt;
Install new WP;
Replace coolant;
Install new rear main seal (under warranty);
Replace front and rear VC gaskets;
Replace motor oil;
Replace power steering fluid.

$650.00

That was a good price.

That's a good deal. Showing the signs of the economy.

Glad that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Great deal. Pay the bill and be pretty happy overall!

Yeah, I'm not really complaining... other than at myself for being such a no-mind.

For any of you guys in the Tampa area, I gotta tell you, the guys at Z-Fever (the shop where my car is having it's surgeries) are just super... I dropped my car off at the shop on Tuesday evening. I hung around for a little bit admiring some of the cars they're working on (they do alot of SR20 turbo stuff) and chatted with Martin, the guy running the shop... we small talked for a bit and I explained what my sitch was and what I wanted. I left the shop at about 4:30 pm.

The next morning, by 9:00 am Martin called me with an outline of what needed to be done and what it was gonna cost. Then, by 10:30 am, the shop owner (Doug Mitchell) called me to make sure I was getting what I needed and that everything was O.K.

I only mention the call from Doug on accounta he's been on vacation for past two weeks and was calling me from the cruise ship he's on in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

I thought that was pretty cool.

Yeah that's a real good deal.

Only thing is that RMS, the RMS never shouldn't have been done in the first place, not without removing the upper pan, that's the seal that leask anyways, I've posted alot of info about this in the past and don't really want to get into it right now.

wow that really is a good deal.

same thing happen to me - I saw a post her to use the belt tensioner bolts to remove the water pump - don't use these,, get some good quaility bolts. One snap flush with the water pump. I'm going to go ahead and pull the engine because I have a small oil leak on the upper pan gasket and I need to put the new style timing chain tensioner (slider)..on

I had bought a new style tensioner and was just going to install the new
piston and spring.../clayton

are there any post on pulling the engine

No reason to pull the motor, it can all be done in the car in probably the same amount of time it would take you to R&R the motor.

There is no upper oil pan gasket.

The tensioner bolts are of just fine quality, it's likely they were just fatigued or something.

FWIW:

the bolt that snapped was not one of those used to back the pump out. the one that snapped was one of the pump mounting bolts and it snapped on accounta i misread the torque spec and tried to apply like an order of magnitude too much torque.

if it weren't for that monumental "F"-up on my part i had the job pretty well finished and the engine remained in the car.

overall the job wasn't really all that bad... it's just one that requires you to walk away for a bit every now and then... if i had to do it again, i'd have no problem with doing it.

I wouldn't remove the engine either! What grade was the bolt that sheared! To make it easier to remove, hit the water pump with a hammer to loosen it some and the jack bolts won't be overstressed when they try to pull the waterpump out the block... oh yeah get some grade 8 or more rated bolts...GL

I've always been able to successfully remove the water pump using the tensioner bracket bolts. The key is to work it out evenly so the pump doesn't get cocked to the side.

It's all about patience.... and technique!

I should have used a higher grade bolt,, the water pump bolts came out with no problem and the belt tensioner bolts I use went in with no problems. I tighten the bolts evenly and all of a sudden snap,, Anyway, the motor and trans are ready to
come out,, I want to replace the rear oil seal and transmission seals. While I have it out I'm going to replace water hoses, vacuum hoses, thermostate and what ever else I think needs replacing.

What do u use on the upper oil pan - black silicon? My mom bought this car new in 95
and she gave it to me - she is 82 and cannot drive anymore. This is not my primary vehicle, I have a new 4x4 frontier. I just needed something to work on this winter --

also - how do you tell if its an GXE -SE or whatever - it is fully loaded with the spoiler on the trunk lid..../clayton

Yes, just takes regular RTV for both oil pans.

For trim identification, look at the stickies - http://forums.maxima.org/706590-post3.html