Snapped bolt on water pump

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Medic203

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Jun 21, 2018
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Pittsburgh
So I was trying to tackle the cooling system since I'm not driving it anyway right now. Well got the rad/water pump and all that changed out. Got everything back together and... was leaking like hell.

So i took it all apart again thinking ok it's most likely cause I didn't have the gasket surfaces clean enough. I took it all apart again, made sure everything was really clean, and started to put everything back together. Well I was using a torque wrench to get the water pump bolts to 30lbs. it never clicked on the bottom bolt... it snapped.

So what the hell do I do now? I've never had that happen, it's also the one at 6o clock. I've never had to deal with this
Is that gasket on there now ruined, assuming I have to take the damn pump off again?
 
If it's a paper gasket, it might be ruined.
First attempt to remove it will likely involve an extractor set. Good set of tools to have on hand anyways
 
Steel City 06 said:
If it's a paper gasket, it might be ruined.
First attempt to remove it will likely involve an extractor set. Good set of tools to have on hand anyways
Click to expand...

Thanks, so oddly enough I don't actually have a leak anymore. The gasket I got was just whatever they had at advance auto, the mopar one that came with the pump was stuck to the surface (and I had to cut it off).

I figured what the hell I was close to done so I just dumped about a gallon of distilled water in there, and it's not leaking. With that being a moving part though is that likely to hold up?
Or do I need to get that bolt out?
 
Medic203 said:
Thanks, so oddly enough I don't actually have a leak anymore. The gasket I got was just whatever they had at advance auto, the mopar one that came with the pump was stuck to the surface (and I had to cut it off).

I figured what the hell I was close to done so I just dumped about a gallon of distilled water in there, and it's not leaking. With that being a moving part though is that likely to hold up?
Or do I need to get that bolt out?
Click to expand...
I would remove it and put a new one in there.

The bolts are designed to keep a certain clamping force on the gasket. Without that force you run the risk of blowing out the gasket. Which would probably happen at the worst possible time, aka on a really hot day on the freeway. And it probably wouldn't be a slow leak, but more of a blowout.

It should be safe to drive around a bit, like to a mechanic's shop to get the bolt extracted. Just bring a couple gallons of distilled water just in case.
 
When you remove the pump, that bolt might be sticking out from the block allowing you to grab it with a vise grips.

30 lb ft seems too high for the water pump bolts. I've never looked it up, i always do it by feel.

Can anyone confirm if 30 is the correct number?



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@super
superduty said:
When you remove the pump, that bolt might be sticking out from the block allowing you to grab it with a vise grips.

30 lb ft seems too high for the water pump bolts. I've never looked it up, i always do it by feel.

Can anyone confirm if 30 is the correct number?
Click to expand...

Yeah it was sticking out, and I was able to work it out with needle nose pliers. I did end up ripping the gasket (on the bolt stud) so I'm going to be needing a new one of those.

Yeah I came back in and realized I looked at the wrong number, and they were supposed to be 22. I also put the Tstat housing back on at 20 too so.

All in all it's only looking to be about 5 bucks to fix all this. Minus all the coolant that ended up in my pan and on my driveway.
 
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Reactions: Steel City 06
I made my own gaskets for years with Felpro gasket material. Most paper gaskets are junk. I’m getting ready to send my radiator to the shop for a boil and rebuild and replace the water pump, thermostat, sensor, while it’s out. I hop I can’t have a bolt snap. Mechanics nightmare!
 
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