4.6 engine, not enough bolt holes for the power steering pump! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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4.6 engine, not enough bolt holes for the power steering pump!

sjorda1

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Hi all, I have a 2002 Ford Explorer with an unknown 4.6 engine in it. It is not the original engine. My Explorer Power steering pump will not bolt up correctly to this block. There are not enough bolt holes! As a result, the PS pulley will not line up correctly to the rest of the pulleys, and it eats belts up. There are only two bolt holes that line up and they are on the timing cover. There are no corresponding bolt holes on the block that line up.

I have attached a photo of the area where the power steering pump bolts up to. Notice the two bolt holes on the timing cover. Those are the only bolt holes that line up to the Explorer PS pump. The bolt holes to the right do not line up to the pump at all. I hope someone can recognize what vehicle this block came out of so I can figure out what to do here.

powersteering2.jpg
 



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An Explorer PS pump will not bolt up properly to this engine. There are only two bolt holes to bolt up to as evidenced by the above pic. The pump I have is for sure an explorer pump for a 2002 I bought it from the parts store. In addition, the pump fits on multiple vehicles that have a 4.6 as I have checked.
 






looks like possibly truck motor?
 












As a comparison, here is a photo of how every 4.6 I have searched for bolts up. This pic is from a Crown Vic. Notice it has the same bolt holes on the left but it also has two bolt holes on the right that line up perfectly to the power steering pump. I could bolt the Explorer Power Steering pump to a Crown Vic with no problem; and every other damn 4.6 I have ever seen. I even went to the Ford Dealership yesterday, and they had no clue what to do.

PICT0207-vi.jpg
 






There should have been some kind of numbers on the pump you took off. With the numbers you may be able to research backwards to find out what you need. Do you still have the orig pump? If it was turned in as a core, maybe the parts house hasn't turned it in yet and will let you look at it.
 






There should have been some kind of numbers on the pump you took off. With the numbers you may be able to research backwards to find out what you need. Do you still have the orig pump? If it was turned in as a core, maybe the parts house hasn't turned it in yet and will let you look at it.

Unfortunately, the pump that was on the engine when I bought it was the same kind of pump on there now.

It looks like I will have to make a custom bracket. I have searched all over the internet for this, to no avail. :(
 






Does the engine block have a vin? If it does, you should be able to trace that back to the original vehicle.
 












I finally solved the problem. I made a custom bracket yesterday that holds the back side of the power steering pump in place. I have an aluminum plate I had cut at a machine shop behind the pump to offset a gap that is between the pump and the block. I also used a piece of scrap metal I found that bolts to the back of the pump and bolts to the block above the exhaust manifold in the pic above(you can't see the bolt hole in the above pic). This keeps the backside of the pump in place and now the belt lines up.

I can't believe I have such an oddball engine that I had to spend several days, and several belts to figure this out. I also spent days searching the internet, with absolutely nothing to show for it. I posted this problem on multiple message boards and it was like crickets chirping at most places I posted it. I guess sometimes a man is on his own and has to solve his own problems.
 












Thanks for the update! Post a picture of what you did.

Yeah I'll post a pic of my fabulously engineered bracket. It is so nice to not hear the belt squealing. Now I need to tackle changing the rear diff (yeah I got the famous rear end roaring sound due to bad ring and pinion). I also need to tackle the door ajar problem that is common on the 02 Explorer.
 






Hello I'm interested in seeing the bracket you made I'm in the exact situation and would love to see wat you made because I can not find anything on this subject please post pictures of your bracket thanks
 












Note to self
Never ever ever ever buy the first year of a new model
 






Looks like another thread was going

 






Hello I'm interested in seeing the bracket you made I'm in the exact situation and would love to see wat you made because I can not find anything on this subject please post pictures of your bracket thanks
Could be a missing bracket? Can you compare to another vehicle? Salvage yard, look at a vehicle for sale in your area to take a peek under hood?
 









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