water pump hole stripped in block | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

water pump hole stripped in block

spitfiresk822

Active Member
Joined
October 22, 2007
Messages
50
Reaction score
0
City, State
Rockville, MD
Year, Model & Trim Level
98 XLT
Alright, well about a month ago, i replaced my water pump because it was leaking. One of the bolts (far left corner) was kind of hard to get out compared to the rest. So I got it out, put the new pump on, and went to put that bolt back in. Stripped... My assumption is whoever did the last water pump (bought it used) cross threaded that bolt. So, I ran a tap in there, very gently, and managed to get the bolt to snug up, but I was pretty gentle on it.
So I'm leaking coolant again, coming from the water pump, around the gasket. So today I pull the fan clutch and belt, and go to snug up the bolts hoping they just came a little lose. Well that bolt is stripped out and the coolant is leaking from either inside that hole or just from a loose gasket around that hole.
Tommorow I'm gonna give the tap another try, any advice on what to do besides get a new block?
Thought about a heli coil, but I've never used em and don't really like the way they sound.
Any help is much appreciated, thanks
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Well if a heli coil isn't what you want to do you might drill it out and use the next size bigger tap. Now how does a heli coil sound? A new block?? No way you can get it fixed. =)
 






A heli coil is my recomendation. They aren't hard to use, and work well in blind holes. A good set will come with the drill bit and the install tool too.

It not like this is a head bolt that needs to hold lots of torque so the heli coil should be just fine.

~Mark
 






There are different grades of stainless steel inserts between the manufacturers. The OEM brand from Autozone is a softer metal than the actual Helicoil brand. There is another one called Perma-coil which is good.
4450_smallthreadrepair.jpg
 






I appreciate the help guys. Right now I just finished scraping the old gasket off the motor. I went and picked up a new water pump just to be sure it wasn't the weep holes leaking, told advance auto it was defective and got a new one. :thumbsup: I ran a tap through that hole and it seems to be holding the bolt, but I don't know how it will hold with torque. Plus if i got the new pump on there and strip it back out I'm gonna be pissed.
I'm gonna go pick up some heli coils just to be safe, my question is will I have to drill that hole out anymore? From what I was told if I get a 6mm heli coil it will just fit in the hole.
Thanks again, Joey
 






IIRC, to be able to use the same bolt you started with (factory bolt) you will need to drill out the hole to fit the correct sized heli coil in there..

Angle adapters on drills (or a 90 degree drill) will make it fit.

~Mark
 






If you go with the Helicoil brand, it will tell you what size drill, etc. to use. Follow their instructions carefully. Try and determine if there is any risk to drilling the block in that location. Will you drill into water? Oil? Check carefully as a mistake here could be catastrophic. If done correctly, the helicoil will hold every bit as well as the original. After all, there are tons of very expensive aluminum heads, etc that come with helicoils installed. IMPORTANT!! Use anitiseize on your new bolt!
 






I used a heli coil to fix a thermostat housing bolt hole and did not bother drilling it out because the metal is so soft and I did not want to drill too far and damage something. If you take this approach be careful because if you snap off the tap in the bolt hole you will have a whole new set of issues to deal with.
 






Update: Went out and got a heli coil set today, and damn they were expensive but i got em now. She goes into surgery tomrow when I get off work:(, but that rtv i covered that bolt in is holding right now, but I'm gonna do it just so it doesn't fail one day when I'm a few hours from home.
Only question is, that little piece of metal at the end that you put the tool on to put it in, that your supposed to hit with a punch afterwards, if I hit it, it's going to be in the block. Any ideas on how to get that piece out of there besides a real small magnet? Thanks
 












Appreciate the help guys, I'll let you know how it turns out.
 






Update: Got the heli coil in. Only one thing went wrong. When I put the bolt in, it got tight before it was fully in because of that metal piece on the coil. So I cranked on it to crack it off or bend it, and the bolt snapped:( So I covered the rest of the bolt in gasket maker and shoved it in there, and put gasket maker around the pump and the block on that side. I'm praying it holds because I'm not trying to have to put an extracter in there and recoil it.
 












to be honest I don't know, it was a stock water pump bolt. I tried to find a new set of bolts but nobody seemed to have them in the same size. By drilling it out you mean extract the heli coil and the bolt and start over? Because I used loctite on that heli coil, not sure if it's going to wanna come out
Thanks
 






You need to do what it takes to get that bolt out of there. If you have to peel the Helicoil out, so be it. But get it out and use a quality bolt that has at least three hash marks on the head.

That piece across the bottom of the helicoil is supposed to be knocked out prior to using a bolt. That should be in the instructions. You use a punch and break it off and fish it out with a magnet. Or attach a strong magnet to the shaft of your screwdriver and the screwdriver will be magnetized to pick it up.

Get the bolt out...or you will be doing this all over again soon. By the way, heat breaks the Loctite bond.
 






Well, everything seems to be running alright now, shoved the other half of the bolt in covered in rtv and it hasnt leaked yet. I know long term I'm gonna have to get that bolt out, but I'm so tired of dealing with that pump, it can wait a few weeks. Appreciate the help
 






Back
Top