Sheared Bolt Head from Water Pump....Any Ideas

[JRoser]

My Water Pump was leaking coolant on my 1998 Boxster, so I decided to replace the water pump gasket.

After removing all the components described in Wayne's Technical Article of Water Pump and Thermostat Replacement, I came across one unforgiving bolt on the Water Pump that would not budge. The 10mm flexhead would not grip the very top bolt. I noticed that the pulley for the water pump was almost touching the bolt. On further inspection I found that the pulley had actually shirred the bolt head and and rubbed off 3 of the points of the bolt head making it impossible to take off with the required 10mm flexhead.

So, I tried the following methods:

1. Liquid Wrench spray with a vise a needle nose vice grip. Result: Won't stay on and keeps slipping because of the angle.

2. Attaching another nut to the sheared bolt head with JB Weld, and trying to unscrew it. Result: JB Weld is not holding the nut.

Other Factors: If you were looking directly at the water pump and had you head even with the pulley, you would see the pulley wheel was covering part of the bolt head, meaning you couldn't get a socket around it. You have to come from the top because of the pulley wheel covering part of the bolt head. If you look at any manual like Bentley's or Wayne's article you would not see the pulley up partially over the bolt head.

Question 1: Can I just pull the pulley straight out someway?

Question 2: Can you provide me any other avenues to solve this problem?

Thanks

[logray]

If there is still enough of the bolt head to grab onto, try craftsman bolt out. Also spray liberally with pb blaster.

In a bind, a dremel with tungsten carbide bit on slow speed will go through anything.

[kbrandsma]

Heat up the bolt with a torch and then apply an ice cube. The change in temperature causes the bolt to reduce in size and allow extraction. I also had a similar issue with a transmission bell housing bolt and ended up cutting the head off and then after the bell housing was remove was able to extract the bolt.

[JFP in PA]

Another simple and quick fix, assuming you have access to a welder, is to cut the old head off and tack weld a new head on.

[logray]

Sometimes these thing go hand in hand, but if you somehow damage the threads during extraction you might also want to have a look at helicoil and timesert.

[wvicary]

Channel Lock 410 pilliers are self gripping and should be able to grab onto whats left of the bolt head.

[JRoser]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I ended up realizing the pump needed to be replaced, so I pried the pulley from housing and was able to get the open ended adjustable grip wrench in position. Because the bolt head would not accept a standard wrench.

THANKS!!

[Endless101]

Glad you got it sorted, reminds me of the fun I had replacing the flywheel sensors on my '86 911, nightmare!