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The water pump swap from hell

old_man

old_man

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Loveland, Colorado
I've been wrenching for longer than most of you have been alive and I have come across the biggest PIA I have ever had.

This isn't an XJ, its a 96 Ford Exploder with 5.0L. There are two funny bolts, studs really. They are about 3 inches long on one end and about 1 inch long on the other, seperated by a integral half inch formed nut. I stripped off the corners on the nut using a 6 point socket because it wouldn't turn. I did jamb nuts on the free end and they just turned. I welded a nut to the free end and ended up twisting off the integral nut, leaving only a 3" headless stud on two. The studs were corroded into the aluminum water pump. I ended up having to break the water pump casting to get it off the studs. I have now tried three times on each stud to loosen them by welding a nut on the stud.

I still haven't been able to get the studs free. It looks like I am going to have to strip the front of the motor and if worse comes to worse, drill out the studs in the block, drill, tap and install helicoil inserts.

I have been working on this 1 hour job for 6 hours so far. This is the original water pump with 280k miles on it.
 
I may say screw it and weld a big headless set screw to the two studs, goop the new water pump with "the right stuff" and install it, being careful not to torque those two studs too much.
 
Just push it out the door with a road flare in it,,,Tell them it,s just natural for them to burn,,,,,,They are called "Exploders" :explosion
 
Wayne Sihler said:
Just push it out the door with a road flare in it,,,Tell them it,s just natural for them to burn,,,,,,They are called "Exploders" :explosion
Click to expand...
Make sure it has some firestone tires on it!

I used to work at a Ford dealer, that was one of my least favorite things to do. 7.3 Powerchoke swap seemed less complex than that.
 
This has been the most reliable vehicle I have owned in the last 45 years. A water pump that lasts 250k+ miles is not defective, heck it lasted probably twice the average. The problem is that the studs have seized in the block and are not of sufficient strength to break loose. I am trying to figure a way to get it back on the road without having to tear the whole front off of the vehicle.
 
if it were me, after all the hassle so far, i would do just that. what a pain in the ass...
old_man said:
I may say screw it and weld a big headless set screw to the two studs, goop the new water pump with "the right stuff" and install it, being careful not to torque those two studs too much.
Click to expand...
 
Hellbent said:
if it were me, after all the hassle so far, i would do just that. what a pain in the ass...
Click to expand...

x2, i just gave up and pulled the radiator and front end off so i could get at it with some room to work. Took less time to get that crap off than I already had into the job.
 
I have the water pump, fan and shroud out. Not bad to work on but in order to get the rear half of the water pump off, I probably need to pull ALL the accessories. Once that is done, hopefully I can get the rear of the water pump off and then drill and tap the block.
 
GrimmJeeper said:
I do not envy you one bit, I sold my exploder after changing the waterpump I was so fed up.
Click to expand...
should have sold it before changing the waterpump... oh well, hindsight's 20/20 right?

old_man said:
This has been the most reliable vehicle I have owned in the last 45 years. A water pump that lasts 250k+ miles is not defective, heck it lasted probably twice the average. The problem is that the studs have seized in the block and are not of sufficient strength to break loose. I am trying to figure a way to get it back on the road without having to tear the whole front off of the vehicle.
Click to expand...
if it had failed at 100k, the studs wouldn't have been seized in so badly I guess! studs like that are one of my least favorite things in the world, they always seem to strip out or snap off.

My jeep has the opposite problem. Bolts seem to fall out, I have to keep retightening things. One of the bolts holding the intake manifold on fell out a while ago. And it's an MJ, so I didn't even have the joy of dealing with the leaf spring weldnuts or the rear shock weldnuts that curse the XJ.
 
How is that going to help when all the stud does is to twist off again and again?
 
I'm guessing you tried kano and a torch long ago,

Just weld the studs like you mentioned. When it fails in another 260K, the rest of the vehicle will be ready for scrap as well
 
old_man said:
How is that going to help when all the stud does is to twist off again and again?
Click to expand...

The puller grabs onto as much of the stud as is exposed, up to a couple inches, spreading the force out along the whole stud. Short of your nuclear option that is about all I can think that will help. Maybe post up a photo to make sure we fully understand what you are talking about. I have done this same water pump and not had this particular issue, but I did have other problems.
 
There is a thread with pix in the Colorado Forum about borrowing a TIG.
DSC_0046.jpg
 
turbobrick said:
The puller grabs onto as much of the stud as is exposed, up to a couple inches, spreading the force out along the whole stud. Short of your nuclear option that is about all I can think that will help. Maybe post up a photo to make sure we fully understand what you are talking about. I have done this same water pump and not had this particular issue, but I did have other problems.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your input. Since you have done it before, It appears that to pull the rear half of the water pump, I need to pull the harmonic balancer, as it appears that the part is also the timing chain cover. Right?

It is hard to see, do I have to pull the other accessories? In otherwords, do they bolt throught the timing chain cover? Without standing on my head, it is hard to tell with the grime.
 
an just pull everything off of it now. It sounds like its only going to get worse if you dont
 
Anybody know if I can pull the timing chain cover without dropping the pan?
 
I feel for you. I had something similar happen on a AMC 304 once. One of the timing cover studs that run through the water pump freeze/break and not turn out. Ended up breaking the stud off in the block(cracking the timing cover in the process) then drilling the stud out of the timing cover(over 4" of stud inside the timing cover) drill the remaining stud in the block to remove with a screw extractor, repairing the timing cover, then put the whole mess back together.(AMC V-8 timing cover holds the distributor and oil pump :) ) That job took 2 days.
 
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