97' water pump - welcome to HELL

nlewman

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I have been fighting with this water pump for multiple weekends. Ran into tons of issues. Finally, I got the water pump off, but broke off one of the bolts, really close to the block. Tried vice grips. Nope. Tried multiple extractors. Broke one off, and the other didn't work. Tried welding another bolt onto it to break it free. Broke the weld 3 times with no change. Finally, after 2 days of work, said to hell with it, slathered the whole thing in rtv, and decided to finish it up right then. Tightening my NEW bolts to spec, I broke off of the the long ones, directly to the left of the thermostat. That would be alright, I've got plenty of practice getting bolts out. However, this bolt broke off about 4 inches PAST the opening. So now I've got part of a bolt, either threaded into my timing cover, or past it. So, naturally, I have a few questions.

How thick is the timing cover? I guess I'm going to have to pull it, but if that was one of the bolts holding the timing cover onto the block, then that won't even help me. Any other ideas? Wise words of advice? Sage wisdom? Can't get much worse. I'm willing to get creative.


Also, thanks to this forum for all the help yall give me. I'm a young gun, trying to get through college and chase my passion on the weekends, mechanics. I can't say enough as to how much yall have taught me.

Nathan

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gnxtc2

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If you want to remove the timing cover, you need to pull the motor. The oil pick up tube is attached to the timing cover. The oil pan is almost impossible to remove while the motor is still in the truck. Some have have been able to remove the oil pan in chassis.

Sounds like you will be pulling the motor.

Billy T.
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