Water pump bolt broke off, will it be alright with just 3 bolts?

[90pioneer]

91 318i, replacing water pump.

Somehow when removing the top driver side bolt on the water pump the threads stripped. I was able to get all 3 other bolts in and this one just turned loosely.

I tried the bright idea of using a different threaded bolt of approximately the same size, hoping it would bite into the bad threads.

Well it did, and upon tightening it, the bolt snapped in half.

Think it'll be alright with just the three bolts?

[idanity]

in an emergancy..maybe...it might make it to a local shop.
does it leak water ?

would i leave it as a dd and call it good ? no.

if you can, at all...fix it. b/c coolant plays an integral role on internal combustion engines

[e30vert]

When it comes to anything mechanical it is ALWAYS better to err on the side of caution and good practice. Good practice in this case would be to easy out the broken bolt if possible. If not then drill it out carefully by center punching the middle of the broken bolt and then using a drill one size under from the size of the bolt. Then drill and tap with the appropriate size to allow fresh threads.

Then install the bolt to the correct torque with some antisieze on the bolt threads for all of the water pump bolts.

If this is beyond you then you will be alright. Alright to drive it to the nearest shop that can do this correctly.


Dont cut corners and give yourself piece of mind that its not gonna leak or cause other issues.

Leave the shade tree mechanics under the shade tree.

[AndrewBird]

Did you break off flush with the surface?

Best bet is to drill the broken off bolt out and helicoil it back to stock size. Then it will be better then new.

[90pioneer]

Did you break off flush with the surface?

Best bet is to drill the broken off bolt out and helicoil it back to stock size. Then it will be better then new.

It broke off about 1/4" above the surface. no room for vise grips and even if I had enough there wouldnt be enough bite for them to work.

The break is jagged. I'm trying to drill it out but the bit just keeps slipping off the bolt

[gtdragon980]

+1 What Nitro said...

[McGyver]

no it will not. PO used the wrong bolt and it bottomed out into the block before tightening down. it leaked more than a gallon going less than 2 miles.

you can also weld a bolt on the end and then just use a socket wrench on it

[idanity]

i snapped a crank bolt with a cheap torque wrench a few years ago....
removed it by using a dremel....cut a thin flat line through the sanpped shank and used a flat head bit to remove it.

obviously use a real flat head screw driver if you have room to. but it came out really easily...whether the vibrations of the dremel helped loosen it or not, i was able to remove it with just my hand grip on the (flat edge) bit...

hth