92 f150 302, Just got back from the desert and the water pump was shot on my truck. Pulled the pump and broke the usual bolts on the far ends and am now trying to pull the timing cover to get to the broke bolts to drill them out. One is broke at the head and there is about an inch of it sticking out the front of the timing cover. The other looks to have broke flush with the block. I have all the bolts out of the timing cover and halfway down the oil pan. The pan is loose from the timing cover but I cannot get the cover to turn loose from the front of the block. I tried driving the gasket scraper down behind it but with no luck. Any idea would be helpful.

 

I just went through this, what's going on is the bolt is siezes inside the timing cover, not the block. If you look at it that way I might make it easier to get the cover off, though it's not going to be fun.

I spent 3 days with PB, torched the bolts a few times to try and get them to seperate from the cover. I got the timing cover to seperate a tad with a screwdriver and a hammer (at the corners I think) then moved up to a pickle fork/tie rod end remover + hammer, then finished off with a big prybar.

I can't think of an easier way to do it. In the end, I guess I wish I had just cut the timing cover off and bought a new one. I'm lucky I didn't totally destroy the cover removing it, you have to be EXTREMELY careful on where you put the screwdriver/pickle fork, the center top of the cover is a big NO-NO, as it will crack. Not only is it soft aluminum, but after 10+ years they get really brittle.

and those two broken bolts came out of the block easily with pliers (not even vice grips) once I got the timing cover off, you probably wont have to drill them out.

 

hey, if it helps, the strongest points in the cover to pry from will be behind where water runs, where the pump bolted to the cover. You'll want to put a flathead screwdriver or similer at each of those corners and alternate hitting them. You will knick the cover and create grooves, if it's stuck enough there's just no getting around it. You can still get a good seal with it (I did).

 

Thanks, I had read when i searched the topic that the timing cover is where the bolts are seized. Did both of yours break off inside the timing cover or at the heads or all the way down next to the block? I am going to try again today i let it soak all night with pb blaster. i am also going to get one of the hand held butane torches I think the oxygen acetylene will get way too hot. If that dont work after a couple of days then I am going to cut the cover off and buy a new one. Thanks for your input.

 

Just the heads snapped off, so I had a bit of bolt coming out of the timing cover.

Without heat I'm not sure I would have been able to seperate the cover and bolts. I used O2 and Mapp, I was worried about destroying the aluminum at first but towards the end I got the bolt molten hot all the way to the cover and it still wouldn't turn inside the cover.

Absolutely THE hardest, most frustrating job I have done on this Bronco, and i've done everything there is to do on the Bronco. Did it in between paychecks, money was tight and I was stuck on saving that cover.

I'll tell you this though, honestly, I don't intend on keeping this cover for more than a few months. The water passages are pretty corroded and I know I still have *some* leakage behind the cover. Corrosion in aluminum doesn't look as nasty as rust on iron/steel, but has nearly the same effects. If you can afford it, you'll probably need a new cover soon after this job anyways. Most people do a water pump and wanna leave it for another 100k miles, I highly doubt my cover will last that long.

 

Did mine last summer, as it was seeping around passenger water port/block. I got lucky and only broke one bolt, just above the block surface. I got the cover to pop off, then was lucky enough to grab the broken bolt with visegrips and warmed it with MAPP and it worked loose and came out without fuss.

I would guess some MAPP will heat/expand the cover enough to break it loose from the broken bolts. They do corrode BADLY with water seepage around them. If the cover is bad enough, just get a new/good used one and don't worry about the old one. It's time to check timing chain also. It's a cheap fix to do it with cover off. Mine had 100K and was pretty sloppy. Factory chain was only like $25?(something cheap), so throw one on it now while its apart.

My $10 gasket replacement turned into $100 by the time I was done with it. BUT, I won't have to deal with it for a long time now.