I was changing the water pump on my 5.8 in my econoline, when to spite my best efforts two of the long bolts that go through the wp and timing cover and into the block snapped off. OK, so I just bought myself a timing cover pull. However, I can't get the timing cover free. It's hanging up on the two broken off studs. One stud is flush with the timing cover, and the other broke off flush with the wp, so it sticks out of the timing cover by about 1 1/4". I've tried the usual gentle tapping and selective prying, but no go. It's loose everywhere except for right at those two broken studs. I think junk is binding the space between the studs and the hole they pass through. Yeah, I did pull the oil pan to timing cover bolts. Yes, I've tapped on the broken studs and squirted oil into the holes where they go.
Scratch the getting it off question. I was using some "jacking" bolts between the flange and the block. Busted it! Now it will probably come off in a few more pieces. To think......All of this started with a bad fan clutch, which led to a wobbling water pump shaft, which led to broken wp bolts........
Anyone wanna recommend a new timing cover brand????
Exact same thing happened to me this weekend on a 302. Started with the fan clutch, noticed small leak in WP gasket decided to just replace WP, broke bolts in WP, then to get WP off I busted Timing Cover, removed bell housing & harmonic balancer to get TC off. Well this leads to replacing Oil Pan Gasket noticed bad rust & leak in OP. Decided to replace OP but had to take off Cat Converter Y to get OP off which caused the Exhaust Manifold to break / crack worse than it was. So I know I'll snap some bolts off when replacing EM's. That's where I'm at now. Too sore to continue tonight. But I found some good parts places; The hard to find Timing Cover I actually found at an O'Rielly's. But a good salvage place is LKQ.com. lmctruck.com is where I find most parts and they are brand new. I have the advantage of being only 20 minutes from lmctruck and they are open 9-5, 7 days a week. I have a frequent shoppers card.
Dreamer, Thanks for the commiseration. I couldn't believe I was breaking so much stuff. I'm generally pretty gentle and patient. When the timing cover, which came off in three pieces finally Busted off, one of the remaining bolts snapped off at the block with it. I was able to put a small pair of vice grips on the 1/16" of bolt that was hanging out, and very easily turn it out. The problem was that the bolts were actually corroded to the timing cover in that 2 inch passage where they go through the timing cover. I'm not a metallurgist, but I am a thinker.....I'm wondering if theproblem is a little coolant leaking past the gasket and into that space around the bolts but inside the t/c and a little bit of galvanic corrosion occurring in there?????
Don't have any O'Rielly's here - it's Napa or Advanced Auto.
Take care.
It's a common problem, but seems to be even more common on the EFI engines, at least that's been my experience. Maybe because the EFI engines have aluminum water pump housings while the carb engines have cast iron??? I've had them come off in pieces too, and have to drill the remainder of the bolt out of the block.
I think all of the small blocks except marine use aluminum timing covers. I have experience with the early 260 and 289 motors and never had a TC bolt break off, although I've sure found a lot of that corrosion (whitish aluminum oxide as well as rust) on the bolts. I'm guessing that since the early engines had bolts with straight sides except for the last threaded bit, they didn't have as much grip on the corrosion. Newer bolts that are fully threaded have much more surface area to hold onto the corrosion so are more likely to break rather than unscrew.
When I reattach the timing cover or water pump I put lots of grease or neverseize on the bolts' shanks.
I'll post some more info for the benefit of others who have this problem after me.
If I were to do this job again, I would consider running a 1/16 or smaller drill bit in, around the broken off water pump bolt . The thought being to remove the crud that was "fetching up" on the bolts as they went through the timing cover housing. If I had realized that the problem was the bolts were stuck within the timing cover, not the block I could have saved the cost of a new timing cover.
I'm about done now, just putting the radiator back in and hoping nothing is leaking.
AHHHH!!!! Mine just did the same darn thing!!! ANy idea where to get a oem bolt kit for a 5.8? I need one so I can be sure the accessoy bracket will bolt back up.
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95 F-150 5.8 4x4 E4OD, Now with OBDII & MAF!!!
I have had my share of those bolts ........... next time you have to remove one smack it few times with a hammer real good before you try and loosen them.
I am in a situation that I need an OEM bolt kit for a 5.0/302. All of the bolt kits have no way to bolt the accesory brackets on. I don't want to go to the bone yard. These bolts don't look to great after they have been in the block for a while. Why is that?
OK. If you take the time to study the inside of the timing cover, and the way the water pump attaches to it, and the way the water flows THROUGH the timing cover, and the fact that if you get a leak between all this stuff sandwiched together, with gaskets in between each piece, with bolts running through it, you'll see why the bolts have a tendency to corrode. Poor design, period. Get a leak in the right spot, and in goes in the crankcase. ARP black oxide or stainless with ARP thread sealer makes the difference. Just gotta watch your torque values when using different sealers.
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