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What do you think about reusing Water pump bolts?

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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 08:53 PM
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What do you think about reusing Water pump bolts?

So it looks like I need to replace my water pump. I have a brand new Motorcraft sitting on the shelf that I bought off CL shortly after I bought the truck. Well, it looks like the bolts are not the box. . I’m really not a fan of short cuts but Ford here in the Springs doesn’t have the bolts and they’re 4 days out. So what are your thoughts of reusing the bolts? The other option I see is buying a new Motorcraft pump from Ford tomorrow. And then ordering a bolt kit to go with the pump I have on the shelf. The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow 40’s so I’d like to get this done...


 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 09:04 PM
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Why wouldnt you reuse the WP bolts? Are they stripped? Rusted?
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 09:12 PM
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Adam,
‘Honestly I figured the new pump came with them. I’ll know their condition once I get the old pump off. If it’s not a big deal to reuse them I’ll use them again. Thanks
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 09:17 PM
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Only the Fan clutch comes with 4 new bolts just FYI. If they dont strip just re-use them, I have many, many times reused alot of the factory bolts wuth no ill effect.
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 09:22 PM
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Originally Posted by z31freakify
Only the Fan clutch comes with 4 new bolts just FYI. If they dont strip just re-use them, I have many, many times reused alot of the factory bolts wuth no ill effect.
Thanks Adam. Do you use (blue) loctite on any of the bolts?
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 09:36 PM
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Nope, I hardly use loctite on any bolts unless its called for(mostly on bolts that attach to rotating things such as fan clutch bolts, drive shaft strap bolts etc..) For something like the waterpump bolts blue would be best.
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 10:20 PM
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I have reused the bolts on several water pumps with no problems.
 
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Old Dec 14, 2018 | 10:34 PM
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I did a water pump a couple months ago. I reused the stock pump bolts. I cleaned them up and they looked good didn’t use loctite. Several different lengths of bolts. I kept them in the holes of the old pump until ready to reinstall so I wouldn’t mess that up.
I also put a very small bead of permarex right stuff gasket maker around the very outside of the gasket. Some on here disagree on putting the extra gasket maker on the pump but , meh, to me it’s nice to see a touch of gasket oozeing out around the outside.
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 11:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Colorado350
"What do you think?" : So it looks like I need to replace my water pump. I have a brand new Motorcraft sitting on the shelf that I bought off CL shortly after I bought the truck. Well, it looks like the bolts are not the box. . I’m really not a fan of short cuts but Ford here in the Springs doesn’t have the bolts and they’re 4 days out. So what are your thoughts of reusing the bolts? The other option I see is buying a new Motorcraft pump from Ford tomorrow. And then ordering a bolt kit to go with the pump I have on the shelf. The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow 40’s so I’d like to get this done...




What do I think? I think it would be helpful to members if you retitled your thread to reflect what the subject is actually about. Something to the effect of "Can original water pump bolts be reused?" or "Do Motorcraft water pumps come with new bolts?" That will not only help future readers, it will help you, as the retitled thread might catch the eye of current members browsing only thread titles who have already been down the road you are now on might be motivated to provide more anecdotal assurance of no problems, or problems found.

New Motorcraft water pumps do NOT come with new bolts, so consider saving your money from being drained at the deatership and using the new CL pump that you have. By the time your truck needs another water pump, you might decide you need a different vehicle.

I reused all of my old bolts.

I first traced the new water pump over a piece of scrap cardboard and poked holes where the bolts go into the cardboard, because my used water pump wasn't available for me to use a bolt location template until I removed all the bolts holding the used pump on the engine, and I needed a safe (as in remember which one goes where) place to put the bolts as I was taking them off. (an extra step probably only understood by members of AARP)

Ford said not to use any type of RTV or Permatex or squeeze tube sealant gasket maker on the water pump, so I only used the Motorcraft ribbed gasket, which DOES come with the new Motorcraft water pump.



.
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 11:53 AM
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I have done many, many water pump jobs and always reused the bolts. You should be good and no loctite....not even the blue stuff. This would be a good time to clean any oil residue if you have time because the oil cooler is right there. You'll see what I mean. Brake cleaner is perfect for this.
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 12:20 PM
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Good, always use the OEM gasket Ive had crap luck with the supplied gaskets that come from the parts store, WP are solid though.
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 06:40 PM
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Originally Posted by Y2KW57
What do I think? I think it would be helpful to members if you retitled your thread to reflect what the subject is actually about. Something to the effect of "Can original water pump bolts be reused?" or "Do Motorcraft water pumps come with new bolts?" That will not only help future readers, it will help you, as the retitled thread might catch the eye of current members browsing only thread titles who have already been down the road you are now on might be motivated to provide more anecdotal assurance of no problems, or problems found.

New Motorcraft water pumps do NOT come with new bolts, so consider saving your money from being drained at the deatership and using the new CL pump that you have. By the time your truck needs another water pump, you might decide you need a different vehicle.

I reused all of my old bolts.

I first traced the new water pump over a piece of scrap cardboard and poked holes where the bolts go into the cardboard, because my used water pump wasn't available for me to use a bolt location template until I removed all the bolts holding the used pump on the engine, and I needed a safe (as in remember which one goes where) place to put the bolts as I was taking them off. (an extra step probably only understood by members of AARP)

Ford said not to use any type of RTV or Permatex or squeeze tube sealant gasket maker on the water pump, so I only used the Motorcraft ribbed gasket, which DOES come with the new Motorcraft water pump.



.
Well, when I was starting this thread it was supposed to be based on, the picture that ended up taking 25 minutes to get to load. . And it was What do you think …do I need a water pump? I ended up shooting a pic to a fellow member and he said probably. THEN, the picture finally loaded and the issue became reusing the bolts. But I’ll amend the title...
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 07:07 PM
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Well, I got the old pump off and the new one in without much hassle. I did reuse the old bolts, they were all in great shape. I used a rotary tool with a super fine wheel to clean up the surface area on the block.



I used the new pump to keep the bolts in order, as I removed a bolt I put it in the corresponding spot on the new pump. Once the old pump was out, I transferred the bolts to the old pump and installed the new pump.

The old pump definitely had some areas of concern especially along the bottom.

I loosened the heater hose, Coolant temperature sensor and thermostat housing while it was still installed on the truck. I reinstalled everything before installing the new pump on the truck.

Could this be the original pump? The truck has 379K miles on it…
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 07:14 PM
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Nice work. It very well could be. They have lasted that long before, but it is hard to tell. Any Ford stamps on it?
 
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Old Dec 15, 2018 | 07:49 PM
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Originally Posted by BBslider001
Nice work. It very well could be. They have lasted that long before, but it is hard to tell. Any Ford stamps on it?
‘Nothing just : WR2555145 which is the bearing reference number.
 
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