2012 chevy Cruze 1.4 eco.

Replacing water pump. AC Delco replacement pump does not come with mounting bolts. All the YouTube videos show them reusing the old bolts.

I have the new part and gasket mounted. However when I start tightening bolts to 71 ft-lb per spec, the bolt feels like it is stripping and will start turning freely. I can back the bolt out and it doesn't physically appear stripped, though.

I found one cruze forum that states the bolts are TTY which is a term I had to Google (torque to yield) and they are single-use. I cannot find any website selling the bolts, and they are not in any online parts catalog that I can find. None of the replacement pumps, even OEM look like they come with bolts.

Last complication - in my panic I started just tightening with a socket wrench just to see if I could get it back together and determine whether it was leaking (stupid, I know)... One bolt head broke off.

1 - is it likely that I have damaged more than the bolts themselves? Could I have stripped out the engine block where it mounts?

2 - any ideas on where I can get the bolt set? I guess I can call a dealer but I can't even find a part number.

3 - any advice on backing out the broken bolt?

Dadgummit I'm such an idiot. The torque spec was 71 inch-lbs, not ft-lbs. I badly overtorqued 3 bolts, broke 1.

Dont hold back - pour the scorn on me - I deserve it.

It's a Chevy Cruze. Just put it out at the curb for the garbage truck and get a new one.

Time for drill and EZ out

John Francis Donaghy said:

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It's a Chevy Cruze. Just put it out at the curb for the garbage truck and get a new one.

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Maybe. Maybe.

Flaith said:

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Time for drill and EZ out

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Flaith, do you think I damaged the block? I don't want to go to a bunch more trouble and expense on the water pump if a new engine is the prognosis.

FYI Harbor freight has the 1/4" drive torque wrench for $10 this weekend. 20-200 inch-lbs. I just used it to torque my cam caps and valve cover gasket. Both 84 inch-lbs spec.

OP as a general rule anything with a rubber gasket or o-ring will have a similarly low torque spec.

I suspect your block is fine but may require some kind of insert worst case scenario. If it were me and I thought the block was fine I would order new bolts from the dealer.

FWIW I had a similar experience the first time I did a water pump. When I saw you say 71ft lbs I got the sweats.

I was helping my brother with a full tining belt job and was putting the water pump back on. Didnt even bother with checkingntorque spec.

You might say I was lucky. This car had an aluminum hous9ng with no moving parts bolted to the block. And then the pump impeller bolted on tonthat. Typically you only replaced the impeller. Well I kept tightening the impeller to the housing until gasket squeezed all the way out and the housing cracked. I say lucky because replacing the housing was easier than helicoil IMO. But more expensive. Lesson learned.

Jack Cheese said:

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Dadgummit I'm such an idiot. The torque spec was 71 inch-lbs, not ft-lbs. I badly overtorqued 3 bolts, broke 1.

Dont hold back - pour the scorn on me - I deserve it.

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Jack,

Relax. This kind of stuff happens in the best of families, including my own.

If you're lucky, you can remove the pump and see if you have enough bolt left over to get a pair of vise grips on it tight and turn it out. If you're lucky.

Maybe you've got enough to tack weld a nut to it as well.

Otherwise, post a pic of the broken off bolt. Drilling out stuff in awkward positions can sometimes be a bit of a 'challenge'. See what the boys here say. I hear A&M even has an engineering school full of smart guys. ;-)

Thanks guys. I actually just buttoned everything back up with the remaining bolts. There are 10, I stripped 3. Drove for 30 mins, does not appear to be leaking at this time. It is a fiber gasket with silicone seal applied - may be a matter of time before it fails.

Worst case I will pull it apart, use the vice grip trick as suggested, get new gasket and bolts and try again. Thanks again guys.

Are the 3 stripped ones all adjacent, or spread out?

Spread out. I was trying to tighten in a cross pattern. Most of the bolts are actually positioned in pairs, but one of the ones I stripped is arranged more on its own. So, if there is a paired bolt nearby it makes sense that it is "tight enough" in those spots. I'm a little more worried about the one that is all by its lonesome.

7/10? Friend, you've done fine.

Had it been me...

First off I cringe at the thought of how many beers and Hank Jr tracks it would take me to get a socket on 10 bolts just to remove the old part.
Now I've been doing this crap long enough to be familiar with in-lb vs ft-lb but I still would have like stripped the block in one of them.
Probably would have lost 3 bolts.
Gotten maybe 4 in good.
At that point I call it good and toss the 2 leftover bolts.

Brah, how many ft-lbs did those 8mm bolts hold up to?

John Francis Donaghy said:

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It's a Chevy Cruze. Just put it out at the curb for the garbage truck and get a new one.

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LOL....

silverado_lover said:

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Brah, how many ft-lbs did those 8mm bolts hold up to?

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I don't know!! Way less than 71 ft-LB!!

Cast iron block. Seriously doubt you stripped or damaged the threads in the block

Have you been able to remove the bad bolt?

If the threads are stripped, you could drill it over size and helicoil it.

Naveronski said:

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Have you been able to remove the bad bolt?

If the threads are stripped, you could drill it over size and helicoil it.

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+1 for helicoils. I would definitely fill the three stripped ones with helicoils.

https://www.mcmaster.com/helicoils

I will get back in there if/when it starts leaking. The problem with drilling is that it's a really tight spot... Would basically need to lift the engine (I think) to get a drill on it, and lifting the engine is far beyond my capacity at home.

I'd probably try to put two new bolts in two holes that dont have a broken bolt in them. See if only the bolts stripped and not the block. If so I'd roll with only one missing bolt until it caused a problem.

'03ag said:

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I'd probably try to put two new bolts in two holes that dont have a broken bolt in them. See if only the bolts stripped and not the block. If so I'd roll with only one missing bolt until it caused a problem.

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Jack Cheese said:

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Dadgummit I'm such an idiot. The torque spec was 71 inch-lbs, not ft-lbs. I badly overtorqued 3 bolts, broke 1.

Dont hold back - pour the scorn on me - I deserve it.

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It's a water pump not a lug nut for a wheel.

Jack Cheese said:

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I will get back in there if/when it starts leaking. The problem with drilling is that it's a really tight spot... Would basically need to lift the engine (I think) to get a drill on it, and lifting the engine is far beyond my capacity at home.

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Jack,

At the risk of receiving the scorn of the 'by-the-book' guys, I'll offer this up.

Before I went to the trouble of lifting an engine up just to drill out a water pump bolt, I'd invest in a can of Bars water system sealer (or something similar) and give it a try.

Yes, some here (and elsewhere - even my own grandfather) will say you'll cause more harm than good. I dunno. That stuff has saved me aggravation on some leaky old radiators without causing me a single problem.

It's not like you're trying to baby your 2019 Rolls Silver Streak, is it now?

im glad I'm not the only one that over tightens, strips, cross threads, and breaks off hardware.

Ribeye-Rare said:

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It's not like you're trying to baby your 2019 Rolls Silver Streak, is it now?

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No it is most certainly not!

Thanks for the suggestion. Drove to work today, it is retaining coolant so far and no obvious leaks yet. I suspect with more road time, jostling, temperature changes, etc my good fortune may run out. One other thing I thought of is if one of the bolt holes starts weeping, I wonder if shooting some of the RTV sealant that I used on the gasket into the hole might generate some kind of seal? Maybe wishful thinking.

I'm still trying to procure some replacement bolts. There is no part number that I can find, I have a couple of dealerships supposedly looking into it. This car has 162k on it... I'm inclined to go pull a set off at a junk yard if it comes to that.

They can't find the bolts? All my Audis I've never had a problem getting any bolt of any kind. I just call them up and tell them where it was and they can get them within in a day.

Wishful thinking. The coolant system is pressurized. That's why you don't take the radiator cap off when the the engine is hot. RTV on its own is not holding that back

Holy hell.

71 ft lbs

Also, if the broken bolt is not bottomed out (IMO, unlikely that it is), it will likely just hand twist right out.

When you tighten a bolt, what you're really doing is stretching it. The stretched bolt shaft pulls against the bolt head and the threads of the hole, compressing whatever you're bolting together. The more it stretches, the harder it pulls until it breaks or you stop tightening. Since the bolt is broken, the bolt is no longer pulling against it and all tension has been released.

Since this bolt was broken going in, it hasn't been rusted or otherwise bonded to the block (seen this happen with water pump bolts and calcium deposits). Therefore, there's nothing to really hold it in there other than it being in there. Typically, when a bolt is broken coming out it is because rust or corrosion or something else is providing friction between the bolt and threads, and that friction requires more force to overcome than what the bolt shaft between the head and threads can handle. That's when you need to weld on a nut or drill out the hole. Since that shouldn't be the case here, it should be as loose as when you threaded it in and may even just vibrate itself loose and walk itself out after awhile.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Also, if the broken bolt is not bottomed out (IMO, unlikely that it is), it will likely just hand twist right out.

When you tighten a bolt, what you're really doing is stretching it. The stretched bolt shaft pulls against the bolt head and the threads of the hole, compressing whatever you're bolting together. The more it stretches, the harder it pulls until it breaks or you stop tightening. Since the bolt is broken, the bolt is no longer pulling against it and all tension has been released.

Since this bolt was broken going in, it hasn't been rusted or otherwise bonded to the block (seen this happen with water pump bolts and calcium deposits). Therefore, there's nothing to really hold it in there other than it being in there. Typically, when a bolt is broken coming out it is because rust or corrosion or something else is providing friction between the bolt and threads, and that friction requires more force to overcome than what the bolt shaft between the head and threads can handle. That's when you need to weld on a nut or full or the hole. Since that shouldn't be the case here, it should be as loose as when you threaded it in and may even just vibrate itself loose and walk itself out after awhile.

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Good post.

The 2 bolts that did not break are under a lot of pressure. They might very well break at some future point due to vibration and natural expansion/contraction.

Science!