Broke my water pump pulley bolt...why does the service manual...

[jimdigs]

..state to torque to 45 ft lbs? Here is what happened, I was trying to torque them down using the screwdriver method as shown in the book, but that never works, at least not for me. So I get them as snug as I can then put the belt back on, I think, hey maybe I can tighten them down better with the belt helping out. So I start tightening them and the first two I get pretty tight but still not enough for the click of the torque wrench, I double and triple check my torque setting and then go back in the house to double check to make sure its not in. lbs. Its ft. lbs. So I go back out and twist, the bolt starts spinning, uh oh. I was lucky to back the entire thing out still intact some how before it broke.
We don't have any festivas in the junk yards around me. Does anyne have any extra water pump bolts they could sell me quick? You think I could get away with driving the car with only two bolts, (that may be on the verge of breaking themselves). I don't think I damaged the thread in the pump much, still believe I could get a good enough bite. Whats up with the 45 torque?

[1990new]

..state to torque to 45 ft lbs? Here is what happened, I was trying to torque them down using the screwdriver method as shown in the book, but that never works, at least not for me. So I get them as snug as I can then put the belt back on, I think, hey maybe I can tighten them down better with the belt helping out. So I start tightening them and the first two I get pretty tight but still not enough for the click of the torque wrench, I double and triple check my torque setting and then go back in the house to double check to make sure its not in. lbs. Its ft. lbs. So I go back out and twist, the bolt starts spinning, uh oh. I was lucky to back the entire thing out still intact some how before it broke.
We don't have any festivas in the junk yards around me. Does anyne have any extra water pump bolts they could sell me quick? You think I could get away with driving the car with only two bolts, (that may be on the verge of breaking themselves). I don't think I damaged the thread in the pump much, still believe I could get a good enough bite. Whats up with the 45 torque?

I did the same thing the first time I changed a water pump many years ago. I just checked my 1990 service manual and it does say 35-45 LB-FT .... but just has to be a mistake.
The torque on the Crankshaft pulley bolts is 109-152 LB-IN. Doesn't seem logical for the size of the bolt on the water pump pulley.

[rmoltis]

I always aim for the torque setting that is between minimum and maximum.

For example if it was between 35 and 45 I would torque it to 40.

[jimdigs]

Do you guys think I could get a close enough match for these at a hardware store? The do look to be pretty specific. No threads at the beginning of the bolt. Is that important? Next time I'm just going to snug em best I can with the screwdriver method and call it good.

[TominMO]

Those are probably M8 bolts. You can get them at a hardware store pretty cheap. My Haynes Festy manual says M8s should be torqued at 14 to 21 ft-lbs.

If you can't get any short enough, put some washers in as spacers. A lock washer would be nice too, and some blue Loctite. Come to think of it, the bolt can probably go all the way thru the threads on the water pump pulley mount, so no spacers would be needed.

I only use torque settings for really important stuff like head bolts, driveshaft nuts, etc etc. For the little 10mm-head and 12mm-head bolts I just get it snug/finger-tight, then try 1/4 turn more. If that seems too loose, I go another 1/8 - 1/4 turn.

My 1991 Ford Festiva factory shop manual says 36-45 lb-ft. 45 does seem excessive, even 36 perhaps. But this is one bolt I do by feel; never broke one. I do like to blue-Loctite them. I'd go with the M8 specs (if that is the right size bolt). Even M10s are only 28 - 40 ft-lbs.

Found a typo in my Haynes manual: page 3-1, torque specs for the water pump inlet bolts: 14 to 220 ft-lbs! :-) Seems like kind of a wide range....factory manual says 14 - 22 ft-lbs.

[jimdigs]

Thanks Tom, I'll hit the harware store tomorrow and see what I can come up with. Just trying to do things by the book and it didn't work out this time. The heads of the bolt have either a 6 or 9 on them? No line under the number.

[jimdigs]

I always aim for the torque setting that is between minimum and maximum.

For example if it was between 35 and 45 I would torque it to 40.

I used to do that to but then I noticed when people talk about torquing something like head bolts or some other big item they always use the highest number so I started doing that on everything. Thanks, Jim

[1990new]

If you get them at a hardware or auto parts store be sure to change all three so the weight of all the bolts will be the same.

[jimdigs]

If you get them at a hardware or auto parts store be sure to change all three so the weight of all the bolts will be the same.

Will do, thanks New.

[TominMO]

They do have Grade 8 bolts too BTW, for automotive use. At Lowes it's down at the far end of the nuts-and-bolts section. Not sure if they have those in metric or not. Probably do tho.

[sketchman]

That's a tiny bolt for that much torque. I've torn the threads out of a head with that size bolt and far less torque than that. I have never measured them, ever. I just tighten by hand with a 1/4" drive ratchet. Never had one come out.

[Movin]

If the spec is not close to "normal" look into it.

[TominMO]

^^ That's a good post right there.....

[jimdigs]

Thanks guys for the replies. I picked up some bolts at the hardware store and put em in. I am going to go buy hardened ones though because I don't believe these are hardened. The hardened ones are kinda gold in color, correct? Or is it just the number on them?

[Dragonhealer]

A strange misprint! Factory bolts for pully to pump flange are grade 9.6 and torque to 66 to108 lb/in.
Grade 8.8 or harder will work fine, and as stated above, just tight with a 1/4 drive is fine.