4.9L Water Pump

[seanr1976]

I need to replace the water pump on a '92 Eldorado, but I can't get the pulley housing bolts loose. I've tried spraying them with WD40, Liquid Wrench, and PB Blaster all to no avail. I've also tried to loosen these bolts with an impact wrench, and I've also tried to drill them out. Nothing is working.

Do you guys know of any trick to get these bolts loose so I can get the water pump off of the car? I'm out of ideas.

[lothos]

From reading posts on here, the water pump might need a special socket. I think it costs around thirty bucks. Also I think it turns clockwise to remove it, not counter-clockwise. I'm not sure if this applies to your engine and year or not, someone else will confirm.

One trick I've seen someone use, is to take a propane torch and heat the bolt. Pour water on it to cool it. Doing that a couple times loosened the bolt on my caliper when I had someone help me with it.

I'd wait for another reply before doing anything else, hope this helps some.

EDIT: Just saw you were talking about the housing bolts. You could try spraying PB Blaster on it and letting it sit for a while to work on there. I don't know if you should be using a torch on those bolts or not.

Anyone have any other ideas?

[Ranger]

The special socket you speak of is for the Northstar water pump "cartridge".

[adallak]

From reading posts on here, the water pump might need a special socket. I think it costs around thirty bucks. Also I think it turns clockwise to remove it, not counter-clockwise. I'm not sure if this applies to your engine and year or not, someone else will confirm.

One trick I've seen someone use, is to take a propane torch and heat the bolt. Pour water on it to cool it. Doing that a couple times loosened the bolt on my caliper when I had someone help me with it.

I'd wait for another reply before doing anything else, hope this helps some.

EDIT: Just saw you were talking about the housing bolts. You could try spraying PB Blaster on it and letting it sit for a while to work on there. I don't know if you should be using a torch on those bolts or not.

Anyone have any other ideas?

As Ranger said it is 4.9 engine, so it does not need any special tools. As for pulley bolts, you can hold the pulley in place by using a breaker bar on the serp belt tensioner. The common mistake is that people take off the serp belt and then cannot figure out how to hold the pulley to remove the bolts. It looks like you have already damaged all the bolts. I do not know what to advise.

[BodybyFisher]

My trick was to leave the serp belt in place to keep the pump from turning, use a six point box wrench and take the nuts off. IF the engine turns, I found that I could HOLD the engine easily and still remove the nuts. Then take the studs out of the water pump flange.

I am quite shocked you are having trouble with this 4 nuts

[seanr1976]

From reading posts on here, the water pump might need a special socket. I think it costs around thirty bucks. Also I think it turns clockwise to remove it, not counter-clockwise. I'm not sure if this applies to your engine and year or not, someone else will confirm.

One trick I've seen someone use, is to take a propane torch and heat the bolt. Pour water on it to cool it. Doing that a couple times loosened the bolt on my caliper when I had someone help me with it.

I'd wait for another reply before doing anything else, hope this helps some.

EDIT: Just saw you were talking about the housing bolts. You could try spraying PB Blaster on it and letting it sit for a while to work on there. I don't know if you should be using a torch on those bolts or not.

Anyone have any other ideas?

I will likely try the torch theory tomorrow. Thank you all for your time and assistance.