How do I get this rounded bolt out?!

Some of you may remember I have a water leak.. Well the water pump finally came yesterday so I got the haynes manual out this morning and thought I'd give it a go at changing it myself. However, very early on I come to a stop. One of the nuts that holds the water pump pully on has been rounded... How do I go about getting it off?? Its very frustrating and I have no idea how to get it off!! Hope some one knows of a way!

Thanks for reading.

HM.

You could use a bolt extractor....it fits in your socket set and grips the rounded head while you undo it.

You may need some sort of heat source to heat the bolt up if its one of the longer bolts as it has probably festered a lot and will be hard to turn.....watch you dont snap the bolt off though.

Thanks Sirus, I will go over to halfords and see if they have one.. Do you reckon they will have a new bolt the right size for the pully??

Or try knocking a smaller socket on it and heating it up

what does heating it up do?

Hammer Man said:

what does heating it up do?

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Expands the bolt which breaks the corrosion allowing the bolt to turn out....or someat like that

right ok, will give that a go then... thanks.

dont burn your fingers.

Sirus said:

Expands the bolt which breaks the corrosion allowing the bolt to turn out....or someat like that

Click to expand...

It would be more advisable to heat the surrounding material and not so much the bolt. As heat expands it wouldn't be much point expanding a bolt that may already be stuck.
When the corrosion breaks it still can't go anywhere and therefore expanding against corrosion will only make it tighter!

Bias the heat toward the surrounding area (close to the bolt) so that the bore expands which in turn relieves the bolt from the corrosion. The material only needs to expand a couple of thou or so in order assist in freeing the stuck object.

If its the long bolts at the top...you will need to heat the top of the block....as it goes way in to the engine block and will be seized behind the water pump

Sirus said:

If its the long bolts at the top...you will need to heat the top of the block....as it goes way in to the engine block and will be seized behind the water pump

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In which case I don't fancy his chances much with a long series drill!

For the head to round off means it is probably well seized. Soaking the assembly in duckoil will help towards lubricating the bond as capillary action will draw the oil into the thread of the bolt thus soaking any corrosion. Heating the local area is best as this will, as said, expand the area around the joint and not the part in question. Failing that drill or grind the bolt head off, remove the assembly and use mole grips or stud extractor to remove the exposed stud. Severe cases require the broken part drilliing out and the hole re-tapping.

stamford said:

Severe cases require the broken part drilliing out and the hole re-tapping.

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Indeed, an alternative method is to have the bolt removed by spark errosion. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Right, I'm back! Phew, finally got it off. It wasnt one that was holding the water pump on that I meant, it was one of the three very small bolst that holds the belt pully on the water pump. Anyway, I heated it up and then let it cool, filed the bolt so it had flat edges again but just a size smaller and it came out!! I felt so pleased with myself once it was out!

So I then took the water pump off and after everyone telling me what a pig the bolts are I was pleasantly surprised when each one turned nice and easy!

Now though I have the old gasket stuck fast in pieces.. How best should I go abour getting it off? Is it ok to chissel it off or just keep wetting it and picking it off in bits?

Also, I have 2 gaskets - the larger one I can clearly see is the one I need but what is the smaller metal one for? I ordered it thinking it was just this gasket that I needed but then when I ordered a water pump it came with the correct, larger gasket..

Hammer Man said:

Now though I have the old gasket stuck fast in pieces.. How best should I go abour getting it off? Is it ok to chissel it off or just keep wetting it and picking it off in bits?

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Take a blunt edged stanley blade out of the knife itself and hold it in both hands between thumb and index finger, place it flat against the casing (do not deviate from flat) and gently creep under the gasket peeling it slowly and carefully.
Do not use a sharp blade as alloy will score very very easily!

A gasket scraper is the best tool, but a wall paper scraper is just as good if used carefully. Also a steel rule works well. Be careful not to dig to hard.

Glad it went well, makes a change! Use some coppaslip when reassembling the bolts etc, makes for an easier disassembly in the future.

Well done mate, use the gasket that came with the pump and as above regards removing the old gasket.

Stopped for some lunch then went out and took of the old gasket with an old stanley blade - thanks for the help guys, I'd be stuffed without you!! I have put on the new water pump (over did it with the hylomar I think but it squeezed out of the edge so I wiped it off)



While I was tightening the the bolts I noticed this little plug hanging down near the bottom of the intercooler - I don't know if I've knocked it off somewhere or if it was already loose but does anyone recognise it and if so can you tell me where it needs to go back on?? I wont go ahead and put the bet and fan back on yet incase I block off where the plug needs to go.

I think I have one of these on each side of the engine bay - looks similar. Neither is connected to anything....I was thinking that they were for driving lights or some other accessory that I don't have on my car.

Lets see what our learned colleagues say.