Replacing water pump; '90 3.3l

[Windywoes]

Anyone have experience doing this? Is the housing part of the block casting or is it a separate casting mounted to the block? Galvanic corrosion of steel bolt in aluminum housing has caused me to break of 3 of the 5 bolts. Ugh!

[Windywoes]

Originally Posted by Windywoes

Anyone have experience doing this? Is the housing part of the block casting or is it a separate casting mounted to the block? Galvanic corrosion of steel bolt in aluminum housing has caused me to break of 3 of the 5 bolts. Ugh!

After doing the work I will answer my own question. The water pump bolts to a cast aluminum housing that in turn seems to mount to the engine block. I thought I could remove the housing to get out the broken bolts, but it looks like a huge job. Anyway, I got all but one of ther broken bolts out. The water pump is now held in place by 4 of 5 bolts and no leaks yet.

[porema]

Yea....... I just had the same problem. Mechanic broke 3 out of 5 bolts on my '94 Grand Caravan. Then he had to redrill those 3 holes and re-thread them, anyways it was 2 day job which costed me $568.00
Not funny at all.......

[wolfdog46]

I had the same problem on my 91 last year. The 3 that broke were not the ones in the block so I used a 4inch grinder & ground them flush & then a small right angle drill (metabo) & a stubby drill bit to drill them out & put 5/16 bolts straight thru with lock washers & nuts. It was very tedious & took me 2 whole days, but I made sure to put silicone form-a-gasket on along with the regular gasket. Haven't had a problem since.

[manlystanley]

On my 95 caravan, I broke off one of the bolts. So, I'm just using 4. Works like a champ.

Best Regards,
Stan

Originally Posted by Windywoes

Anyone have experience doing this? Is the housing part of the block casting or is it a separate casting mounted to the block? Galvanic corrosion of steel bolt in aluminum housing has caused me to break of 3 of the 5 bolts. Ugh!