Dodged a bullet
 

Holy crap, I thought I was fracked!

Reinstalling the water pump, everything going good. Got the hard bolt in and torqued.
Got 2 of the 3 top bolts in and torqued and then snapped the head off the 3rd. :mad:
I'm thinking, I'm now in it for big bucks as there is very little access to get a drill in and a back out, probably gonna have to drop the motor.

So I remove the rest of the bolts and the water pump. YES, there is part of the broken bolt sticking out! Get out the vice grips, clamp down on the bolt and low and behold it's really easy to move. Off come the vice grips and I can remove it with my fingers! :dance:

I think I am done for the night. Tomorrow, off to get new bolts.
I wonder if I need to have Porsche bolts, or just go to the hardware store and get the correct size bolts
Are they aluminum bolts?

and yes before you ask, I had the long bolts in the proper spots

Definitely dodged a bullet tonight :D

That's awesome. The last time I broke the head off of a bolt I had to get a hold of Woody for a new steering knuckle.

I would get Porsche bolts nothing worse than Chinese grade bolts :(

Either Porsche or Grade 8
or maybe cap head bolts

Were you even torque wrenching, bro??

My dodged bullet was yesterday. In shorts, I walked straight into my drop hitch for the yard care trailer still in the truck receiver. Shin to 1/2" steel from the side. Clunk!

After checking to see no children heard all that (children don't understand those words in those combinations, and that it's not their mom being referenced) I removed the pin, set it in the back of the truck, whipped that hitch out, and bounced it as I chucked it into my shop. It bounced way high, went way farther left than I imagined, and it went about mid bumper high towards the rear bumper of the 986 really fast, then it went downward right at the car and slid under it.

Shop is in an industrial area. No kids were traumatized. I did however, just kinda, get teary eyed. Man, that must have chipped bone.

Ouch!

Dodged bullets come in different forms.......

Those bolts are torqued to 7 I believe. Not much room for error on those.

I hope that you also immediately ran down and bought some lottery tickets. Hate to see that much good luck used entirely on a bolt. :)

I'm so anal about bolts into our soft engines that I torque the WP bolts to 7 AND the one bolt I can't get the torque wrench on to I match mark the edge of the bolt so I know where it should be when re-installed. :eek:

I am one to talk about luck....

I was changing the oil this afternoon and the oil drain plug was in there pretty tight so I give it a good pull and I could feel the hex head starting to strip through the aluminum of the oil drain plug. I immediately stopped and reversed the hex bit out.

Then I cussed.

I figured that I would get one more decent pull before it completely stripped out. So, I got out my propane torch and heated it pretty well. Then with one fairly easy pull, it came loose. I had a spare oil drain plug in the workshop so no worry there.

Whew! Dodged that bullet.

I think the issue with the bolts on the water pump is that two of the bolts are longer than the others. If you put a long bolt in a short hole and attempt to tighten it you encounter the problem JayG had. I'm not sure if the DIY guides make that clear.

The trick is to keep track of the bolts and put them back in the same holes you removed them from.

When I did my WP and the clutch I used a cardboard lid or flap and made a drawing of the part and stuck the bolts in the hole they came out of.

Not in this case. I had the 2 long bolts right where they were supposed to go.
All of the DIY I have seen on replacing water pumps mentions it.

I just had a weak bolt.

Now they are all cap-head bolts. The bolt tucked in the corner that is a PITA to get to even with a swivel socket is now easy

Did you have to trim the gasket in the car or had it been swapped before?

You did remember to spin the pump 4-5 turns CCW BEFORE you run it as normal to allow the shaft seals to seat, right?