Hi - new to the forum.

My son just got into a 94 Accord LX 2-door, with 290,000 miles. The engine seemed to be in really great shape, but the sticker inside the compartment said the timing belt was last changed at 180,000, so we decided to change it.

I'm fairly experienced, but this was kind of pushing the envelope for me.
The existing Alternator and PS belt looked like they were about to disintegrate.

We were able to rent the special Honda crank-pully tool at O'Reiley auto parts. Which was really fortunate. That pully nut cracked somewhere north of 300 foot pounds. It took a LOT to break it loose.

Once we got the cover off, the TB and BB looked pretty good, and so did the tensioners and water pump. *shrug* - (I mean, they were in really good shape for 110,000 miles... ) - Well, we got to putting our new water pump in, and one of the bolts sheared-off when we were torquing it down. This bolt is pretty thin, and it goes right into the block. I'm sure you can't just leave it, because the water pump has to seal tight against the body. And there's only about 5" clearance between the engine and the inside of the fender.

Besides the obvious (pull the engine, carefully drill it out?) - anyone have any ideas?

 

See if this thread will help you:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/extracting-broken-water-pump-bolt-2702052/

 

Thanks; that's about *exactly* the kind of thing I'm looking for!

This is my son's first big car-project, so this is kind of a painful learning experience. These bolts were all super-tight when we were taking the pump off. And I guess my inexperienced 18 year old didn't have the feel for how much torque to apply. (the spec is 8.7). I was standing right there, watching them, and I had totally forgotten how many bolts I sheared-off when I was first learning.

There isn't much meat sticking out where it sheared-off, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to use a left-handed drill-bit with a 90'deg. But now that I know how to get the engine up and out a little more, (and get that cam pully off, as well as the plastic cover) - I think I've got more of a fighting chance.

 

Happy ending:
I got my cam wheel off, and the plastic cover, to get a better look at the situation. There was less than 1mm sticking out, so I tried to cut a slot in the nub with a Dremel and a cut-off wheel. I got a dogbone screwdriver down in there, and it came out nice and easy.

 

Glad everything worked out for you guys! That same thing has happened to me once when putting on Civic water pump, the bolt just sheared off. Were you using a torque wrench? I was but it was way low in the range it is supposed to work in and it didn't click where it was supposed to...

 

Wow, great news sir.

 

Nice that you got it out! Good work.

 

Had the same thing happen on my civic, we ended up pulling the motor and drilled it out and retapped it for a larger bolt, works great, but boy was I pissed when it happened

 

I never torque those water pump bolt. I use a 1/4" drive ratchet and tighten up those bolt holding the ratchet head. Doing this will tell me if those small bolt are getting tight or not.

 

One of two things happened:
1. either my son learned a valuable hands-on lesson about exactly WHY we need to be careful about setting torque values . . . or . . .

2. the previous owner just blasted it in with an impact gun, and damaged the bolt enough that my son was able to crack it without realizing. . .

Eventually, he has come to understand at least the ball-park differences between something you set in the 5-10 ft-lb range, the 20-50 range, the 80-100 range, and the 150+ range. That helps for bolts that you can't get directly to with a torque wrench.

During this job we hit a few other little snags, so it really turned out to be a great little trial-by-fire for a new mechanic learning the ropes on his first car. (other snags in a separate thread). He wasn't happy to be without his car for two weekends, but now, he's really happy to have it back, and knowing everything he knows now, with his home-mechanic-comfort-level cranked up a few dozen notches, and the confidence of *knowing* that his TB is good for another 100k miles.

 

And I wish I could have those days with my oldest again........he had the "touch" that nuss talked about. RIP son.....

 

I love happy endings! Another neat trick that will work w/a freshly broken off bolt is to use a sharp center punch and hammer on the outside edge of the bolt to unscrew it far enough out to get it w/pliers