mud pump broken bolts quotation

A 2011 model year car is "generally" too new to have a bolt so stuck that it is broken on removal. It is possible the mechanic encountered a stuck bolt but simply used the wrong technique to remove it (common mistake). It is possible, but less likely, that the bolt was defective. Either circumstance can be determined, in a forensic examination of sorts, by examining what remains of the bolt, the amount of corrosion, and other standard engineering factors. Again, though, simply due to the newness of the vehicle I would be very suspicious of any "reasons" (or excuses) given to you for a bolt breaking. Unless the car is more than 10 years old, the real "reason" is almost always improper disassembly. Furthermore, charging $1,100 to fix a broken bolt is unheard of, unless you are working on the Space Shuttle, and so obviously there is more to this story. YourMechanic can take over the job, if the car were towed to your residence but then, of course, you would have to disentangle yourself from the present shop. Keep the old broken segment of the bolt and take photographs of the stub that is stuck in the head or block and the area upon removal. If you have further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to re-contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.

I would also purchase new bolts and inspect the threads. You may need to re-chase them. Also make sure you torque the bolts down to specs.[/quote]What do you mean remove the pump? I can remove the other 5 bolts, but how can I remove the pump with a bolt that still stuck in there?

Most water pumps are held in by the bolt head, with no threads in the pump portion. So, unless your pump is different I think you have a pretty good chance of removing the pump by just pulling it straight off after the 5 other bolts are removed. If you are lucky there will be some bolt length proud of the surface of the engine, and then you can use a bolt extractor to remove the bolt. For a video showing how that little tool works you can watch Duane from realfixesrealfast for an example of how that bolt extractor works, starting at 1:15 of this video.

Based on the picture, it looks like once you remove the 5 bolts, you should be able to remove the broken bolt either by turning it by hand or with some pliers or vise grips.

Most water pumps are held in by the bolt head, with no threads in the pump portion. [/quote]thank you very much. i never thought of that. i’ll give it a try tomorrow.

See if you can take out all other bolt and take out the water pump. You may not like this answer – but if it does not comes out, use brute force – get air hammer in there and split the bolt hole frame from the water pump – this will trash the water pump – but hey buy another one. they are not that expensive. Either way, as soon as the pump is out you should be able to grab using a vise grip to take out the rest of the bolt.

Thank you all the advice. Luckily it worked. Water pump came out nicely. I’m going to try to remove the rest of broken bolt with a vise grip tonight. Main concern right now is how to re-thread the hole. Also one of the other bolt was bent, so I took a toothpick and felt inside the hole and it was definitely not straight. I think I’ve done enough harm. Time to call a real mechanic.