Water Pump with Seized Bolt - How To Remove It

On some cars the water pump is fairly easy to access and remove. In my experience the Ford Windsor motor is one of the simple ones to change out the water pump, except when some of the bolts are seized. When a bolt doesn't turn even though you are using the right size socket and the corners of the bolt have now been rounded off, what do you do?
There are a lot of solutions that you can try, heating the bolt with a torch, you can try penetrating oil and letting it soak for a few hours, an impact driver can sometimes break the bolt loose. But what do you do when these don't work?
On this project I tried all of those, and it was still stuck. So I decided to at least get the water pump off to get it out of the way. The rest of the bolts all came out so the rounded bolt was the only thing holding the pump in place. A little work with my angle grinder and the rounded head was history. The pump was still stuck though so I used a sharp wood chisel to separate the pump from the timing chain cover. This left the headless bolt sticking out of the timing chain cover.
Then I decided to see what was on KZbin for additional solutions, 2 came to my attention. One was to use a stud remover to grab the bolt after the head was removed. The other was a technique to prevent breaking the bolt. Both made sense so I looked on Amazon and found this bolt extractor that would allow both solutions to be used.
tool used:
#ARES70016 | Damaged Bolt and Stud Extractor Tool | Grips and Removes 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch Studs | Ideal for Broken, Rounded Off, Painted Over and Rusted Tight Bolts
www.amazon.com...
I started by attaching the tool to the bolt and tightening it down hand tight. Then I attached my 3/8 inch drive ratchet to the center part of the tool, and gently tightened it until the tool began to slip on the bolt. Then I attached my 15 inch adjustable wrench to the main body of the tool. With this in place I started to tighten the tool further while holding the tool in place, the reason for this was to get as tight a bite on the bolt as possible before trying to remove the bolt. With the tightest bite I could get on the bolt I began to move it back and forth, back and forth in small movements to break the rust loose. As I did this the bite on the bolt would get loose and so I just tightened it a little more each time it did.
Then as I continued to move it back and forth I could see the bolt was moving more with the tool each time so I increased the movement a little each forward turn. But I would keep bringing it back to break up the rust, this is the same thing you do with a tap to cut new threads in a new hole, take it forward a little and bring it back to clear things out. Then I saw and felt that the bolt was easier to turn and so I tried taking it farther without the second wrench to bring it back, and I could tell that there was no more binding of the bolt just a little resistance. I was careful to go slow making sure I didn't feel any new binding, but it just kept coming out like it should and it got easier.
When the bolt finally came out it was covered with rust, and I am sure that if I had just wrenched on it without using the back up method it would have broken off at the beginning of the threads in the block. The back and forth method was only possible by the design of the extractor tool, I have other extractor tools and my friends have others that I could have tried but they all could not have done the back and forth method because they are designed to turn one way and will slip in the other direction. To remove the bolt from the tool just reverse the ratchet and hold the tool with an adjustable wrench.
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[@gthompson4177]

I'm really glad that I found this video yesterday, I went to pull the waterpump on my 96 bronco and the outer to bolts were stuck and would not budge. I followed the tighten/back off process and was able to remove both bolts without breaking them and got it back together tonight, and you guys saved me a lot of grief. Thank you!!

[@6258RB]

I ran in to this many times they seize up from corrosion, what i do is made a hollow bit from brake line that just fit over the bolt, you install a steel rod in one end of the line so you can grip it tight with a drill and the other end make it jagged to cut the corrosion, and it worked great . and the timing cover was never damaged, the bolts would come out as you drilled, it was so easy to do. just snap all the heads off which usually happened trying to remove them then drill them no problem did it many times and never damaged the cover. so simple.

[@gardnerdarryltammy2653]

You rock! I had the same problem...same bolt! Thank you for putting this up. So helpful!

[@racefast64]

Bought the tool last week to use on my 98 Explorer. I have about an inch of bolt to grab onto, tried twice but the tool kept slipping. I’m going to try again tomorrow. This all started with a few pulleys that had blown bearings. I decided to detail the engine compartment since I’m pulling things apart. Out comes the battery and air intake. I removed the coil packs and mount. Two reasons, access and the mount had rusted. After a few hours over two days I noticed a bolt on my water pump had backed out. Prior to this I had the alternator rebuild and had removed the mount for that. The fan and shroud removed along with the balancer assembly and the water pump. I’m pulling the front end of the engine. Two reasons for this idea, possible broken bolt in the block and I’m 3/4 of the way in. So far timing chain and gears, fan and clutch, spark plugs, water pump, pulleys, a few hoses and few bolts will be replaced. If I missed anything chime in. Thermostat was recently replaced. Oh by the way, I’m no mechanic, so it’s going slow.

[@rocktech7144]

Glad it worked for you. Mine was so corroded into the timing cover and the stud was shit. Stud kept snapping off. Now the studs on both corners are broken off inside the timing cover. I am going to tap both studs with a smaller bolt and install the water pump. If I heat and pound and then warp the timing cover then all of it will need to be replaced. Increasing the job to a full front engine rebuild.

[@charlesgiannotti5745]

Bought one last week thanks to you had the same seized bolt on my Ford 5.0 tool worked like a charm sure glad I came across your video

[@alexb.california3933]

It came last week and now I’m about to use it thanks to this video😎 Hope all goes well. Let’s get it 💪🏼

[@alexb.california3933]

Bad news. The tool gripped good but I broke off the stud that was left from the bolt on my ford 1988 5.8 bronco 😩

[@DavidFlores-pl1zp]

so happy i found this bout to go buy it and try it out on my 5.8 f350 water pump same exact bolt that seized too

[@outdoorexploration4854]

Used this same tool on a 05 chevy 2500 with a 6.0. It acted like a lathe and cut the bolt down. Ended up having to weld a nut to the end of the bolt. Granted the bolt was essentially welded into the engine block by corrosion.

[@Mike_Mondragon]

Pure gold, thank you

[@Jeremy-rg3bg]

Could you attach the tool to a rounded off bolt BEFORE it breaks???

[@subjecttochrist]

That’s where I’m At… I haven’t cut the tip off yet…

[@patriciabailey5527]

Excellent video. Thanks

[@johnbennett4362]

I’m doing the same job on my 96 Bronco 5.8L. In my case the head of the bolt snapped off. I removed the water pump, leaving the snapped off bolt. No threads are exposed. Do you feel like this tool would still work with no head or threads exposed? Thanks

[@JimTMcDaniels1]

Got to rock the stuck bolt slightly over and over again to loosen the crud. i.e. very slightly loosen bolt, then tighten back, repeat over and over as it loosens, loosen more before tightening.

[@murraymadness4674]

You don't need that tool for the ford stud bolts, you can just use two nuts jammed together on the threaded stud, and work it back and forth, after tapping with a hammer to loosen the rust and best to heat it up if no wires to melt, then work it back and forth to break apart the rust. You should not have cut it off, that achieved nothing.

[@subjecttochrist]

What if the bolt is just rounded off?

[@debbieblackwell4162]

What is the name of the tool and where to you buy it??

[@patrickwadsworth692]

I must not have enough stud exposed because the extractor comes off the end as I tighten

[@trentryan27]

Have this very problem and same engine, got 1 of those extractors and tried this but the remainder of the bolt just kept rounding over and grinding away, now I'm trying to remove the timing cover but once again that broken bolt wont allow it to be removed

[@Jeremy-rg3bg]

You didn't tell us what u used to finally remove it

[@trentryan27]

@@Jeremy-rg3bg oh I remember this now, had to buy the longest flathead screwdriver I could find so I could wedge it between the block & timing chain cover with a hammer, forced the cover to come off over the broken bolt (corrosion froze bolt in hole) slowly worked the cover off then had about 3 inches of bolt to put the extractor on and remove it, luckily I didnt break the timing chain cover and was able to reuse it, new bolts and gaskets and its all good again

[@crazypete3]

Thanks, wish me luck I'm about to do this

[@crazypete3]

I got one off but the other broke inside x.x

[@HowWeDoIt_HowTo]

A left handed drill bit has been my way of handling that.

[@crazypete3]

@@HowWeDoIt_HowTo I think my dad decided to just take everything off my vehicle and cut into the timing chain cover.

[@crazypete3]

Do you know what the set of bolts are called that you use to take off for the water pump? The twelve ish bolts that come with it. If not how could I find that info to buy them seperatley?

[@HowWeDoIt_HowTo]

I generally go to Rockauto.com or summit racing, and look for water pump bolts for the year of motor I am working on.

[@jeffpete197]

You have to heat them up not too much if you see that aluminum bubbling it's too late

[@OurFitFamilyof7]

Excellent video thank you!

[@scottfunk8886]

We are having the same problem what is the name of the part

[@MissSeaSea]

We just don’t have enough room to get anything like that in there. It’s too narrow

[@rodneyramsey5198]

Where can I buy that Tool

[@jaimesustaita372]

Where else can I find this tool

[@blacksunshine6026]

Mine come out an inch and now nothing wont go in or out same motor

[@offgridselfteliant]

First, no water pump in today's engines, is easy to remove! Can you say sardine can!

[@chrisbutler3704]

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