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- Jan 28, 2012
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- Vehicle Year
- 1991
- Make / Model
- Ford
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- Manual
I am doing a 90% cooling system replacement on my 1991 Ford Ranger with the 4.0 OHV engine.
I put the RTV sealer on the engine, put it on the water pump, mated the gasket between it, and started installing the bolts. They all went in fine, but I had to do some fennagling for the (if you are facing the engine) left-hand side bolts.
As some (most?) of you are aware, the water pump on this engine (and others?) has 12 bolts. They are grouped in sets of 3, on the upper, left, bottom, and right sides.
On the left-hand side of the pump, I had to wiggle the pump a bit to get all bolts seated. The top 2 went in fine once I started them threading, but the bottom one (on the left hand, facing the engine side) went in and then completely stripped out. Not the bolt, but the threads it was screwing into. I'm guessing (since the cooling system is original and started leaking on me) that it had a slow leak in that area and the threads were completely rusted out anyways.
How screwed am I? A new engine block isn't an option. I don't have that kind of equipment, time, or money. I'll just get rid of the old ranger and get a new truck. Is it possible to drill out that hole and re-tap it to a slightly larger bolt? What size should I drill it out and then tap it to? Is there some sort of "filler" that I can put into the hole, and then use the same size bolt?
Hoping you all have some good news for me! If there are multiple options, I'm open to most everything. I have a local O'Reilleys, AutoZone, and Napa so I was going to just check out a tap set from them but I didn't want to start messing with things before checking with the experts here.
I put the RTV sealer on the engine, put it on the water pump, mated the gasket between it, and started installing the bolts. They all went in fine, but I had to do some fennagling for the (if you are facing the engine) left-hand side bolts.
As some (most?) of you are aware, the water pump on this engine (and others?) has 12 bolts. They are grouped in sets of 3, on the upper, left, bottom, and right sides.
On the left-hand side of the pump, I had to wiggle the pump a bit to get all bolts seated. The top 2 went in fine once I started them threading, but the bottom one (on the left hand, facing the engine side) went in and then completely stripped out. Not the bolt, but the threads it was screwing into. I'm guessing (since the cooling system is original and started leaking on me) that it had a slow leak in that area and the threads were completely rusted out anyways.
How screwed am I? A new engine block isn't an option. I don't have that kind of equipment, time, or money. I'll just get rid of the old ranger and get a new truck. Is it possible to drill out that hole and re-tap it to a slightly larger bolt? What size should I drill it out and then tap it to? Is there some sort of "filler" that I can put into the hole, and then use the same size bolt?
Hoping you all have some good news for me! If there are multiple options, I'm open to most everything. I have a local O'Reilleys, AutoZone, and Napa so I was going to just check out a tap set from them but I didn't want to start messing with things before checking with the experts here.
f course this means you will have to disassemble the front of the motor as far as bolt on stuff goes to gain clearance to drill and retap for the helicoil insert. Hope This Helps you out.
