I am in the process of replacing the opti and I am to the point of reinstalling the water pump.

During removal the short bolt on the left side was lose and also had a spacer. At the time I did not think much about it, but now I am trying to reinstall that bolt and its not cooperating with me.

Question, is the spacer supposed to be there, it does not make sense why it is required. However, the bolt will not thread in all the way with out the spacer and it won't even catch the first threads with the spacer (probably why it was lose to begin with).

Tomorrow I am going to pull the pump and check the bore for that particular bolt, but in the mean time, is that spacer needed?

 

No theres not supposed to be a spacer...whoever did it last might of stripped the block or something....i just did my opti last week....no spacers orwashers on any of them...sorry

 

Thank you and that is what I am afraid of too... This would explain why I had a small coolant leak that I could not compelety track down and also could explain the failure of the opti.

I can get the bolt to threaded in about 3/8" of an inch and it seems to snug up pretty well. If upon inspection the bore is real bad and I don't feel that running a tap in will fix it, I may try reducing the length of the spacer and see if I can get it to 30 ft-lbs.

Groan!!!!!

 

Thought, are there 3 different sized bolts for the water pump? or only 2, one being a stud type for the air pump..

 

theres 2 different bolt sizes and. the two top and two bottom bolts(4) on the waterpump are all the same..then the two middle ones..(which happen to hold coolant in) are the same..those two are shorter.

 

yeah i had to intsall a water pump on my car there was no spacer, im sure you already know but make sure the sleve is on the back of the water pump shaft that goes to the cam

 

The bore is stripped or gunked up pretty good for sure.... I was hoping the pervious person misplaced a bolt and used the wrong size in replacement, hence the spacer. Obviously this is not the case.

I could not get a tap today, so I used a few washers to shorten the bolt up a bit less than the spacer and I was able to get a nice 30 ft-lbs of torque on the bolt against the water pump housing. So I am crossing my fingers this will hold for awhile...

No sleeve needed, I installed an electric water pump at the same time. I figured since I had to remove the pump anyway mind as well install the electric pump I have had sitting around for 6 months.