So I'm doing an overhaul on my Saturn Sl1's cooling system but when it came time to do the water pump the very first bolt sheered the head of the bolt right off. because, of this i was wondering if anyone has the length and dimensions for this bolt?

My Haynes manual is telling me to take a bolt out and measure it.

but, I don't want to do that as this is my only ride at the moment and it's currently not leaking with the shredded bolt head.

So I'm not touching the others until i get a bolt extractor set and ideally a complete replacement of new mounting bolts.

any help is much appreciated! thank you in advance!

 

Decided to reply since I may have found the solution and wanted this to be updated for anyone else in the future who may need it since our S-series cars are getting up there in age. I got a hold of someone and was informed and I quote

"20mm length 10mm head size 27mm overall length." Wish they could have given me thread pitch but I'll work with what I have.

This is easily the most information i've gotten on this issue thus far and am hoping to be getting some replacements in the very near future.

 

Most bolts that have a 10 mm head are 6x1.00 thread count. I do not have an S series Saturn.

 

Thank you so much I did end up taking them off since only one was sheered i am not going replace that one until i get a chance to get a family friend to extract that bolt. It's holding water so i'm pleased with it in the mean time.

Another useful piece of information for any SL owners out there instead of taking the pump completely off. The water pump pulley bolts are the EXACT Same So instead of being dumb and risking things like I did Just measure the water pump pully bolts instead of risking a leak like i did.

 

I understand that you are saying the pulley bolts are exactly the same. I don't understand the context of your statement. You need to remove the pulley first to get the water pump mounting bolts out. Are you saying that you tried to remove the water pump melting bolts before removing the pulley?

I've done all of one water pump in almost 500,000 mi of driving s cars, but at some point, you would need to remove that pulley to swap it to fhe new water pump, so doing it while everything is held in place in the vehicle seems to be the most logical path. I remember that job sucking because they were so little space to work.

I'm not criticizing the way you went about it, just stating there is an easier way to do it that doesn't force you to jam your tools into narrow spaces, not get sockets all the way over bolt heads, strip things, apply too much torque on stubborn bolts without tending to the rust you can't see,...... And sometimes, s h a y t just happens to all of us.

I wasn't there, and I'm not saying any of that necessarily happened, just a general statement that applies to most situations when working in tight quarters.

I would definitely keep an eye on your coolant level, especially while driving, because if it lets loose at the pump mounting, you likely won't have a lot of time to react and shut it down before you have very little coolant in the engine itself, and we all know what happens in that situation. Not trying to scare you, just provide what may be valuable information. Remember that, if you have torqued the mounting bolts to the proper spec with a torque wrench, you will still have uneven pressure against the gasket in that one spot. While there are quite a few mounting bolts, they are all present in their location for a reason. So I would attend to this sooner rather than later.

 

Thank you for the information I appreciate it greatly.

But, no I took off the pully mount first then sheered the first bolt and stopped there. Saw it wasn't leaking Stopped there.

Decided to risk it the other day and got one bolt out to find out they are the same as the pully mounting bolts.

Installed the new pump, gasket and some gasket sealer.
let it set properly then added the coolant.
waited till that evening to start the engine and let it get to temperature with out using revving the engine or taking it on the road it it didn't leak.

Drove it to the end of the road (about 2 miles I live in a very rural area) Had the tiniest bit of loss but that was apparently the rest of the air being burped out of the engine because once i topped it off and drove back home it didn't lose anymore.

But I do take your advice into consideration and will most likely get a family friend to come extract the bolt for me since he's done it before and i don't want to risk damaging the engine by bouncing the extractor like a novice.

This forum is so helpful thank you all for the advice!

 

Every Saturn we keep on the road it's another Saturn we keep on the road. That's what we're about.

Strangers helping strangers with something in common.

Rube:

I met him on this forum 15 years ago. At least.

He's sent me parts from wrecking yards down south where nothing is rusty.
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I drove my 97 SC2 to Alabama, met Rube and his wife, and gave him my 97 SC2.

Sometimes strangers become friends.

Oh, and every Saturn we keep on the road is another middle finger to GM
Sorry for the typos