Need a little advice on broken bolt

Good morning,

          So I appreciate you taking time to read. I have been battling this ford for 3 month to get it to start. The Alternator pivot bolt broke bottom broke off with a few threads still in engine blocc. My question is options here do I take off water pump housing along with all the fans? Do I drill bigger hole for another bolt? Does this bolt hold anything else in place if I switched the pivot bar to another bolt will that be okay just as is? I apologize for rambling, looking forward to hear form some of you.

1984 F250 351 C6 4x4 Automatic Gas


 Sincerely,
    Michael A Ozuna

Sorry friend but, to do it right, you're going to have to take everything off to get access to that bolt so it can be drilled out. Strange that bolt broke though. I suspect if that bolt broke, you may have others go that way when you attempt to remove the water pump. I broke three bolts removing my OEM water pump last year. That bolt was not one of them. I  may be wrong but I'm pretty sure that bolt passes through the timing chain cover and into the block.  

Uneducated opinion 'til the experts chime in.

Personal opinion, I wouldn't move the pivot bolt unless I had to. You say a few threads inside, which sounds like the standard trick of mig-welding a nut onto the top of the remaining bolt won't work. If it was me I would try a small drill (with cutting fluid) to get a hole into it, and then try an extractor. They're cheap and worth a shot. If that doesn't work this would be a low risk area to drill it out and tap over-sized like you mentioned.

I have thought of this as well along with a meatl tapping screw this thread the broke bolt out. only problem the broken end of the bolt is 4" inside the blocc. looks like take off the fan along with some other parts to gain access closer. I appreciate you replying. Enjoy your morning!

there is a bigger issue here to consider. how many miles are on this engine?! the reason I bring this up is that it is very likely that it is due for a timing chain. any patch or temp fix that you may do right now should only be considered a test to maybe prove other systems and understand what else this truck may need. removing the water pump and the timing cover are the way to get to the chain and all accesories need to be removed first. not as intimidating as it seems if you have patience and can work methodically. i expect more bolts will break! one being broken is often the sign of neglected coolant and resulting in the corrosion of the bolts. when at the block face the broken bolts are at their easiest point to be removed and are only holding by the threaded portion. the one real questionable point is how corroded the cover is to the pump bolts themselves. those can test ones patience for sure. there is a thread here called fixing eddie. he cronicled this job fairly well although i dont remember broken bolts or neglect issues.

mat in tn wrote

there is a bigger issue here to consider. how many miles are on this engine?! the reason I bring this up is that it is very likely that it is due for a timing chain. any patch or temp fix that you may do right now should only be considered a test to maybe prove other systems and understand what else this truck may need. removing the water pump and the timing cover are the way to get to the chain and all accesories need to be removed first. not as intimidating as it seems if you have patience and can work methodically. i expect more bolts will break! one being broken is often the sign of neglected coolant and resulting in the corrosion of the bolts. when at the block face the broken bolts are at their easiest point to be removed and are only holding by the threaded portion. the one real questionable point is how corroded the cover is to the pump bolts themselves. those can test ones patience for sure. there is a thread here called fixing eddie. he cronicled this job fairly well although i dont remember broken bolts or neglect issues.

Good points! I started out to change a water pump and knowing my chain was the original thought, "while I'm here" might as well change the timing chain. Just shy of 100k and the chain had a ton of slop in it. As I stated above though, he may find himself with a few more broken bolts to deal with.  

Yes sir,  that was a bad bolt to break. Next to one of the coolant ports...below it, where the coolant will eventually leak into the threads and rust. There's no easy way to deal with this one unfortunately. Good advice above...I think you'll have to pull that timing cover and see from there.