First off i want to thank every one in this site, i just finished installing a water pump in a 1994 camaro z28 took me around 3 hours. could't have done it with out all the info on the forums !!!!

Anyways the only thing i cant do is take off the block drain bolt...its hard as hell!!! broke 1 ratchet extension !!!

Question....

Is this bolt normally this hard? Which way does it open?

Thanks alot!!!!!

-Sam

 

It turns to the left, like normal. Get a good socket on it and as long an extension as possible to give yourself some leverage.

 

Amen! I'm draining my coolant, so I am struggling with these as well. I have to get a joint and extension because I can't get the freakin 22mm bolt off of the passenger side due to the starter and exhaust pipes. It sucks man, so I hear ya. Just keep working at it.

 

I wanted to remove this plug and the knock sensor but after a few intense attempts that failed I figured this was one of those times I had better give up while I still had a fully functional car.

 

A six pt. 1/2 in. drive socket with a breaker bar and some muscle does wonders. For the knock sensor I believe I used a pipe wrench.

 

I tried with lots of leverage once and got it off...many years later I tried with the same leverage and it never budged. It may depend on how long it has been rusting in place. Mine is still un-budgeable and I've given up.

 

Thanks Everyone for your Help!!

I should just leave it alone before i break the bolt, then ill really be screwed

 

Took a while for mine, but mine wasn't a bolt like that if I remember correctly, it was a bolt with a hex key insert. Took a while to figure out how to rig that up to a socket that wasn't too short, but I eventually got it.

 

Thats weird never seen a bolt like that...

 

Everytime I work on the car and need to get the waterpump off I have resorted to using a shop-vac with a small reducer on the end of the hose. It fits perfectly into the thermostat housing and you can get an amazing amount of coolant out of the engine that way. It won't get it down as far as draining but certainly enough to pull the water pump without it going everywhere.

And as long as your shop-vac is clean before you start you have a nice container to keep the coolant in and don't have to worry about dedicating an oil pan to coolant or having to clean one out when you are done.

 

If his bolt is stripped out already, would vise grips work to get it off?

 

My Bolt is still not stripped out...but i dont think vise grips will be able to fit up in there....

 

I tried removing that sucker when I was doing head gaskets to avoid having coolant rush everywhere when I pulled the head off on that side of the engine. I ended up rounding it off and just said **** it.. Pull the head off and it was a coolant shower but oh well - cleaned most of it off the pistons before bolting back up

 

so if i wanna flush the coolant, can i still do it without removing this bolt??

 

Mycoolm3:

I did and it worked fine, but I know I didn't get as good of flush as I could have. I'm going to use vise grips on mine after I pull the exhaust manifolds and y pipe. Then I'm going to replace the bolt with a new one. Keep in mind that you won't expect to fill the coolant system with the full 15.3 (or 15.1 q) of coolant you would expect to fill it with if you were able to drain that side. I ended up coming a few quarts short and couldn't figure it out until I realized I never drained that side! >_>