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Really Frustrated: Cannot Access PS Pump Bolt

Hi everyone, I am trying to get my belt tensioner off for my '91 Chevy Cavalier 2.2 L. The only thing is I am having trouble getting one last bolt off that holds the power steering pump, which you have to remove to remove the tensioner. It is in the back of the pump, on the opposite side where the pulley is.

In the meantime, I have removed so much stuff just to be able to get this tensioner off, it is ridiculous:

PCV valve hose Canister hose/line Both PS pump hoses (I did not want to have to do that!) Coolant overflow tank Two alternator bolts Belt Idler pulley

What should be an easy job has turned out to be a big one!

Now back to that final PS pump bolt: the problem is it is almost impossible to access:

a) On the side of the pump facing the front of the car is the cylinder head, which prevents a wrench from fitting.

b) On the side opposite the PS pump pulley, 1/2" away there is a vertical heater hose attached to the bottom of the head/intake manifold, and there is one of those annoying spring-type clamps holding it on. The problem is access is so tight, it is impossible to maneuver pliers in there from any angle, including those special pliers for removing the spring-type clamps. And the prongs of the clamp are only 1/4" or so from the wall of the PS pump, and deep down from the top. And one of the prongs is under the manifold! (The problem is I cannot get to the PS pump bolt from the top unless I remove the heater hose. But I cannot remove the heater hose unless I remove the PS pump! Catch-22. The manufacturer must have assembled the intake manifold/heater hose together as a unit, without regard to where the spring-clamp faced???)

c) And finally, if I try to access the PS pump from under the car, it will be very hard, as it is high up, with almost no room to fit my hand in around the exhaust pipe, oil filter, cross-member, etc. Although I admit I have not tried this yet.

d) On the side of the PS pump facing the firewall, there is a bracket attached to the PS pump holder bracket that makes accessing the final PS pump bolt hard. I could disconnect this bracket (I have already disconnected one side at the PS pump holder bracket), but here is the weird part: no wrench will fit over the nut holding the other end of the bracket in place! I have tried 10, 11, 12, and 13 mm. I have also tried 7/16" and 1/2". 11 and

12 mm seem too big. 10 is too small. Same with 7/16" and 1/2". The problem is I really cannot see the nut to see what the problem is, since the nut is over a vertical stud attached to the bottom of the intake manifold, and the nut is facing down, towards the ground. I assume it is a hex nut I think it feels like one, but it is hard to completely feel, since I cannot get my fingers all the way around it. You know what? It looks like one of those nut caps that my car uses to hold the thermostat housing in place: capped hex nut, with a star shaped design protruding out on the cap part. Really weird. But it is supposed to be torqued 48 lb. ft., which seems like a lot for a small nut, although it is ultimately connected to an engine mount.

If I only could get that nut and bracket out of the way, then I would be able to turn a wrench to get the final PS pump bolt out.

Another problem is, assuming I can find the right size wrench or socket, this nut is torqued to around 48 lb. ft., and there is limited access to get a 3/8" ratchet in there to loosen it. A 1/4" ratchet will not have enough torque. And maybe not even a 10 mm wrench. Perhaps I will have to remove the blower motor too.

I just don't know what to do.

I would appreciate any advice!

Julie

Reply to
Julie P.
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What if I just left the belt tensior unit on, and just tried to replace the tensioner bearings?

The reason I am doing all of this in the first place is that the moveable tensioner part where the idler pulley attaches to is loose, and any pressure on the belt causes it to make the belt come loose and fall off. Would new bearings fix this, and is this hard to do?

Reply to
Julie P.

My memory is fading, but I think that's how I got it. I can sort of remember curling my hand up there. I don't remember if I needed a universal. If I'm thinking about the right thing, feeling it back in was harder. I think I got that just by cursing it until it did what I wanted.

G
Reply to
George

Thanks George. I actually just installed the new belt tensioner. I was able to access that one PS pump bolt from a downward-back angle. It was a pain aligning the tensioner plate with 9 different bolt holes, but I finally did it! Only one problem now: the belt won't fit on, but I will start a new thread about that.

Reply to
Julie P.

I have a small hand mirror in my tool box for looking around tight corners in the engine compartment. I find I use it quite a lot.

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Reply to
William R. Watt

Thank you! I don't know why I did not think of that.

I guess it's because I don't keep the mirror in my toolbox, due to a fear that the glass will get cracked, so I never think to use it!

Julie

Reply to
Julie P.

Can you take a rotary cutting-disc tool and simply cut off the clamp? Then worry about it once you have the pump off. I spent hours on something exactly as you describe, a heater hose with a clamp that is simply in the wrong place. I thought I would never get it off, but eventually I did. Cutting it off probably would have been easier though.

15/32 is in between. It could be a little rounded off, or 12 point. If it is a hex nut, try pounding the slightly too small size wrench onto it. Don't round it off with the bigger size or you will be in hot water. And if it is a cap as you describe below, you need a different strategy.

Use a piece of pipe. I do it all the time with my 1/4 inch ratchet. Sometimes I feel like the ratchet's gotta break, but it never has (yet).

Reply to
Ryan Underwood

Thanks Ryan. I'll keep this in mind for the future, although in my case the clamp was pretty deep and wedged, so a rotary tool would not have fit it. I actually was able to access the bolt though by coming in from an upward diagonal angle. And since it was torqued to only 22 lb. ft., it was easy to break free in limited space. :)

The problem was with the bracket in the way, it was hard enough even getting a wrench or socket over the nut. Plus space was really tight, so it would have been hard to hammer.

Thanks. I meant there was limited access lengthwise, so if I added the pipe to a 1/4" ratchet, it would have been similar to a 3/8" ratchet. In the end, I left the nut on an found another way to access the bolt in question.

Julie

Reply to
Julie P.

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