I am in the process of replacing the water pump on my 1988 780 v6. When I got the new water pump it came without the back plate, so you have to swap out the old one. The back plate is held on with 4 hex bolts, which were a bugger to get off. When I finally got them out, I noticed that two of them have aluminum stripped from the body of the old water pump. At first I thought the bolts were stripped, but it appears that only the threads in the old water pump body are stripped.
I checked with my local Volvo dealer and they say they can't even order the bolts. My questions are:
- Has anyone else ever had this problem?
- Is there any reason not to just get an ordinary bolt of the right length and threads per inch to replace these?
- Is there a source for these bolts?
Thanks in advance.