Please Help Me Find Water Pump Bolts ... Also, Leaking Oil From There?

[eliminatethebug]

For a 2005 suburban with the 5.3L flex fuel engine

I am not sure what I'm looking for, but I sure can't find it on parts stores websites. This truck is 100% for-sure leaking oil from the front of the engine, so it runs down the engine, back along the oil pan, and drips on the exhaust crossover and stinks bad of burning oil. The oil pan, rear main, the rear plate i forget what it is on back of the engine, and the intake manifold gaskets were all replaced recently and those are not the leak and I'll show you how I know:

Tightening the three bolts holding on the water pump on the passenger side of the engine made the stink stop and the leak slowed enough to not worry about losing oil.

The stink came back and the bolts were not-tight again. I tightened these three bolts and the stink went away again. Today the oil level warning came on and I remembered I wanted to fix this so here I am. These bolts are giving me an ugly feeling like they want to break. I've seen reports of other people breaking them. Ideally I would like to just replace the bolts with new from a reputable source. I don't want to install a stud kit, I just want to R&R the bolts if at all possible. I can't find these bolts, will you help?

Also this seems like it has to be a front timing cover leak...but do the water pump bolts hold oil in?

Also, if it's a timing cover leak, it's way up high behind the water pump somewhere. There seems to be a luck-of-the-draw situation with replacement timing covers leaking. Is there a brand known to give good success not leaking on the first try?

 

[Fless]

From GMPartsgiant.com (and what little I know about your Suburban). GM part number there, you can order from them or search the internet for like product.




Water pump bolts do not hold oil in.

 

[eliminatethebug]

Thanks, buddy. I appreciate your help.

 

[Fless]

When you replace them, do the water pump gaskets and be sure to clean out the bolt holes thoroughly. Might consider a little blue Loctite on the threads.

 

[strutaeng]

Those bolts go through the block water passage. I always have put sealant on the threads of the bolts. No engine oil passages.

Torque the bolts to specs. I seem to recall it's done like in 2 passes.

 

[eliminatethebug]

Torque wrench will be at the ready, thanks

 

[rockola1971]

Torque wrench will be at the ready, thanks

I hope you mean Torque To Yield wrench will be at the ready. This isnt a Gen1 engine.

 

[afpj]

Water pump bolts need torque to yield and go through water jackets? I don't remember this at all. Man my memory sucks. Is a 2002 yukon 5.3 FF different?

 

[strutaeng]

Torque-to-yield on water pump bolts? What the heck. Where are you guys finding this information?

Torque to "spec"? Yes, A LOT of that everywhere!
Torque to angle? Yes, the rods and main bolts come to mind.
Torque to yield? I think only on the head bolts that can recall at the moment on the engine side.

The first 2 are basically a torque requirement. The last one is a special condition where the bolt is yielded (stretched) in the permanent deformation of the material. That's why head bolts are a one-time use. I'm talking OEM hardware of course...

A lot of people think torque-to-angle is the same as torque-to-yield. They are not. Probably the confusion is that both have "turn to X degrees."