Fan clutch nut seized, cracked water pump pulley

[DTM_Theory]

Hello Gang,

Currently in the middle of doing a cooling system overhaul. Spent a good 30 mins to an hour trying to get the clutch nut off, the nut wouldn't budge at all.

After a few attempts of giving as much force as I can, i ended cracking the water pump pulley, and slightly bending a few bolts.


I'm not sure where to go from here. Is there a way I can get this off now? I read someone suggesting to take the water pump out with the entire clutch and fan blade attached. But as far as I can see, there's absolutely no room to maneuver all that off together?

Also, I was having trouble trying to get the pulley holder stabilized on one bolt while trying to crack the clutch nut with the 32mm wrench. I didn't seem to have this problem with my old e36. I would either keep hitting the thermostat housing, or the VANOS solenoid when positioning it.

Any ideas or tips?

Thanks

pictures

[80stech]

The best would be to have 2 people so one can focus on keeping the holder on and use a hammer on the wrench part.
Sometimes it helps to tap a few times in tightening direction.

[Factory6speed]

I had to take the water pump all off. That might have been my post. There's an air hammer tool kit you can get that should really get it off but somehow still didn't in my case, it just started rattling all the bolts loose except that one.

It was tricky but I think I had to take the radiator out. Cardboard in front of the AC condenser. And then there was enough room to get the fan blade off the clutch with the three hex bolts. And then the four small bolts for the pulley. Then you can slide the pulley forward and get the water pump bolts with a little quarter inch ratchet. And then there's still barely enough room to thread the small bolts in the hole and push the water pump off the block. I don't know how they put it on as tight as it was, and then it starts to rust.

The air hammer was a great purchase. It's like 40 bucks. I used it last night to get the rear axles out of both of these are e36s, the one is super rusted. It knocked them all out in two seconds, extremely satisfying. I was reading posts of people hammering them out for days.

[andrewwynn]

I think with the shroud out of the way you could remove the fan from the clutch and then work out remove clutch plus water pump as one.

(Rather than remove radiator).

You are trying righty-loosey, correct? Top to your right, car's left?

I would usually put a big wrench on and hit with 3# hammer.

Worked great until the time there was a vacuum in the coolant circuit and made the upper hose stiff so instead of gently catch the flying wrench it broke the water pump in half!

I'm very much a think outside the box person, i wouldn't think twice about cutting the fan shroud in half to get to the bolts to remove the fan from the clutch. Do it clean and you can even splice it back together.

[DTM_Theory]

Thanks guys

I'm going to try going at it again with the pulley holder tool with some ol' PB blaster. If not, I'll try using a pry bar between one of the pulley bolts and the clutch nut itself. Shout out to 50skid for those tips.

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

I think with the shroud out of the way you could remove the fan from the clutch and then work out remove clutch plus water pump as one.

(Rather than remove radiator).

You are trying righty-loosey, correct? Top to your right, car's left?

Yeah. Reverse threaded. I was going from left to right the entire time. Just like my old E36. I'm beginning to think the previous owner didn't even change the fan clutch and/or fan blade at all. That damn thing would not budge at all. I might just replace just both of those for peace of mind.

What you mentioned will be my third option I suppose; taking the clutch and water pump off altogether. I just hope the two of the four water pump pulley bolts I accidentally bent are still removable.

Much appreciated.

[andrewwynn]

Apply heat! That's a very large nut. .001" bigger per inch per 100F