water pump/ fan blade bolts

[majlz40]

I've never seen anything like this before. I was driving to O'reilly's yesterday afternoon and as I approached the traffic light I hear a mechanical grind-next my power steering went out- the alt gauge flashed but I still had power and compression. As I made the turn into the parking lot I started to see smoke; I popped the hood and looked down.....all four fan blade bolts broke completely off from the water pump flange. None of the belts were even broken, pulleys on the alternator, power steering and water pump moved freely. The radiator had a four inch gash from where the metal fan blade made contact after the bolts broke. Its a good thing this happend later in the afternoon because Ive been driving this truck 30 miles one way to work for the past two weeks! it looks like im gonna be out of a radiator and possibly a waterpump (if I cant get the remaining four broken studs out of the main shaft that connect to the fan and spacer).

[flyboy2610]

That is kind of strange!
Maybe the nuts weren't completely tightened down and the fan was moving just a bit, causing stress and eventual failure of the studs?
At least it didn't go out in the middle of nowhere!

[george worley]

When you get it back together check to make sure the fan blades are not bent.If it wobbles any it will take out a water front seal and bearing in a short amount of time.

[fordman]

you can find new spacer on ebay. or maybe someone on the board has one the right length. i think i would just replace the water pump instead of having to trying to get the broken off bolts out of the water pump. i have never heard of this happening before either. its a new one. but i guess it could happen if it worked on a loose bolt or two for awhile.