Please Help - Diy Repair Going Badly Wrong

[A101]

Really stuck here. Was finally forced into sorting the power steering leak on my 1992 LS400 when the alternator died on me at the weekend. Got the rebuild kit, new bearing, air control valve, alternator and belt on their way over from the states (much cheaper than buying them from Lexus over this side of the pond!) and I started pulling the thing to bits on sunday. It's not going well though!

I have always done DIY maintenance on all my vehicles, built a few engines, restored a couple of cars, so I have a big toolkit and a reasonable idea how to use it . . . but I have been working for about 12 hours now (8 hours solid today) trying to get one of the !Removed! bolts off that hold the power steering pump on. It's the lower one of the two at the rear of the pump.

Despite being soaked in PS fluid for around the last year or so, and being regularly soaked in penetrating oil for the last 48 hours, the upper one of these two bolts took over 160lb/ft of torque to shift (I was using a big torque wrench in "reverse" mode, it's my longest lever). Couldn't get the torque wrench on the lower one so I have been working on it using a normal ratchet, a variety of breaker bars, U-J's etc, and a bunch of GOOD 6-point walldrive sockets. Despite that, the bolt is still stuck fast, and is rapidly turning into a blob rather than a bolt. I managed to sneak a camera down there and take a look at it (see attached pics). I think the problem is the angle of the fastening,its pointing down towards the inner wing and the floor making it very hard to keep the socket hard onto the bolt head. Especially with the amount of torque involved, the socket just wants to twist off the bolt head all the time, and adding a UJ makes it even worse as the UJ keep trying to wrap itself up.

I can't even grind the bolt head off, as (a) there is not enough room to get a grinder in there, and (B) the pump needs to slide forwards to come off a long stud at the front of the engine, and this bolt goes in from the side, so it would still pin it in place even with the head off. Totally stuck now, I have unbolted the alternator (and a whole bunch of stuff from the inner wing including the abs module and brake lines which is right in the way on my right-hand drive car) to give myself room to work, but I can't get the alternator all the way out because the PS pump is in the way. So I can't even change the new alternator in and live with the leaky PS pump (although that would be a pretty dumb thing to do anyway).

The other thing I thought of was stripping the PS pump in situ, but the other bolt you can see in the pictures (the lower one of the 3 longitudinal bolts that holds the pump housing to the rear bracket) is also very tight, and almost impossible to get to. I can't get a socket and ratchet on there because there is not enough clearance before I hit the exhaust manifold (or some other lump of metal down there) and a ring spanner (box wrench?) will fit but there is no way I can get enough leverage on it to undo it. It's very awkward because the bolt is recessed into some bracing webs on the pump casting.

What the hell do I do now? I desperately need to get this fixed as it's my only vehicle, even if I sold everything else I owned I wouldn't be able to get the money to trailer it to a Lexus dealer (40 miles away) and have them do it, so I have no choice but to do it myself, however I am all out of ideas at this point! Can anyone suggest anything, or let me know exactly what tool combination they have used to get this bolt out?

[Shadow]

Sound like somebody got to those bolts before you did cause the torque spec for those bolt is 29ft-lb for US model.

[rahlo1]

go to your local home depot and pick up a stripped bolt remover socket set they are pretty cheap. i had the same problem when i changed my pump and it worked for me.

[91LS400vgb]

Perhaps something like this would help:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?...pid=00952166000

[larryp]

You should be able to get the alternator out from underneath. Recently replaced mine (91LS) and didn't have to remove PS. It's tight and you have to remove bolts holding transmission lines in place, but you can wiggle the alternator out. That should provide easier access to the bolt.

[Arkansawyer]

Larry, I think he is trying to sort out both issues alt and pwr steering.

[SRK]

Those bolts are very tight from the factory. I removed the alternator from below (it needed new brushes) on my LS and then got a good shot at those bolts from underneath. Six point socket, half inch drive, and braced the extension against the lower frame, as I recall. Went with a bang.

Do it now before the bolt head becomes further damaged.

I have also machined some of my sockets to remove the "lead in" angle so that the hex goes right to the flange washer surface. Many socket manufacturers use too long a lead and that reduces the grip of the hex. If you don't have a metal lathe you can carefully grind the end of the socket off on a bench grinder.