Hey guys,,I got a 1992 3.1 v6 auto..well a while back I kept hearing a rattling near my a/c and then I thought my p/s pump bearings were goin..what i found was a bracket hanging off a stud closest to the water pump.The stud looked like it was comin off the back of the power steering pump,basically just hanging there so i took it off,,was this a bad thing or do i need to hook it up..pics would be great!!!,,thanx!!...oh btw..its a serpentine belt setup

 

That bracket is not a necessity, but don't remove the studs from the power steering pump unless you want a big, costly problem with the pump.

 

sweet,but what problems would the stud removal be..not that im gonna do that.

 

Let's just say that they hold the reservoir to the pump body... If you pull even one of them out, your pump won't be able to hold any PS fluid...

 

thats a good thing,,,i looked for a stud on the exhast manifold and didnt see 1,,if it broke off it was a clean break,,thanx for the info

 

The lower "bolt" on the number 2 cylinder is supposed to be a stud. That would be why yours was rattling like it was. You could just tighten the nuts on the back of the pump to stop the rattling, but it seems like you want it gone, and I don't blame you.

 

i know right..i looked at my brothers 91 and i dont have a stud there,,someone broke it off..as long as it (the stud) doesnt affect my exhaust i will be happy,just one less thing to pull when i need to work on it

 

It won't affect the manifold as long as the hex part of the bolt is still there. if that's gone as well, you could have problems with leaks, just like my #5 cylinder, which has the top bolt broken off inside the head...

 

crap!!..well both hexs are gone on the top n bottom on front,,looks like its just the rest of it in the hole,,can i seal it up at the top of manifold?

 

My #5 doesn't seal with only one bolt in it... You might be in worse shape. Try to get the others out when the engine is warm or hot and then get those studs out at the same time. Replace the whole mess with M8x1.75 (IIRC) by 1.5" and however long the long ones are (same threads, obviously). And no, threadlocker doesn't work. I used red on my pass side manifold bolts (ALL of them) and I just retightened all of them except the lonely bolt in cyl #5.

:edit: I keep hoping that, one of these days, Loctite or someone will come up with some sealer and threadlocking compound that is good above 800*F. Maybe then I won't have any leaks and the bolts won't come out any more.

 

well it never sounded loud like a leak was there so i never bothered with it..i wonder if liquid steel would work?..if it did it would be like its permanent