• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

TTY Bolts on Water Pump???

delkra

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
77
Location
Delaware
Hey... I am planning on replacing my water pump (incl. housing) with a new Motorcraft one. Reading the service manual says that the bolts holding the WP to the head are torque-to-yield and you must replace them with new ones (p/n W701544). It says they have to be torqued and then cranked over another 85-95 degrees.

The How-To on the forum doesn't say anything about replacing the bolts, though. Anyone know where to get these? If they really are TTY's, they probably should not be re-used because the threads have usually been stretched...

Thanks,
Delkra
 
what service manual are you reading? the Ford CD says nothing of the sort about turning them an extra 85-95 degrees. they are torqued to 89 in/lbs and thats it. besides, you would never want to TTY such a small bolt going into an aluminum head as you could easily strip the head.
 
I had the exact same thought - TTY bolts are usually much larger and only for really serious stuff, not some stupid water pump retaining bolts... but I don't have enough experience with it to be sure. Anyway, I was using a couple of different manuals to scope out how much work this is going to be and what I need to be prepared for.

Anyway, I also looked it up on the net and found a couple of places that say the retaining bolts need to be torqued to 11 ft/lbs and then turned 85-95 degrees. Here's one such link:
http://mechanixtrix.com/Article/Article.aspx?ArticleID=216

Also, the Autozone online repair guides say it is necessary as well... Not sure if this link will work, but if not, just check it out on autozone.com for a '99 Contour 2.5...
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/re...epairGuideContent.jsp?pageId=0900c152800a8948

If it is not needed, I'd rather not have to worry about it...

Thanks,
Mark
 
looks like they both use copies of the Chiltons manual, which i just checked and it also says the same thing. there is no reason for them to be TTY bolts and i as well as im sure hundreds of others have reused the bolts without issues. besides, i would be more inclined to follow what the FORD cd says than what a 3rd party manual says.
 
TTY do NOT stretch threads

TTY do NOT stretch threads

If they really are TTY's, they probably should not be re-used because the threads have usually been stretched...

Thanks,
Delkra

it is a common misconception that TTY 'stretch the threads'

It would be a very bad idea to stretch the threads. Think about it, if you stretched the threads on the bolt it would by definition also stretch the threads in the part you are threading into, not a good idea.

The TTY bolts are designed to yield some where between the threads and the bold head. Some have noticable necking down in the area designed to yield, others it is not so obvious.
 
I was wondering about other peoples opinion on this subject. I'm getting ready to replace my waterpump and I was wondering if I should get new retaining bolts, or just reuse the old ones. I checked with my local dealership, they didn't have any in stock but said they could be ordered for $2 and change each.

So to people who have replaced a waterpump on a 2.5 Contour, did you reuse your original bolts? Or install new ones? Anyone have problems reusing the old bolts?
 
The TTY bolts hold the pump to the housing. If your replacing the entire housing, you can reuse the 3 bolts that hold the pump to the engine.

FWIW, when it comes to the Ford Contour, Brapple knows what he's talking about.
 
Getting ready to change my water pump - this is good info. My Chilton's talks about not reusing the TTY bolts, but I'll go with BrApple on this one. Made it 137,000 miles on the stock water pump - is that good for a 96?
 
Changed the water pump last night. The impeller had cracked all the way from the outer edge to the hub on one side, and when it started to crack on the other side of the hub the shaft could spin without turning the impeller. I reused the bolts, and the new pump from Autozone looked exactly like the black plastic stocker (except for a blue paint dot on the impeller - I guess that'll make a difference). Thanks, CEG.
 
Yes making it 137k is great for an early waterpump as most failed around 60k. Thats when the one in my fathers 95 went. But what you discribed is very typical for a black impellar pump failure.

Now I would be alittle concerned that you received a black colored impellar waterpump. Even years back all the replacement pumps where a white plastic, which is what Ford change to in early 99. So I am not sure why it would be black, unless the color doesn't matter anymore (back in the day the color indicated the material, and the black ones always failed).
 
Thankfully the old pump impeller was only cracked, not shattered. At least I didn't have to hunt around for the pieces. I never have figured out what the 'cone' thing is (mentioned on other threads). Everything seems to be holding up OK. The new thermostat is letting temps go just a hair higher than the stocker, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

I was a bit perturbed to see virtually the same pump impeller come out of the duralast box. I gotta hope it's a bit better material of construction. Every mile I've got out of this vehicle for the past 3-4 years is gravy anyway. If the pump lasts another 137,000 miles I'd be fine with that. One of the easier fixes on this cramped engine compartment.
 
Back
Top