2004 ss.........3 weeks ago it threw a belt, power steering pump completely off, it had ripped the mounting bolts right out of the engine. Its a pain in the *** to get to these PS pumps on these cars, but I did and to make sure this didn't happen again, I put RED Loctite on the bolts and lock washers. 3 weeks into enjoying my car with power steering, no noise, no squeaking, new belt, aligned, working awesome, the SOB threw the belt again and damn if it didn't rip the new bolds out of the block and pump hanging by hoses again. What is going on? Im not racing it, just driving.

 

Whats the history on the car to you - recent purchase/ original owner, etc? Is this the original pump? Original engine? Car ever been wrecked in the front?

I suspect what's happening is that the bolts are backing out first which ultimately causes the pump to fall and drop the belt. The question is- why. More puzzling is that even with 3 fastening methods (proper torque, lock washer, and red loctite) it still came loose. Were you able to hit 100% of the torque spec on your torque wrench?

For it to fall apart that quick (assuming the bolts are ok as you surely looked at them while they were out) - Id be worried something is wrong with the bosses - perhaps they're cracked or something which is allowing it to dump all of the torque suddenly when the engine heats up. Were you able to look at them at all? Probably should get a cheap borescope to get a close look at the holes. Were the holes totall clean - no liquid residue in the hole bottom?

 

Wow that is crazy for sure! maybe there is a pulley that is freezing up some place, tensioner, Sometimes the belts just jump out of the grooves how is the Water pump pulley?

 

Wow guys, Im in deep. This damn power steering pump, the second time it came loose and fell off, it ripped the threads out of the block, so zi drilled clean holes, re-tapped, and applied grade 10 bolts this time but as I was screwing in the bolts, the housing around both bolt holes broke exposing on 1/2 the treads on each side, making it unable to get bolts to stay in, so how do I rebuild the metal in the block so I can re-drill and tap and start over? I am 60 and its very hard for me to do this alone, but price quotes to fix this mess is around $700. I just cant do it. Ive been on foot for 3 weeks now f***ing around with this damn thing. GM pisses me off for putting this damn thing in such a ridiculous place to get too. Even with everything back together, just getting fluid into it is a challenge. Any help would be great guys. Whats doing this? There are no warning squeeks, rattles, nothing, just driving and thump, the power steering kicks the belt and sheers both bolts and it falls off.

 

So the upside is you found the culprit. If the block just broke from tightening the bolts, it had to have been cracked this whole time (again, assuming you're torquing it correctly). The crack is what was allowing it to release tension and let the bolts loosen up.

To rebuild the material properly, it needs to be welded. However, I think it would be best to pull it to fully examine that area (magnaflux) to make sure the cracking doesn't go any further. You hate to put a bunch if money into welding it back up if the cracking extends further. You're better off getting another junkyard engine at that point.