Water pump nuts rounded.
 

So, neat. Doing my timing belt/water pump and somebody rounded off two of the nuts on the pulley. Somebody else (well, me) rounded off a third. So at this point, I'm annoyed as hell with the thing.

Anybody have any ideas here? There's really not a lot of room in there to get the things off. Or anybody have the pulley? A fan clutch is cheap....

What pulley? Are you using 12 point or 6 point sockets?

The pulley that the fan clutch bolts to. There's no room for sockets in there anyway... only wrenches:

https://scontent-mia1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...a0&oe=58F2BF68

First make sure you're using closed-end wrenches. Definately NOT an open ended wrench. If you still can't get them off, Soak them in PB blaster for a while then try a sturdy set of vise grips.

A tiny skinny pipe wrench might fit. I like the pipe wrench better then needle nose vice grips b/c it tightens onto the bolt while you put force on it, and they have better ridges to grab the bolt head. Buy new bolts.

^ those are nuts BTW, he shouldn't need new studs.

Oh, those. Ugh. I have personally never had that happen even with 12-point box end wrenches. I'm afraid someone, and maybe you, used the open end of a wrench on those nuts. Unless you are using a Snap-On Flank Drive Plus wrench, Wright-grip, or the like you can't use the open end. If they are rounded try the box end of a quality wrench. If that doesn't work you'll be stuck using vise-grips, and quality vise-grips at that. You'll have to bite hard into the nuts and I would tap the handle with a hammer to give an impacting effect. The new nuts are p/n 90029-07010, although I have no clue what year your car is (since you didn't say) so I looked up a random year as they're probably the same.

Yeah, I'll give it a shot. Crappy part is there's really no way to hammer a socket onto them with the stupid fan clutch in the way. Rats.

My car is a '95, by the way.

These aren't reverse thread, are they?

I don't remember exactly but looking at the visible thread on that top-most nut it looks like a standard thread.

+1. Long ago I had a similar tight spot trying to remove a fan assembly. On parts that haven't been removed in ever, a thread penetrant is used first and let to soak in. I've been fortunate to have not rounded a fastener head since beginning that practice. Fasteners that are often undersized some wrenches and sockets don't fit them well so slippage is an issue.

They are NOT reverse thread.

And if some poor mechanic was doing that for dirt cheap, he'd have to eat the time on those.

Worse I am that poor mechanic.

It's my car. LOL

Damn it all.

Try using the box end of a combination wrench. You have have to pry the wrench on to the nut with them being partially rounded, but that only means it will be on the nuts tighter.

So we're all clear, did you attempt to remove the nuts with the open end?

Vise grips