P/S pump bolt broken, no tension: squealing. Remove belt for temporary sanity?

1985 325e, 170k+ miles

Hello all,
My power steering belt was making some awful noises (banshee squeal) and was awfully loose, so I got under to tighten it. Lo and belold, one of the mounting bolts was sheared off by some previous owner/mechanic, so it cannot be tensioned properly. The head of the bolt is missing and part of it is still lodged in the welded-on square nut.

QUESTION 1: Do I drill it out? Grind the nut off and replace with a nylock? Suggestions?

In the meantime, my car makes an horrrrible squeal at startup and intermittently while driving. Super loud. I am considering just taking the belt off to quiet this down until I can take of the bolt above.


QUESTION 2: If I remove the belt, how hard is it to drive without power steering?

TIA!

My power steering pump is out i drive without it its not difficult at all once you get to 5+ mph its not difficult to turn at all and yes drilling it out is probably your best bet for it

Wicked Fast Entertainment

how do they have a temp bolt put in?

i think pics are in need

Photo?

Yes photo please ?
If only to see that your problems are funnier than my current nightmares

On another note, I do not know how kindly your power-rack will take driving extensively without the pump ?
Here we have interesting roads & I was advised by a Steering specialist (I only know engines & their management) that one should only drive without a working PS-pump in a pinch.

Picture forthcoming, sorry to be so delayed!

both unwise you remove the pump all together and to remove the belt. the rack and/or pump will end up getting dust and crap in it and ruin it even more. the rack is not built to function without power assist, so while it works, its not ideal. to proove this point, the 316i/318i manual rack (non-PS) is a totally different part, not just a case of blocked off ports etc.

my advice is to let it squeal as a reminder to fix it. it will be all to easy to remove and just deal with inferior steering, especially with the christmas/new years expenditure that occurs. do it once and do it right. all too easy to forget about

edit: with that said, im not familiar with your vehicle, but if you have modified it you might like to take the opportunity to swap in a Z3 or E46ti rack in without the Mrs's finding out

Update: if anyone else has the broken bolt issue in the future, it does appear that it can be dealt with by grinding the nut off. I cut it off slicer disc, ground it flush, and tapped the broken piece of bolt out. Tomorrow I'll put in a conventional nut and bolt and that should get be back to a normal setup and I'll be able to put this belt tensioning job behind me.

Can't you tack-weld the conventional nut in place. to make this job easier in future ?

Originally Posted by Nick323

Can't you tack-weld the conventional nut in place. to make this job easier in future ?

If I had a welder at home, I would. I'm actually a welding engineer by trade, ironically. Someday I'll have all the welding equipment I'll need.

or an easy out works pretty good