1999 Camry fuel pump screws

[vtcodger]

The 99 Camry is sitting in driveway with what gives every appearance of being a dead fuel pump. No problem getting to the fuel pump bracket under the back seat, but it is held in by about eight phillips head screws. No visible corrosion, but they don't want to move. I've tried a screwdriver, and a screwdriver turned by pliers, and pliers directly on the screws, and a brand new pair of vice grips. I've soaked them with penetrating oil ... twice. None of them will budge.

If they were screwed into anything but the fuel tank, I'd just drill the silly things out, retap the holes to some convenient thread and go up to the hardware store and buy a handful of stainless replacements.

Before I cobble together something that will allow me to apply my 7.5 amp impact wrench to these suckers, I thought I'd ask if anyone has an idea I haven't thought of for removing these things without breaking anything.

[picabu]

try the impact screw driver....it usually works for me.

[Chris Crash]

Take a torch to it!

Haha.

[vtcodger]

For the record, I finally got the damnable things out after adding a cold chisel, an impact screwdriver, and a 7.5 amp impact wrench with a screwdriver head to the list of things that don't work. (The latter, not surprisingly, took the Phillips slots out of the screw in about 40 milliseconds. When you hit a screw with a couple of hundred foot-pounds of torque, the probability of something giving is pretty high).

Anyway, what finally worked was something from Sears called a Power Bolt Out. It's a "socket" with a slightly left handed threaded set of gripping edges. Slip it into a reversible drill, slip the socket over the screw, and apply torque. A set of these things set me back $20, but they took the screws out in about 3 minutes.

Now if I just knew what to do about the incredibly obnoxious and sticky black goo that Toyota slathered all over the access plate. I'll do a separate post about that.