Noticed a while back I had a coolant leak. Noticed it first from coolant level. Didn’t lose a lot but was at low. Looked around and saw it below the pump and above. Cleaned it up and didn’t have issues for over a month.
Looked at it again this weekend and coolant level didn’t really change (got a lot warmer so probably offset the minor leak). Found a wet spot above the water pump. It appears to be leaking through the gasket on the upper left hand side. I got to one bolt and was a bit loose (couldn’t get a torque wrench) but the main one around the leak is behind the fan pulley so I can’t get to it.
Has anyone had this issue. Proper fix would be to tear everything out and replace gasket but at almost 100K I’d be paying only $80 to buy and replace the pump. Doesn’t seem worth the effort for a minor, intermittent leak. Has anyone had this issue? If so think Permatex 1 minute gasket around the gasket or sealant additive would work?

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@100k you may want to consider replacing the water pump anyways...

I don't recommend any of the other solutions you mentioned unless you get satisfaction from performing "half-ass" work and paying double for it later.

MSRP on pump and gasket is $150 (come as a set). It would be foolish to use anything but OEM parts for the job. Labor rate is 3.4 hours because you have to pull everything off the front of the engine, and the A/C compressor.

I’m probably going to try the sealant first. It won’t harm anything. And I assume the weep hole is on the bottom so it can’t be the pump going bad. Like most things on new vehicles it’s the pain of tearing everything out to get where you need to get. And I ain’t small, lol.
I haven’t been able to find any torque specs or videos for the 5th gen. Any know what bolt torque is for the 10 and believe 12 mm bolts are?

TOYOTA 2016-2019 4Runner Repair Manual RM27F0U

I got the new OEM pump and came with gasket. Gasket seems to have thin plastic or thin metal layer on both of the metal gasket.
FSM doesn’t say anything about adding sealant. Should sealant be added?
Gasket seems like it’ll just end up leaking again as is without any sealant.

No sealant, just the gasket. Typically, they don't leak from the gasket, the seal at the shaft is what leaks.

What shaft are you talking about?
Mine appears to leaking in two spots. One on top left on the engine side and top right on the water inlet housing side. Outside the water pump gasket, I know there’s a gasket between the water pump and inlet housing and another between inlet house and coolant hard pipe above the pump. The top right one could be the water pump to inlet housing gasket but the other appears to be the water pump gasket for sure. The hard pump prong isn’t leaking.
Like most things on the 4Runner it’s going to a pain for a minor leak. Have take pretty much all of the pulleys and belt drive items off the front of the engine.

The shaft is the part the fan is bolted to. It goes through a bearing seal to the impeller inside the pump that moves the coolant. If the bearing seal fails, then you will see coolant come out of the weep hole. That is a sign you need to change the pump before the bearing fails and the fan comes off and goes through the radiator!

Ok you are taking about the bearing seal. It’s not coming of there, as that’s located under the fan
I can clearly see is weeping out on 11 and 1 o’clock position of the water pump between the inlet water housing seal and pipe oring.

I’m sure everyone will get a good laugh on this. Local dealership here western PA quoted 5 hours at 150/hr for 750 without parts. I already bought the parts.
So if someone where to come if off the street I’m sure it be over a grand. I understand it’s a lot of labor (they maybe over estimated by a hour if any) but $150 hour is ridiculous.

I started my auto tech career (professionally) at a GMC/Buick/Suzuki dealership around 2004 and within 2-3 years the pricing went from $72/hour to a "matrix" system where only the first hour was $72 every tenth of an hour after that increased. So the second hour of labor cost the customer $84, third $96, and so on. Techs didn't get a raise, management said it was to cover the franchise costs.

The book time on the job is 3.4 hours; that is all they should be charging. IIRC, it took me a little under 3 hours my first time doing it.

Looks like I get to make a dealer trip next week as well on my 2018 for a leaking water pump. Has 53.5k miles. Is this that common or is this just bad luck? I'd assume I'm still under warranty, but it's annoying.

Almost the same location as mine but looks way worse. Definitely have them do it under warranty.
I’ve driven 1k miles and lost a small fraction. Since it’s gotten warm out it hardly leaks at all and most likely only after it cools. I can see it bead up after cooling in to spots I listed previously.