2003 V8 T4R - Coolant leak on cold morning

[pendragon]

I have a 2003 4runner with 315,000 mi, V8 engine. Timing belt, water pump, and all coolant hoses were replaced at Toyota dealership at 275k in 2019.

We got down to 10F (unusually cold for here) last week. I started the t4r and was letting it warm up inside for a family trip when I noticed a moderate drip of coolant underneath the engine, not under the radiator. I would say it lost about a pint in five or ten mins. I shut it off and took a different car on the trip.

I topped off the coolant yesterday and it was not leaking anything when I started it. I drove it to the dealership with no heating problems. They messaged me today that they want to do:

Diagnose $150
"start with water pump replacement" $650
Replace timing belt $500
Replace drive belt $200
Belt tensioner $215
Front seals $115


Does this make sense? I am thinking maybe all this just could just be due to super cold temps shrinking where a hose met a part.

These same folks want to charge me $250 to plug a nail hole in a fairly new tire, balance it, and remount.

 

[ads2539]

They’re called stealerships for a reason.

The tire repair, according to a google search, generally costs $10-$20, and the highest amount I found was $40. $6 DIY. I had to get a tire patched at a tire shop a few years ago. I forget the exact price, but it was <$50 for sure. I brought the wheel/tire to them. It wasn’t mounted on my 4R.

Is it the same dealer who did the 2019 work?

A 3-4 yr old water pump shouldn’t need replacing, but it could be a bad one.

I’m not a mechanic, but I have no idea why they want to do the 3 belt things. Timing belts are supposed to be good for 90k miles. I have a brother who has been a mechanic for over 30 years, and he has NEVER seen a broken Toyota timing belt.

I live where it does get below 0° F on occasion, and I’ve never had a coolant leak. I don’t think the cold weather caused your leak.

 

[rdruss]

I have an '03 V8 but only 148K miles and about 55K on water pump and just coming off a week of zero and below here in Chicago area, no coolant loss on mine. Ask if they are replacing the water pump because it is confirmed leaking or are they just guessing?

 

[AuSeeker]

Unless they can show positive proof of a leaking water pump I wouldn't let them work on my vehicle, it can be leaking from several other places. like the thermostat housing, radiator, any of several hoses, etc., none of which are very expensive to fix.

That being said if indeed the water pump is leaking and the coolant gets on and saturates the timing belt for an extended period of time it can degrade the timing belt to a point that it can break which will destroy the engine, none of the other possible leaks mentioned above will affect the timing belt, because the timing belt is isolated from all of them other than the water pump which is located behind the timing belt cover with the timing belt, so again I say have them provide positive proof of the water pump leaking, i.e. photos/video, etc., a video would be best as it can show your vehicle and continue without pause to show the water pump leak, a photo could be from any vehicle and you would never know if indeed it's from your vehicle.

 

[pendragon]

I got on the horn with the dealership today. The first guy suggested trying to replace the water pump, timing belt, all all the rest. I declined all but the pump. Then I got a cal back from the first guy's supervisor and after talking, he said he hated to replace such an expensive part just to experiment, and he said it wasn't leaking there currently, so he suggested we hold off and just watch the coolant level for a few weeks.

The high quote on the tire was because it already had one patch and they wanted to replace it rather than do a second. I agreed to that given the additional info, so we'll be doing that.

 

[Bassturd]

I had a similar issue on my 04 V8 it turned out to be the Oring on the backside of the thermostat housing super easy to miss but pretty easy to replace. There was also another smaller Oring that failed on the coolant bypass hose that was underneath the intake. It was a little harder to replace but I did it when I replaced the starter.