Make sure to use Toyota Timing Belts and Water Pump!

[Ghostface80]

Just got back from the local mechanic who does my oil change and told me that he sees a tiny bit of leak of coolant resulting from my water pump going bad. I just changed my water pump and timing belt 18,000 miles ago! Needless to say I'm thoroughly pissed!

He told me to take it back to the mechanic who did my timing belt/water pump and they should take care of it... small problem, I did the job in California and I'm in Atlanta now. He said he sees an increased number of bad pumps coming from made in China/Pakistan/etc. products. This forum has helped me out, so for future reference, use Toyota parts! I believe they use Denso if I'm not mistaken.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

I used Toyota parts on mine. This is to hard of a job to take a chance on cheaper parts. The Toyota parts were not really that expensive.

 

[Merle]

Buy once, cry once. This is especially true on items which you change out over the span of years, the peace of mind has some quantifiable dollar amount.

 

[asm]

Agree. Things like water pump that require a bit more involved labor to replace, I'll always go with parts that has proven to work - Toyota OEM. They are actually cheaper then some of aftermarket stuff...

Also, be sure replace all gasket/seal/o-ring as suggested by the factory service manual. They are usually not expensive either, but I know most of the "friendly-corner-shop" usually don't replace those. I don't about you, but I trust Toyota's team of engineers more then the average joe mechanic that doesn't even what a factory service manual look like.

B

 

[ilovethedealer]

with v8 timeing belts you can not see the waterpump without being 3/4 of the way into the t belt job... he could just be seeing residual hardened coolant from the water pump service

your mechanic must have really good eyes