Toyota recommends replacing water pump 2007 4Runner 52k miles

[Pson1128]

After performing Yellow service at Toyota they inform me that there is a small leak in my water pump. I only have 52k miles, and haven't seen any signs of leaking on the ground, Is it common for water pump to go bad so quickly, or are they just trying to rip me off?

 

[aha2988]

After performing Yellow service at Toyota they inform me that there is a small leak in my water pump. I only have 52k miles, and haven't seen any signs of leaking on the ground, Is it common for water pump to go bad so quickly, or are they just trying to rip me off?

the leak is highly unlikely to be in the pump itself more so likly to be leaking around the seal inwhich it seals with against the front of the engine. and yes this is a common leak, in the V8's its even caused the timing belt to slip out of time and cause miss fires on rare ocations. even when i changed my water pump at 139,000 i noticed it had been leaking its not a huge issue as you can just keep an I on your coolant level resevior and add fluid every so often.

edit: if its a V8 and you decide to go in and change the water pump seal out and or the water pump and seal i would go ahead and put a timing belt in there due to the fact its such a pain in the ass to get into the timing case to maintance its best these maintance steps be done at the same time, if you water pump fails change the timing belt, if its time to change the timing belt go ahead and change the water pump

if its a V6 dont worry about the timing chain its got way more that 50,000 miles in its life the V8's have belts that are only good for 90,000 or 7 years. the V6's have a way longer lifespan of there timing chains. and if the leak is only on the seal i would just replace the seal and be done no need for new water pump at 50,000 eather, if the leak is indeed inside the pump housing replace the pump and seal, but like i said you can do this at your leasure as to you have the ability to had coolant faster than it can leak out.

 

[Pson1128]

ok, thanks for the reply. I do have a V8, and I was thinking of doing the timing belt at the same time, when I do replace the water pump. I might go into another service dept to get a second opinion on wether it's a seal/hose or the pump itself.

 

[superman3043]

Yep, very common issue with the V8 water pumps. I think mine probably developed the slow leak around 60K too. Like my boy Aha said, just keep an eye on your coolant levels and you should be fine. I changed everything at 90K on schedule and it was fine.

 

[Mark86]

Happened on my mom's GX at 60K. Lexus covered it under good will because the truck was always serviced at the scheduled intervals. We only paid for the timing belt. Very common as the others said.