V6 owners, how are your water pump holding up?

[gshadow325]

i know you asked about v6, but just wanted to let you know in my v8 @ 167k when i did my belts, pulleys, tstat, and pump. mine showed signs of leaking that had been dried out over time.

 

[chmura]

Was changing out the power steering fluid and noticed dried pink on the block around the crank pulley. Coolant level has been very slowly dropping (added coolant for the first time ever two weeks ago) so I figured something must be up. I know no coolant has been getting in the oil as of 2000 miles ago as I had a used oil analysis that was excellent. I'm guessing that my water pump is failing. Sad as my 4Runner doesn't even have 60,000 miles on it. I'm guessing this must be a design or production flaw with the other failures reported here and my father's water pump failed on his 2008 with similar symptoms about one year ago with about 50,000 miles on it.

We're heading to the high Sierra with the trailer in a few weeks so I've got to fix this prior to that. Does anyone have any words of wisdom? I see recommendations to purchase the OEM (Aisin WPT-802?) but with such an early failure I'm not yet convinced I want the OEM!!! (I've never had a water pump fail in all of the various Hondas I've taken over 100,000 miles). Any pointers or recommendations?

Thanks!

Get oem. Have you read other posts on here that people with 170k miles with the original pump? With everything out there some things just fail prematurely sometimes. Many many factors for that.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Ordered the Aisin pump via Amazon for a little over $80 after tax. Hope is that whatever fault there was, whether it be design or during the build has been fixed.

The dealership that did the work on my father's 4Runner stocked the replacement parts and mentioned they had seen quite a few. I've never heard of water pumps going bad on reputable vehicles at 50k miles. At least it fails in a graceful manner and not catastrophically. I've reviewed the factory service manual procedures for the removal and replacement but they call for the removal of a lot of components I'm not sure really will need to be pulled. Has someone done a DIY here that I wasn't able to find via the search feature? Does anyone have a real quick list of what they removed to get access so I can get an idea of whether I can knock this out in an evening or if I need to plan for a day? I have all of the torque values, location of the block coolant bleed holes, etc.

Thanks!

 

[MarcusAurelius]

I have an 03 at 110K and I just replaced my water pump. I have a V8 so needed to do the timing belt 90K maintenance anyway. It was leaking but no actual issues, just preventative repairs.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Will be changing over to the Zerex Asian Vehicle coolant partly because I am not happy with the Toyota Super Long Life fluid failing to protect my water pump and partly in rebellion towards Toyota's inflated prices for their fluids.

 

[4Runrrun'n]

Ordered the Aisin pump via Amazon for a little over $80 after tax. Hope is that whatever fault there was, whether it be design or during the build has been fixed.

The dealership that did the work on my father's 4Runner stocked the replacement parts and mentioned they had seen quite a few. I've never heard of water pumps going bad on reputable vehicles at 50k miles. At least it fails in a graceful manner and not catastrophically. I've reviewed the factory service manual procedures for the removal and replacement but they call for the removal of a lot of components I'm not sure really will need to be pulled. Has someone done a DIY here that I wasn't able to find via the search feature? Does anyone have a real quick list of what they removed to get access so I can get an idea of whether I can knock this out in an evening or if I need to plan for a day? I have all of the torque values, location of the block coolant bleed holes, etc.

Thanks!

I followed the Haynes Manual while doing this job. I too thought it would not be necessary to remove everything they said would be need to be removed. As I went along I looked for things I could get around not removing. I ended up removing everything they said I needed to.

It's just comes down to the shape of the water pump and how it sits behind everything. That being said over all was not hard to do. Some of the things you end up taking off are recommended to be replaced when you do the pump anyway (belt, belt tensioner, etc.) I even did the fan clutch while I was in there.

The peice of mind is worth the effort.

One can do this in an evening if well prep'd with all tools, parts etc and everything goes soothly. depends how far you want to get into it (fluid flush vs just dump and fill, other related parts or just pump)

enjoy

 

[Robs08Runner]

Could you guys be experiencing this?
Some Toyota water pumps are now designed with a debris ejection path that may some leakage under normal conditions. Interesting......

T-SB-0117-11 pdf

Water Pump Inspection and Diagnostic Tips Issued: 9/1/11

Applies to: 2003 – 2011 4Runner 2005 – 2011 Tacoma 2011 Highlander HV 2008 – 2011 Highlander 2006 – 2011 RAV4 2007 – 2011 Tundra

Excerpt: "Temporary Leaks If debris becomes trapped between the mating ring and seal ring a small gap is formed. This allows coolant to bypass the mechanical seal, flow into the fluid catch pocket, and drain out of the weep hole. This condition is temporary and will no longer be present once the debris is crushed or works its way out of the seal. Water pump replacement is not necessary.

If debris was trapped between the seal ring and mating ring an abrasion mark may have been left on the mating ring surface. This abrasion mark does not affect sealing performance due to the large sealing surface of the mating ring. Once the debris is no longer present the mechanical seal performance will return to normal operation. Water pump replacement is not necessary."

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Could you guys be experiencing this?
Some Toyota water pumps are now designed with a debris ejection path that may some leakage under normal conditions. Interesting......

T-SB-0117-11 pdf

Water Pump Inspection and Diagnostic Tips Issued: 9/1/11

Applies to: 2003 – 2011 4Runner 2005 – 2011 Tacoma 2011 Highlander HV 2008 – 2011 Highlander 2006 – 2011 RAV4 2007 – 2011 Tundra

Excerpt: "Temporary Leaks If debris becomes trapped between the mating ring and seal ring a small gap is formed. This allows coolant to bypass the mechanical seal, flow into the fluid catch pocket, and drain out of the weep hole. This condition is temporary and will no longer be present once the debris is crushed or works its way out of the seal. Water pump replacement is not necessary.

If debris was trapped between the seal ring and mating ring an abrasion mark may have been left on the mating ring surface. This abrasion mark does not affect sealing performance due to the large sealing surface of the mating ring. Once the debris is no longer present the mechanical seal performance will return to normal operation. Water pump replacement is not necessary."

I'd consider this to be a possibility if I had found evidence of a coolant leak but after washing it off, didn't find fresh evidence of a continued leak the next drive and the leak hadn't dropped the overflow reservoir from almost full to empty over the course of a few months.

My replacement pump arrived last week but I won't have time to do the work until Friday. 4Runrrun'n also gave me an idea to go buy the Haynes manual for this truck. Every Honda I've ever bought I've always purchased a hard copy of the factory service manual for and the price has generally been $60-$120 over the years. Toyota's hard copy FSM was some obscene price of multiple hundreds of dollars when I checked in to it back in 2010 so I opted for the electronic version for 20-ish dollars. Problem there is that it takes time to dig through everything and print out pages from multiple places and even then I find their FSM to be lacking some of the detail that I'd like. I haven't been a fan of Haynes manuals in comparison to the excellent Honda FSMs but I think it will be a good supplement for my Toyota electronic FSM.

Update: Checked online and the paper FSM is $450 on ebay.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

I followed the Haynes Manual while doing this job. I too thought it would not be necessary to remove everything they said would be need to be removed. As I went along I looked for things I could get around not removing. I ended up removing everything they said I needed to.

It's just comes down to the shape of the water pump and how it sits behind everything. That being said over all was not hard to do. Some of the things you end up taking off are recommended to be replaced when you do the pump anyway (belt, belt tensioner, etc.) I even did the fan clutch while I was in there.

The peice of mind is worth the effort.

One can do this in an evening if well prep'd with all tools, parts etc and everything goes soothly. depends how far you want to get into it (fluid flush vs just dump and fill, other related parts or just pump)

enjoy

Did the work yesterday afternoon/evening using the Haynes manual. I'll post a pic of the water pump with the pink stalactite forming around the weep hole at some point. I didn't need to even think about touching the alternator or the compressor. What took the most time was dealing with the coolant. Draining the radiator and block followed by filling and flushing for 5 cycles to get all of the black flaking out of the cooling system (not sure what was the source of the flakes) is what took me the most time.

This was far easier on my 1GR-FE than doing the water pump on any of the Hondas I have worked on in the past, mostly because there's good access on the front of the engine.

 

[Rommel]

Is the water pump suppose to change for the V6 engine? I thought they are good with the timing chain....?:help:

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Is the water pump suppose to change for the V6 engine? I thought they are good with the timing chain....?:help:

A water pump is a water pump and how they are driven will have little to do with how long they last. The difference is how they are driven. Engines that use a timing belt to drive the cams usually drive the water pump via the timing belt (the V8 in this instance) while engines that use a timing chain to drive the cams (V6 here) will drive the water pump via the serpentine belt.

 

[Rommel]

A water pump is a water pump and how they are driven will have little to do with how long they last. The difference is how they are driven. Engines that use a timing belt to drive the cams usually drive the water pump via the timing belt (the V8 in this instance) while engines that use a timing chain to drive the cams (V6 here) will drive the water pump via the serpentine belt.

Does the water pump need to be change or that depends on how well we maintain the vehicle...? Of course I do add and change the coolant fluid, the motor oil, and change the steering and brakes fluid as well.

 

[4Runrrun'n]

Did the work yesterday afternoon/evening using the Haynes manual. I'll post a pic of the water pump with the pink stalactite forming around the weep hole at some point. I didn't need to even think about touching the alternator or the compressor. What took the most time was dealing with the coolant. Draining the radiator and block followed by filling and flushing for 5 cycles to get all of the black flaking out of the cooling system (not sure what was the source of the flakes) is what took me the most time.

This was far easier on my 1GR-FE than doing the water pump on any of the Hondas I have worked on in the past, mostly because there's good access on the front of the engine.

aggreed, quite a streight forward job. Biggest time taker is a good flush. I left the compressor alone as well, no need to mess with it.

Nice work. Job done and off the list...

 

[wolv23]

'03 99,000 and I have never had to replace or fix anything mechanical, probably because it's my wife's and she drives it like an old lady

 

[Gecko123]

my 04 has 155k miles and the original water pump has no sign of any problems. but I have a 2000 mile trip coming up to FL, I wonder should I replace it prior I leave.

I would get it done if you are going on a road trip. Not worth it if it goes on the hwy.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Does the water pump need to be change or that depends on how well we maintain the vehicle...? Of course I do add and change the coolant fluid, the motor oil, and change the steering and brakes fluid as well.

I was completely under the impression that you don't touch the cooling system until 10 years or 100,000 miles, just like Toyota states. Part of this comes from having drained the coolant multiple times on my various Hondas (engine block heaters, intake manifold gaskets, routine maintenance, etc.) and NEVER once did I see any kind of visible deposit in the fluid, leading me to believe that the days of flushing radiators were long gone. Now I'm left with the conclusion that Toyota did something wrong with the 4Runner that kills water pumps far earlier than they ought to be dying.

At this point I'd drain the radiator into a clean bucket and see if you find any deposits, contaminants, etc. If your fluid is completely clean you might consider just putting the fluid back in if you're under the 10 year/100,000 mile mark. If you find anything like I did I'd do a flush and refill and I wouldn't use Toyota's coolant, I'd go with Zerex Asian (who knows if this is who makes Toyota's coolant) since obviously Toyota's coolant isn't doing anything special to keep your cooling system from failing early (just out of warranty for both my Dad's and my 4Runners).

The saving grace is that water pumps tend to give you some warning before failure by weeping and even leaking, giving you time to identify the problem and do something about it before you suffer a cooling system failure or even worse.

 

[Rommel]

Thank you OrdnanceMarine, I usually do change my coolant like maybe around 100,000 miles or even 90,000 miles. I just got my 4r used and it has 168,000 miles, it looks clean, but then who knows whats under the hood. Just recently, the serpentine belt snapped while I was on the road, and managed to repair that got myself back on the road.

 

[OrdnanceMarine]

Thank you OrdnanceMarine, I usually do change my coolant like maybe around 100,000 miles or even 90,000 miles. I just got my 4r used and it has 168,000 miles, it looks clean, but then who knows whats under the hood. Just recently, the serpentine belt snapped while I was on the road, and managed to repair that got myself back on the road.

I would definitely put eyeballs on everything to see what kind of condition its in. If in doubt, change it out. At 56,000 miles my 4Runner has had every fluid changed out now that I've done the power steering and coolant. After seeing a lot of metal in the used oil analysis I performed on my transmission's factory fill around 50k miles I'm a bigger and bigger fan of changing everything out for the first time fairly early in the vehicle's life. If I were to purchase a replacement for my 4Runner today I would probably do the first oil change around 5k miles, and then change everything else out between 10-25k miles if I was planning on owning the vehicle for more than 100k miles. Once the first change had been done for each fluid I'd probably be more likely to start stretching intervals.

 

[PR Fiebru]

I removed radiator and waiting for new one to arrive. I am considering replacing the water pump but im not sure if its necessary. truck has 87k miles. I read other post that mention the tensioner. is there a timing chain tensioner? or did they mean the serpentine belt tensioner. I just bought the truck. I like to do preventive maintenance but at the same time i don't want to trow my money away on unnecessary things.

 

[freeflight]

Just replaced mine, 120k. Fluid level in the reservoir was dropping slowly, I could see pink staining on the front of the engine below the pump.

I replaced the serpentine belt tensioner while I was in there.

My 04 with 73K miles has leak in the same location. I will have a mechanics to do it, water pump, serpentine belt and tensioner at the same time.

What's a good place to buy the parts?

Thanks,
Kevin