ST Water Pump, have you had to change it and when Options

[hurley97]

I'm wondering how the ST water pumps hold up to see if its worth it for me to change it.

so here are my questions to you ST owners:
1. whats the regular service interval for the water pump?
2. have you ever changed your water pump?
3. was it because it went bad or just preventative maintenance?
4. what mileage was it done at?

[atif7x7]

I would just get it done with the timing belt change .. Dont see it failing any earlier ..

[97lestyousay]

I have never changed one for preventitive maint, I changed one on
a prizm with a 7a. Not to hard. Do it from under the car removing access
panels. I started the job from above and it was a real pain. Celis have a
bunch more room than a prizm, so it may not be as bad. You just really
want to get your hands dirty don't you. haha

Edit: I changed it when water was pouring out of it.

This post has been edited by 97lestyousay: Mar 27, 2007 - 10:40 PM

[hurley97]

I just had the timing belt changed like 3-4k miles ago and didn't have the extra money to spend on it. I'm planning to turbo the car and don't want to wait until theres water pouring out and the damage is done. but if its not common for them to ever blow on an ST then I won't even bother.

oh and I have about 179,200 miles on the car right now. I have no records from the first 126,335 miles but I know I have never changed the water pump. although my old timing belt was actually not bad at all and a genuine Toyota belt at that

This post has been edited by hurley97: Mar 27, 2007 - 10:52 PM

[jc47]

There is no service interval for the pump. Most people change it when the timing belt is replaced since they are cheap, there is very little additional work, and you will have to repeat most of the work to replace the timing belt if the water pump fails at a later time. This is what I did around 80,000 miles. The pump may have been leaking a little but nothing major.

Also note that you can't really determine the condition of a timing belt by looking at it. They are usually replaced on a years/miles basis.

[97lestyousay]

I wasn't trying to be a smartass, sorry. I have replaced them on about
6 different cars I have owned and they always seem to show some symtoms, like bearing
noise, leaking, or running warmer than normal. The one in my truck went
kind of suddenly, but most showed some sign before they went out.
The truck got hot and I shut it off, no damage occured. I have blown a motor
or two seeing what I could get away with and overheating to the point
of warping stuff should be avoided at all cost. I don't chance stuff like that now.
If you are going to have access to it easly, it could save some hassles later.

[hurley97]

maybe since my timing belt had been changed they did the water pump as well.

anyone know if theres a way the dealer would be able to tell you a record of service done on the car at any Toyota dealer using the VIN? that sounds like something they could but don't do

I guess if the water pump isn't too expensive I'll change it anyway

[jc47]

they always seem to show some symtoms, like bearing
noise, leaking, or running warmer than normal. The one in my truck went
kind of suddenly, but most showed some sign before they went out.

This has been my experience also. Usually you get at least a little warning. On these cars though, you usually have to remove a bunch of stuff including the timing belt to get to the water pump so it saves a lot of time to replace it when you are doing the timing belt. If you recently replaced the timing belt, I would probably wait until either the timing belt is due for replacement again or the water pump starts to leak and replace both at that time.

[jc47]

I don't think they can check service records like that unless it is related to a recall. Maybe there is something new though?

[hurley97]

well I plan on taking the head off sometime anyway so I guess thats a good excuse... I just kind of didn't want to bother changing it. now I have to call up the dealer and see how much we can get it for at work

[97lestyousay]

I must have been thinking of a different water pump
my ST looks much different than I remember.

[alltracman78]

Hm

Here's how I look at it.

First off, and most importantly, you're not going to hurt anything [but your wallet] by changing it.
Secondly, they aren't cheap. They're not made of gold, but an OEM pump is over $100 for most of you [Steph is a possible exception].
And most aftermarket pumps are junk.
Take a minute and compare the impellers on one to a OEM pump...
I almost blew one of my Alltracs engines by using one.

At work we usually change the pump every time we do a T belt.
But, keep in mind a new pump is more $$ for us, and also is pretty much a guaranteed no comeback [assuming the tech did it right].

Me personally, I feel every second belt is a more reasonable time to change it. Toyota pumps rarely fail in 120,000 miles.

[hurley97]

it would propbably be about $70-80 from the dealer for me then, which I really don't want to spend and find out my water pump is practically brand new like I did the timing belt. I kind of want to go take a look at it first but I'm not sure if I'd be able to tell by that alone... I guess it depends on how much of a discount you can get me Jeremy...