Water Pump, Radiator, Thermostat, Head Gasket Replacement for 2007 5.7L

Confession: I ignored the weep hole funk on my water pump and rolled the dice on a trip from Houston to New Orleans and back. Made it to New Orleans. Broke down in Baytown, TX on the way back. Luckily I was just under 50 miles from home. Long story short, the truck is sitting in front of my house.

Pennance: water pump, radiator, and thermostat...possibly head gaskets, too. I'll do a reset after I bolt everything back in and pray that the sensor gods let the truck start normally. Otherwise, I'm tearing the heads down.

So far it has been drained and disassembled. I'm waiting on Amazon Prime to earn its keep and deliver parts. In the meantime I degreased the exposed belly of the beast.

It took about 2.5 hours to tear everything down. I attribute this to redneckery. Getting the new parts installed and working is a whole different animal. More to come...

 

Yup, spewed like a steam geyser. It was hot enough to break the plastic stub under the radiator cap.

 

Ouch! Sorry to hear

 

So far I have the new water pump and thermostat installed, waiting on the radiator to show up. Got lucky on the fan clutch I think, still has grip when I turn it, no freewheeling. I bought an

$82 Aisin WPT-804 New Engine Water Pump with Gaskets - Compatible with Select Lexus LX570 Toyota Land Cruiser, Sequoia, Tundra

Aisin WPT-804 Engine Water Pump which appears to be identical to OEM. The original pump was stamped Aisin / Toyota. The gasket had a little protrusion off one outer edge that doesn't appear to interfere with sealing the unit against the block. After the radiator shiws up and I throw hands on it I'll post another update...that one should tell the tale. To head gasket or not head gasket, that is the question I'm dreading.

 

Radiator made it in, everything put back together, filled up the coolant, and gave it a start. It tried to turn over but wouldn't actually start. Exhaust odor is strong in the coolant reservoir and there was a slight bit of white smoke coming from the exhaust when the attempted start was made.

No codes on my ODBII but did see the check engine light and O/T oil temp lights. I'm certain at least one or both head gaskets are shot. Worst case the coolant journals in the head(s) washed out.

This is what I get for saying I wanted a project to work on in my spare time

 

Alright sports fans, I convened a meeting with a six pack of Shiner to discuss plans moving forward. I am tearing down the heads. There's a good chance they're warped because of overheating so I will throw a straight edge to check tolerance with my .002 feeler. If I find a gap it's off to the machine shop they go for resurfacing; assuming there will be enough meat left. I figure I have nothing to lose but money at this point. If I get stuck then I'm back to taking it to a pro. The plus side is the heads will have already been taken off - that should equate to lesser labor costs. Another plus is I have an excuse to buy more tools! This adventure begins tomorrow.

 

Just to follow up on the first phase: no leaks, no extra bolts, and it went back together a lot faster than it came apart. For anyone considering a water pump swap, know that I did this in the street in front of my house with basic tools, this site, and youtube. The difficulty is in committing the time and patience - totally doable by the average Joe.

 

Style and execution points for referencing Shinerbock

 

Dumb question...did it run out of coolant and overheat? What exactly happened?

Thanks and good luck.

 

I checked the coolant before my trip and it was fine. I noticed the water temp begin to fluctuate, then the check engine light came on along with the A/T Oil Temp light. Then the truck died. I can't say for sure how long the temp guage was changing. From the time the lights came on and the truck died was seconds apart, then came the steam geyser. The radiator split down the driver's side so there wasn't much coolant left afterwards.

 

Dang. That’s strange. Do you think it was the water pump failing or not sure what the exact cause was?

 

I knew the water pump was on it's way out from the residue in the weep hole on the front of the pump. I didn't know how quickly it would fail and cascade into the other issues. I should have pulled off the freeway immediately. The thermostat could have played a part as well. As for the radiator, I believe the expansion rate of steam surpassed the ability of the radiator cap to relieve the pressure which led to one side of the radiator parting.

Ultimately, I could have prevented all of this by changing out the water pump at the first sign of seepage. I would have paid more attention to the water temp guage as a follow up to my work and caught the fluctuations sooner which would have led to a thermostat swap; assuming that was an issue.

In short, I suspect the water pump was the initial problem and left unaddressed cascaded into me taking the heads off today. The next hurdle is determining head warpage and inspecting the block. IF the block is cracked I will begin looking for a salvage swap. Either way, this truck IS going to run again. Wish me luck

 

How many miles are on this truck? Assuming it was the original water pump?

 

69k, all original

 

That's really low miles for such a big repair. I guess age was the factor here for the water pump?

 

On another Tundra forum, I read of a large number of 5.7L water pump failures scattered around 50K. I remembered thinking that was too much like the old Chevy small blocks...50K miles and done. These failures may have been caused by poor cooling system maintenance or an occasional less-than-typical quality water pump. On the older Toyotas, those Aisin (Toyota) water pumps never failed...you just changed them with the timing belt.

 

Well the Aisin (Toyota) pump in my 07' was failing identically do the OP's right at 99K. But thank heavens I decided to go the opposite direction and replaced it the Saturday morning before my camping trip. It took a long time for me and my Dad due to having to pause YouTube every 30 seconds to try and figure out what on earth the guy was doing in the video.

I replaced with another Aisin, hoping they fixed whatever gasket issues they had 12 years ago. My upper right portion of the gasket was cracked and leaking the fluid.

Reading this thread makes me ache for your issues, but makes me glad that I replaced it.

 

Age is my guess. I've had issues with rubber goods and paint as well.

Silver lining: I know exactly how to take the water pump back off.

 

Any update on how the heads/motor is?

 

I managed to get down to the cams and realized that this rabbit hole goes way deeper than I'm willing to go. Managed to get it all put back together, waiting on a call back from the dealership with a quote.

 

Yikes. I’m sorry man

 

Just got off the phone with the dealership. To replace head gaskets they quoted me the following:

Labor: $3920
Gaskets/fluids: $800
Outsourced resurfacing: unknown
New heads (each): $1581

Another dealership told me that because it's all aluminum and it overheated that I'd be better off swapping the short block: $8500

Now I have to decide if I want to roll the dice and recommit to pulling the heads myself, swap in a short block, or sell it for scrap. I don't need the truck and I have the time.

 

What about an independent engine shop instead of toyota dealers?

 

Since I'm retired, and my time isn't worth anything any way, that $3920 would look pretty attractive to me. If you have a spare garage, take a gamble. You may find head gaskets is all you need after having the heads checked out. There's always time for a short block later. As scrap, it'll still weigh the same assembled or in pieces. Life is full of adventures and opportunities.

 

X2

 

I'm looking into a few now.

 

Space is my biggest challenge at the moment. You make some great points to consider. I suppose I was worried about the heads being warped beyond repair and/or the block being shot and dumping a ton of money into a dead project. Tear down to find out is free and like you said, scrap weighs the same assembled or in pieces. I will have my answer to the burning question though. Several beers will have to be consumed before I am ready to say, "hold my beer!"

 

I'm pulling the engine! Used the scooter to pull the truck up the driveway (wife steered - teamwork makes the dream work!) The truck can sit in the driveway, the engine can sit on a stand in the garage where I can get to everything, and the A/C will make it comfortable. I'm over the multi-cam timing shock. Time to show this TuRD who's boss

 

Good luck! Will be great to hear how it goes. There’s several used motors on eBay too...as a donor or swap

 

Alright!

Cam timing will be the most complicated and potentially dangerous part of the job. Below is a Toyota training video about 5.7L cam timing. The rest will be a lot of work, but pretty straight forward.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaDWBwmtVEE&t=27s