Water Pump question

Bought my '03 from my Father in Law two months back. At the time of sale he said he recently had the timing belt changed ( @ 92,000 now has 120,000 ). When looking back at all the receipts he kept, I found the one pertaining to the timing belt replacement. On that receipt, it said nothing about changing out the water pump. I can only assume that it is the original because it was not on that invoice and I found no other invoices showing a water pump being replaced. I know that it is common thought to change the water pump out with every timing belt change. I have two questions: First, how long do the '00-'06 4.7L water pumps usually last. Second, does the timing belt need to come off to install a new one?

 

My water pump on mine lasted me till 145 xxx on the clock before I pulled it. It still didn't leak anything put since the timing belt was out out with the pump. ..

As long as you use Toyota red antifreeze you should be fine.

 

Hi. Thanks for the replies. It does have red antifreeze in it right now and looks clean and not discolored in any way. Hopefully it last till the next timing belt swap

 

Mine went at 135k. And yes the timing belt does have to come off when you change it. That's why most change everything at once, don't have to mess with it twice and it's all in the same area. Changing them out ain't like on most vehicles where it's relatively easy to do.

 

This is interesting to read as when I wrote service for Toyota our thought on why their water pumps went out so often was the mixture content of the pink super long life coolant. my Corolla had coolant leaking from the weep hole at about 20-25k so I changed the pump and put the long life (red) coolant back in.

 

The coolant has a different type of lubricant in the antifreeze for the pumps seals and bearing.

 

I agree :-(
Here's to hoping it last till the next ( or close to ) timing belt change

 

I had my TB changed at 90k on my 2004 tundra by a local Toyota mechanic I have used since 1996, he did not change the pump at the time and told me he rarely sees them fail. I am at 180k and no issues with the pump yet, but he did tell me that he would change the pump at the next belt change which is now. I have always used the Toyota OEM radiator fluid which is red since 2004

 

I think people do it with the timing belt since you're in there and the part isn't that spendy. If it's not been done, I wouldn't lose sleep over it... if it craps out and you're vaguely aware of your dashboard, you should realize before any damage is done - yes - may leave you stranded but won't cost you any more to fix then than it would now.

 

Since you're paying labor to have it done, and on the original pump i would change it with the timing belt this time around. I did the pump and belt at around 75 000 miles. Cheers.