Ice water pump torque specs

What's the size of the socket used to drive the bolts in question? That'll help clarify, because 8 foot pounds is crazy low. Spark plugs, by comparison are 15~20 foot pound, and they're one of the lowest torque specs. Maybe you're misreading the torque values?

BTW, how about "engine coolant pump", instead of "Ice water pump"? Something about the latter is confusing the hell out me, lol.

 

It is true that the three bolts and two nuts that secure the engine coolant pump should be tightened to 8.1 ft-lb while the three pulley bolts should be tightened to 11 ft.-lb. A 10 mm size wrench is used.

 

If that were true, the leak would come around the coolant pump gasket. I don't believe that is a significant issue.

Brute strength usually is not needed to service the Prius, but a reasonable amount of judgment is required.

 

Check the repair manual to see if the gasket material is an adhesive sealant rather than paper material.
Adhesive type sealant does not require high torque.

 

Yes, gasket is thin cardboard like material; was a pain to install. I dabbed a little rtv sealant to keep it stuck to the engine surface; otherwise, manipulating the water pump for install would knock it loose. The gasket that came off my car was metal.

 

Remember, OP, that it's just a 10mm bolt. 8ftlbs on a 10mm bolt head doesn't sound inconceivable.

 

I'd guestimate if you one-handed ratchet wrenched it, and weren't too aggressive, you'd be close. But if you held the center with one hand while tightening with the other you'd be somewhere between 10~20 foot pounds.

 

Maybe with a wrench, but not 20 by hand.

But just because you CAN doesn't mean you NEED to.

Just sayin'. Once I got my own torque wrenches and was able to calibrate my wrench hand, I found I'd been overtightening things like crazy. I don't break and strip bolts hardly at all any more. Nor have I had any back out.

 

The correct engine coolant pump gasket is black rubber-coated metal and no sealant is required.

 

When I replaced my water pump at 71K miles, I converted the 8 ft-lb value to inch-lb since my ft-lb wrench doesn't go any lower than 25. That would be 96 inch-lb. I also reused the original gasket, which as Patrick said is rubber coated metal. It was in perfect shape and I saw no reason why it couldn't be used again. And now 100K later it is still working fine with no leaks.

 

So what is the torque spec for the engine water pump? 20 foot pounds?

 

I thought we agreed it was 8 ft-lbs, which is 11 Nm for the SI crowd.

 

Or 96 inch-lb on an inch-lb torque wrench. As stated, my ft-lb wrench starts at 25 ft-lb.