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Water Pump recalled & replaced.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by december, Nov 12, 2014.

  1. december

    december Junior Member

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    I have a 2007 Prius which had its water pump replaced in 2012 due to a recall. I am the original owner and the car has under 28K. Last year my mechanic (not a dealership) notified me that there was evidence that the water pump had some leakage in the past as there was a little bit of residue. He said that I didn't need to replace it right away, but it needed to be watched. So here's the thing. If this was replaced in 2012 (by a dealership), and in 2013 I'm informed about the leakage, shouldn't I be concerned that either the 2012 replacement water pump or the service replacing it was somehow deficient? Especially since it cost over $500 (mostly labor) to replace it now.
     
    #1 december, Nov 12, 2014
  2. nh7o

    nh7o Off grid since 1980

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    There are several "water pumps" in the car. I'll guess that the recall was for the "inverter coolant pump", and your mechanic is talking about the "engine coolant pump". The latter does often show some seepage around the shaft, but that would be rather too soon, in your case.

    If my guess is correct, and the actual amount of leakage is very small, you might not need to worry about it for a long time given your usage pattern. I would look around for another price quote, as $500 labor seems a bit high for a fairly simple job. Many here consider this particular job DIY, if the instructions for purging the air are followed.
     
    #2 nh7o, Nov 12, 2014
    Britprius likes this.
  3. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    As"nh70" said the quoted price for replacing the pump seems very high. The pump is just as easy to replace as any small 4 cylinder car and cost around $35 plus the fresh coolant another $20. The labor is only about 1 hour. The fact that the car is a hybrid makes no difference in any way to the engine coolant pump.
    Even at your low millage it would be prudent to replace the drive belt to the pump while the work is being carried out since it has to be removed anyway. This would add about $10 to the bill.

    John (Britprius)
     
    #3 Britprius, Nov 12, 2014
  4. december

    december Junior Member

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    Thanks very much. Looks like I need to do a bit more homework to determine which pumps were/are involved here. I'm sure that you are correct and I probably don't need to worry about it too much, but I am severely challenged regarding auto mechanics and just wanted to make sure this wasn't the responsibility of the dealer who replaced it a year ago.
     
    #4 december, Nov 12, 2014
  5. december

    december Junior Member

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    Thanks for the reply and the info. Though I feel somewhat limited since I don't want to take it to a dealership and I'm not comfortable trusting just any mechanic to work on the Prius, I see that I do need to check around.
     
    #5 december, Nov 12, 2014
  6. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    ...you can see the leak yourself with a flashlight...these tend to appear as clumps of bright pink salts hanging off your fan belt pulley. It's important to refill any losses of coolant with the special Toyota coolant (which is red color is why you see the pink salts). We had the leak at around 75k miles as many have, but we procrastinated repalcing the pump because it stopped leaking....but at first I had to add quite a bit of fluid. Now its holding and we are at 150k miles on the orig.
     
    #6 wjtracy, Nov 12, 2014
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