Question on Water Pump Replacement at 167k Miles?

Yes, Aisin would be a great alternative. I have no problem buying aftermarket if the manufacturer is the same as original equipment.

 

There are several places where you may have a problem:

1. Loosening the nut on the idler pulley. You need a quality 14 mm, 6-point socket. Do not use a cheap 12-point socket because you may damage the nut and make it very difficult to remove. A few posters have experienced that problem. Be prepared to use a breaker bar and cheater extension pipe if needed, to exert adequate loosening torque on that nut. Tightening torque is 30 ft.-lb.

2. Holding the pump pulley stationary when removing the three pulley bolts. The worn serpentine belt does not exert sufficient friction to hold the pulley in place, so you need an alternate means. I inserted a screwdriver through a pulley hole so that as the pulley rotated, the screwdriver blade was forced against the engine compartment wall which stopped the pulley from moving. There is a tool that you can get to hold the pulley stationary, as an alternative. This tool basically contains two fingers which will be inserted into two of the pulley holes.

3. Accessing all of the fasteners on the pump - make sure you have the appropriate extensions for your 3/8" socket wrench and a quality 10 mm socket. You also should have an open-end/box-end 10 mm wrench which may help removal of the pulley bolts.

4. Tightening the serpentine belt sufficiently - the spec is to apply 22 lb of force on the middle of the longest stretch of the belt and the new belt should deflect 0.4".

No gasket sealant is required assuming you are installing the correct coolant pump which comes with a gasket. I think the gasket is sheet metal coated in rubber.

 

aisin is the oem manufacturer. the only difference is the aisin pump has Toyota ground off the casting. buy aisin, get the same part for less $. reuse your coolant since you just flushed it 3 weeks ago.

I didn't loosen the tensioner when I did mine. I just stretched the new belt on. it was plenty tight.

 

here's a video

 

I would not recommend this practice, but to each his own...

 

Those prices aren't terrible for a California dealer.

The pump has an MSRP of $75.43 and the discounted price is $56.57 here.
2004 Toyota Prius Parts - AutoNation Toyota Gulf Freeway Parts

However you've already pointed out that having the parts on hand now is more important than price.

 

If you have a AAA card, you may get 10% off. Just ask

 

done it many times on lots of different cars. sometimes I still need to adjust the belt tension, but sometimes I don't.