$196 water pumps

I was in the same situation. Debated replacing my water pump and thermostat/housing when I removed, cleaned, and replaced the EGR valve, cooler, and intake manifold. Also drained and filled the engine coolant.

I was at 124K, so I decided to leave it be and keep the parts for now. If the components are still good at 175k when the coolant is due for another drain and fill, then I'll probably change them then.

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Cars are really hard to buy and gas prices are through the roof. If it'll give you peace of mind thinking your water pump won't fail, don't you think it's worth the $200? It's not like it's $2000 and needs deep thought.

A blown head gasket will be $3000 and downtime

 

Funny this should come up. When I bought my ex's first 2010 a couple years ago I noticed that electric water pump I did some research not here on Prius chat into these electric water pumps and it turns out there's not much to them I mistakenly changed my 2010s original good water pump mistakenly because I was going to go on a trip and thought the same thing and I replaced it with one that cost me less than $196 I can tell you that and you could see in the corner where the Asian logo had been ground off so maybe these are Toyota seconds you break one of these apart there's not much to it no matter put the pump on made our trip everything hunky dory not pump has been on the car for some 60,000 mi without issue the original Asian water pump that came off that 2010 I put on another 2012 car and it's gone another 165,000 mi on that original 2010 pump and both of them look and work identical I plug them up outside the car I had a junkie one that I busted apart to check the hermetic seal and just generally look at things it's kind of the big affair but because the water runs through it it connects to the thermostat housing it kind of has to be but I was at this crossroads and I could have just left the water pump because apparently they do last a long time

 

I would not install any other than genuine pump from dealership. The money saved really not worth the risk. It’s once in a lifetime purchase.

My other car (Volvo) has been serviced at dealership only. It has 250kkm on the clock and not a single problem during 5years ownership. Even the webasto (heater) still works like a charm, never any issues with dpf etc. Quite different story than what other people with same model are telling. So much aftermarket parts out there that is total garbage. Most hilarious thing i’ve experienced was Corolla air filter that melted. Plastic in the frame could not take heat and petroleum fumes

 

It is indeed true when dealing with Toyota parts. However, some parts are always identical: Waterpump made by Aisin, Spark plugs by Denso, and battery by Yuasa, halogen bulb by Philips or Toshiba. Those are exactly same quality but not the price.
For other parts like brake pads and shocks, Aisin pads and Advics pads are not the same. KYB made for aftermarket are not always the same either with Toyota KYB parts. The series/product number are not the same either. However, the quality are close enough.

 

Things can sometimes be simultaneously true. For example,

• Toyota part x is made by vendor y
• Vendor y also sells part x in other channels, after grinding the logos off

and perhaps also

• Vendor y uses some criterion (other than random selection) to decide which units to sell to Toyota, and which ones to grind the logos off and sell in other channels.