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Gen 3 Water Pump & Inverter Pump - Preventatively replace? Aisin? Where to buy?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by VHOJT, Nov 5, 2021.

  1. VHOJT

    VHOJT New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2021
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    Location:
    Australia
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    i-Tech
    Hello all,

    I have a 2009 Prius Gen 3 (I think in the US 2010 was the first year for these), and have been a long-time lurker here.

    I have about 150,000km (~93,000 miles) on the 12 year-old car. Have given EGR cooler, valve and intake manifold a good clean, and replaced PCV valve before anyone mentions it haha!

    Basically I am having trouble finding some sort of consistent answer to these questions:

    1) Should I preventatively replace the engine water pump and the inverter water pump? If so, would now be a good time? 12 years / 150,000km (93,000 miles)? I would ideally like to keep the car until 2029 (so another eight years or so, when it will be twenty years old).

    2) I have read around the replacement Aisin pumps you can buy from their amazon store etc. might not be as good quality as the pumps Aisin supply to Toyota and have a higher failure rate? Does anyone have an opinion/knowledge of this? Or has used Aisin pumps?

    3) Has anyone got any good suggestions on where to get good genuine Toyota parts online? I feel like the Australian dealer prices would be an absolute rip-off.

    Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

    Kind regards,
    Rudy
     
    #1 VHOJT, Nov 5, 2021
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 10, 2013
    16,470
    8,383
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    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    If you plan on keeping the car for 8 more years, then now is a good time to do the water pump. In the next 8 years, this repair/maintenance items will come up so you should just do it now, for peace of mind. It'll be a 1 time repair for the time you own this car (hopefully).

    These gen3 cars are notorious for head gasket failures, so doing these preventive maintenance items early, especially the ones related to engine cooling, will help you sleep better at night.

    I changed my water pump this year at 135k miles. It was the right time for me
     
    #2 JC91006, Nov 6, 2021
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  3. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 19, 2012
    7,848
    3,102
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    Location:
    Honolulu, HI
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I got an Aisin water pump, thermostat/housing from Amazon for a good price. The price has gone up quite a bit lately.

    I was going to replace them when I drained and filled my coolant prior to doing the intake manifold and EGR cooler cleaning. However, I decided to just keep the parts for replacement at a later time. The car was at 125k miles.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 xliderider, Nov 6, 2021
    Raytheeagle likes this.
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