Water pump leaking at ~61,000 miles!

Hi, I have a baseline 2005 2nd gen Tacoma that has around 61000 miles on it. It's also a 2.7 4 cylinder. I got it used in 2010 with 17000 miles on it. I guess it was sitting for a while... Anyways I took it to the dealer and they said there is a coolant "seep" from my water pump. Why is this happening so early? I thought these trucks were more reliable than that... I take great care of my truck, I've always gotten oil changes on time and never had any other problems with it. I'll have to admit though... I'm sometimes a leadfoot, so that might have something to do with it.

 

I would inspect myself to make sure there actualy is a leak and the stealership isnt dicking you around.

 

My guess is the sealant/gasket has disintegrated over time and the fresh use caused something to dislodge. When you don't use machines or fluid systems they tend to have issues like leaks and things go wrong. Fluids can also have some separation after not being circulated frequently and this can obviously cause deposits and other build up. I believe the manual clearly states 100,000 miles OR 6-8 years which ever comes first for complete coolant service as a maximum. No real surprise here with even a tank, sorry

 

I'm not too surprised to hear this, my 2009 Corolla had a leaking water pump at 95000 km. about a year ago. Luckily it was still under warranty. More and more junk seems to slip through quality control these days.

 

Well, good to hear that time is the big factor in its failure, and that it shouldn't happen again for a good while after I get this one replaced. It is after all 8 years old, even though it looks and drives like new.

 

I agree I wouldn't expect the water pump to go out but.. every vehicle manufacture out there will have some failures. 93 Ford Ranger I had spun a wheel bearing at 33K. Also was burning about a quart between oil changes at the same mileage. If you only have a few minor items go tits up on a vehicle your doing good.

 

water pump is a cake job. im a fat kid and i love cake

 

Had to have mine replaced at 62000.My luck 2000 miles out of warranty. $425 parts and labor at dealer.

 

Yeah, the 2.7 water pump is one of the easiest jobs to do. As for failure, even the best made products will have failures. It is the cost of mass producing any product. They make 500,000 water pumps in a year for the 2.7 engine. If only 2% fail in the first year, and 3% more within 5 years, then within 5 years you will have close to 25,000 water pumps fail.

 

My 1997 Olds with the Quad 4 engine went at 45k. It was sitting for 4 months after I crashed it so that didn't help. $700 for that job since it was in the back of the engine

 

Yeah, those are a bit of a pain since they are driven by the balance shaft chain. LOTS of work to take one of those out and replace it.

 

I was thrilled with the $700 price, it was the lowest by a couple hundred or so..and the guy knew his stuff so I didn't get a hack job. Then the timing chain tensioner was another issue with that job..the first time it didn't go right so the tensioner was knocking but they replaced it free.

The single worst part is you can't really do it without a lift..

 

The leak is easy to diagnose by yourself. If there's a red crust running down from the water pump's shaft, the shaft seal is leaking. They last 30-80k.