Water pump bad . . . anyone else?

Tomorrow I will have owned my Tacoma for one month (bought it with 17600 miles). In the first week I noticed that the coolant reservoir was only filled to the "low" line when the engine was hot, but was empty when cold. So I filled the reservoir to the full line EXACTLY using approximately 1/4 gallon of the Toyota 50/50 antifreeze mix. I originally thought that the loss of coolant could have been attributed to evaporation being that the truck is almost 5 years old. There is no sign of coolant in the oil, the spark plugs were all evenly carbonized when I changed them out, the coolant itself is not discolored, and there's no visible leakage.

Well today, about 700 miles later, I noticed that the coolant level has dropped by a little less than 1/4 inch in the reservoir with a cold engine. Automatically I begin thinking worst case scenario (head gasket leak) so i turn to the Hayne's manual and hope for other possibilities. Apparently, there exists a "weep hole" that acts as an indicator if water pump bearings are going bad, so using a flashlight and a mirror I checked it out tonight. I discovered good amount of hanging drops of coolant and the typical pink crystals trailing from the weep hole to the bottom edge of the block. It's leaking at a slow enough rate, though, that the coolant never drips onto the skid plate or the ground.

So this is bittersweet news. I'm so glad that it's not a head gasket, but bummed that I've got to set aside some time to replace the pump and flush the system. Looks like I have some time to get things in order though, so I'll just monitor my temps (with my new Ultragauge!!) and coolant levels until then. So my questions are: 1) Has anyone else seen such an early water pump failure on a 2nd gen 2.7L? 2) Does anyone know of a reputable and cheap OEM retailer where I can buy a new water pump?



THANKS!!