jennie

One thing I want to add, in the service manual, it says you need a SST (special service tool) to hold the pulley from spinning, but in Serifiyah's thread, he did it without the SST. I was able to take off the pulley without the SST because the belt held it in place enough to loosen the bolts. However, installing the pulley, I wasn't able to keep the pulley from spinning but was able to tighten it down with the help of some bros with muscles.

cherishzm

Thanks for the reply! I'll make sure to have 2 gallons of coolant when I have someone doing it. I'd love to try to do it myself but i don't have enough confidence that I won't mess up

jennie

It's really not that hard especially if you read the DIY a few times. After I removed all the hoses, everything made sense and the rest was easy. Before I removed the hoses I kept wondering where the hell the water pump was. Also, none of the bolts are torqued to ridiculous levels so it made things even easier.

cherishzm

You made me thinking about doing it myself! Is there anything that I would need to be cautious while working on it?

jennie

Have a lot of towels ready because coolant will flow out when you remove the water pump. And remember one of the pulleys is left hand threaded.

cherishzm

Thanks for all the help everyone and I ended up getting the water pump replaced by a local mechanic this past weekend. I ordered the water pump off of eBay for $95, 2 gallons of coolant was purchased from a Toyota dealership for $44 and paid the mechanic $100 for the labor (Total cost was $239 so I saved over $350 compared to doing at a dealership! )

I'm very happy that the engine does not make that metal grinding noise any longer and the car runs strong!

DeanIS

jus had my done at the dealership under warranty with only 35k miles on the car.