Originally Posted by VVT-i

Almost as much as to do the Timing belt, because they have to tear down the front parts of the engine, remove the timing belt and then some more parts to get to the water pump. That's why most of the dealership recommend the water pump when they do timing belt.

The water pump and tensioner recommendation by the dealership is for your advantage, not them. It's a lot easier to just slap the new timing belt in and move on to the next job. The water pump job is one of those " Pay me now or pay me later". Most tech don't like to do it because they have to drain the coolant, replace the water pump, refill the coolant, and run the engine to get all the air pocket out of the system. A lot more works involve.

For example, if you do the timing belt at 100K the labor to do the timing belt is 5.0 hrs and they recommend the water pump for additional of 1.0 hr + parts for the water pump. You can say yes or no. Let's say you say " No ". Another 30k miles later your water pump started to leak ( 130K) and now they will have to charge you another 6 hrs to replace the water pump.

This is pretty much " personal's preference" kind of topic. Some may say drives it until it break and some says do it all. Just my .02 cents.

Originally Posted by Nutech

You guys have to think about the Dealer ships over head Who do you think is going to pay for the loaner cars and their $$$$$ New facility. Find a good Certified Independent can save you a lot of money. Like a AAA approved auto repair with Lexus and dealership experience