andyjs52

I own a 2006 RX330. It is at 90,000 miles. My question is: in your opinion would you change the water pump along with everything else needed at 90k or would you leave it alone if it does not show any signs of leakage or signs that it might fail at any moment?
Thx!

Carver

Do you plan to keep the car? If so I'd do it. My belt was replaced at 78K under the pulley recall and I elected not to have the pump done, it would have been about 350 to do and I wish I had had it done. Now it's just hanging there waiting to happen and it'll cost about a grand this time. Not worth the aggravation.

tomit

If the radiator fluid has been looked after and the car has never overheated, I think the water pump will last until the 2nd belt change. When I changed the water pump on my '95 Avalon at 178,000 miles (2nd timing belt change), it looked perfect, but I was and am very **** about radiator fluid - change it every 2 years.

Neomoogle

If you are changing the timing belt then I would go ahead and do it. Most of the cost for a water pump replacement is in the labor. You can save yourself some money by going ahead and doing it while the timing belt is being changed.

roadbike56

What Neomoogle said. I replaced the water pump on our Highlander 3300 with the 90K service/timing belt replacement. The cost for the water pump part was about 1/8 of the total bill. If the water pump fails, the replacement costs are almost as much as the timing belt replacement.

rxonmymind

What a mechanic will tell you is yes since the belt and access to it is already there better to change it thus saving labor to take the belts off and replace them again.
However on my Toyota Sienna I waited till 190k without issue and I'd expect that much at the very least from a Lexus. Of course my Toyota was all easy freeway mile commute leading an easy life as is this Lexus. At 337k the pump was not leaking but if I hadn't sold it I would have replaced it in the next month or two.

smassey321

I did not. My reasoning was the water pumps do not fail and leave you on the side of the road. They slowly leak and you have time to plan. With that said I did a belt only change last year only to have a noisy idler pulley this year. BTW ebay sells the OEM Koyo brand idlers for more than half dealer cost. I was much faster doing this job the 2nd time around . Even doing this twice, I still left the water pump alone.

I assume my radiator will begin to leak eventually. When that happens I will look at everything and do it all at the same time.

maximizese

My trusty independent mechanic charged me $200 for labor and coolant to install a genuine Toyota timing belt kit (belt, idler pulley, tensioners, seals, & water pump). He showed me an OEM Aisin water pump from a Corolla that failed after 30K miles and told me that Toyota and their components aren't as reliable as they were 10 years ago. He thinks they're making the parts cheaper in both construction and design. Apparently the plastic interior and bearings However, he told me to not bother with the thermostat because it is too costly to replace. He said to wait until you have an issue with it, which might be never.

lex_rx

I think I replaced the timing belt around your mileage, 90K miles but didn't replace the water pump. I now have almost 170K miles (270K km) and i was told that there's a slight leak of the water pump and to watch it. I topped up the coolant this summer and so far, not "a lot" has been lost. So I'll probably wait another year or so and I'll do both timing belt and water pump this time.

lou95gts

Better read my story of what happened to our 2005 RX last week. The water pump failed at 125k. It was the only wear item not replaced at the 100k timing belt service.

BensonRX

It's not a leak that would be an issue, it's normally a bearing failure in the water pump that you need to worry about.

ALWAYS replace the water pump (and any other idlers, pulleys, etc).

smassey321

The bearing failures are most likely caused by a leak. They are small but can be seen by inspecting the weep hole on the water pump. If you see pink crust there, the seal on the water pump is allowing coolant to get on the 1st bearing.

BensonRX

I'm still a newbie with Toyota/Lexus -- I was assuming that the water pump is completely internal to the engine like the Honda and Audi's I've replaced with a TB maintenance. In those cases, it's impossible to inspect the water pump.

smassey321

It is under a plastic cover. When it leaks pink fluid drips down the side of the engine behind the passenger wheel. My RX is pushing 10 years old and I check it along with the radiator every month or so. Both will leak eventually.

UCF3

I'd do it as well. If you had a low mileage RX and you don't drive it that much then it could be ignored until next year.