Just as preventive maintenance I went ahead and replaced my water pump. I went ahead and purchased most of the parts from Ebay total in parts it cost me $163.00

Thankfully I caught it right in time, when I pulled the water pump pulley the inside was coated in red coolant gel. I always checked the coolant level and was always good. So if you have over 70K miles I would check or replace the pump, before it does some serious damage.

Aisin (OEM just named different) Water Pump, with gaskets: $110.00 shipped
Serpentine Belt Bando (OEM just named different): $21.00 shipped
Idler pulley Gates (should have went OEM): $32.00 shipped

Total time took 2 hours, fairly easy install

As you can see the dried coolant that leaked out of the pump created a thick crud



Aisin is the OEM pump heres a comparison



As you can see, Aisin grinds down Toyota off there parts

 

Wow man. Good call, i'll definetely look into this. No sign of leakage with pulley still installed?

 

I guess it wasnt enogh to show outside the pulley as it solidified when it reached the air.

 

You might be able to feel the inside of the pulley. I have heard of cases were the water pump blew engines, caused poor mpg. I just didn't want to risk it, and for $160.00 thats cheap insurance.

 

Is it easy or do you have to remove some things to access the water pump? And can you take picture of the area from a DIY perspective? Starting to see water pump failures and what not and certainly don't want anyone with a blown engine which could have been prevented by an easy fix. Thanks OP!

 

I did take pictures, I just haven't had the time to go through them and make up a write up.

 

Thank you for this awesome thread! Well appreciated!

 

Indeed, and is a cause for concern given the notoriety Lexus has for being more reliable than their German equivalents.

 

I do not see the serpentine belt bondo and idler pulley gates part nummers on the Sewell site. Do you have them?

 

How many miles do you have on your GS?

 

You will not see these parts on Sewell because they are aftermarket parts. These are the aftermarket supplier that toyota use for there OEM stuff. So basically you are buying a toyota part with a different name on it.

Heres the serpentine belt I used

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300515556569...84.m1497.l2649

Heres the water pump

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310536493569...84.m1497.l2649

 

Its an 08 with 120K all highway miles. These pumps I have seen plenty go out in around 60-80k miles, I was surprised to see mine was never replaced.

 

I tried to follow these steps, but ended up doing it my way because it was easier.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-t...placement.html

 

Thanks bro, can you post a link of those idler gates so I will know what you are talking about. maybe you are saying it is a Gates idler roller?

 

That's a fair price, i use rockauto, just checked its still 5$ [+5% discount code found on the net] cheaper than the one you got, but at least you caught it in time! That was looking ugly.