Am starting on the major TLC project on my wife's '97 LS400. I've received everything I need (I think) except the water pump. What is the best brand name for replacement water pumps have you guys found to be the most reliable/longest lasting?

I know many will say OEM and I don't have a problem with that, in fact it's preferable. There is an individual here on the forum that sells OEM parts at very decent prices but for the life of me I can't find him again. I thought I'd bookmarked his site but I guess not since I've been searching for the last two hours and haven't been able to relocate his name or web site again.

Any help on this vendor or an answer to the original question would be greatly appreciated.

 

I found what I was looking for finally. It was Lexls.com. Got the OEM water pump, idler & tensioner pulleys, cam seals, crank seal & timing belt for $420. The pump was $184. I thought that was a great buy for original parts.

 

only "aftermarket" water pump I would consider is Aisin, they actually make the OE water pumps for the xUZ engines, and sell a complete timing belt kit for not too much money

I buy all my OEM parts from vender carson toyota or Sewell Lexus.

 

not sure how that is such a good deal, sounds like you are missing the hydraulic tensioner and spent about $200 more than you needed to, as well

here is the complete kit of all OEM parts including the tensioner, but less the seals for $218

next time give us more than an hour to help ya locate the deals, I just got online 5 minutes ago!

 

Aisin parts are funny because if you compare them to the original parts, they are identical except for where the factory parts also have raised Toyota logos cast into them.

They go down the same assembly line, but the "aftermarket" Aisin parts have somebody grind off the Toyota logos before shipping them out.

 

Bought my timing belt kit from eBay and it was aisin brand as well shipping was fast too, took about 2-3 days, below is the actually buyer I bought from and it's the cheapest aisin kit I've found!

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...w=261110179012

 

I also bought a set from ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/390401043137...84.m1497.l2649

Pretty cheap if you ask me !

 

Why is there a price difference between the above 2 links? Is that really the only difference, minus the logo?

 

The link provided by dutchy have more stuff that comes with it. The seals, drive belt, thermostat etc, come to think of it if you we're to buy all those things separately you will probably spend more than what the link dutchy provided. The 1st link only have the waterpump, gasket, timing belt, tensioner, idler and hydronic tensioner. Also the first link is for 98-00 ls400 which am not sure if those parts in link 1 will match up for 97 and below. Just posted of the brand/type I went with, maybe someone else maybe looking to there as well, save them some time searching :P

 

Got it. Do we know what the dealer prices came out at it for same part #'s?

 

Ooops Left out the tensioners, they're ordered as well. Got both the left and right side replacements.

Guess I should have waited on more response but it's on the way already and it's all OEM so not too much harm on this foul, I guess.

 

huh

there is only one hydraulic tensioner for the timing belt in your LS400

 

perhaps he is referring to the left and right pulleys?

 

Correct. Right side tenisioner pulley, left side idler pulley.

 

Another vote for Aisin.