Help replacing water pump

That's an air ratchet. Just a regular ratchet is needed, he's using it to speed up the proccess. I use an electric ratchet on just about anything I can. Helps me beat times. These are super easy pumps to do. The tensioner pulley he uses the air ratchet on doesn't have to come off. Neither does that black vacuum switching valve on top. He does to access the pulley for pliers. Here's a quick tip to remove the water pump pulley's 3 10mm bolts. Since you're replacing the belt anyways (hopefully you are), just tighten the drive belt via the tensioner pulley and try to loosen the bolts on the water pump pulley (Don't remove fully, just loosen). Hopefully they loosen without the pulley slipping. If the pulley slips, then his way will suffice in removing the pulley. After that it's even more simple. 3 bolts and 2 nuts hold the pump on. I don't even drain the coolant, I just let it all come out when the pump is loosened, but I have big enough drain pans to catch it all. Just hose it off with brake clean and put on the new pump.

 

If you don't fully remove the coolant pump pulley, then it is not very easy to reach the three bolts/two nuts that secure the coolant pump to the front engine cover.

A good idea to try tightening the tension on the old serpentine belt to achieve sufficient friction to hold the coolant pump pulley stationary. The old belt typically has a glazed surface due to wear and slipping. When the new belt is installed it definitely will hold the pulley stationary for purposes of tightening the pulley bolts.

You might find my thread of interest:
How to replace engine coolant pump and thermostat | PriusChat

 

I just did mine and it wasn't too bad at all. Make sure you get the old gasket off when you take the old pump off. Also, depending on your mileage you may want to consider proactively replacing your serpentine belt since its easy to get to. I believe most recommend to replace them every 50K to 75K miles. But you can visually inspect and look for cracks. I think I got the pump for $50 and the belt for $25 so theres definitely significant savings.

 

Be aware how hard it is to properly bleed the air bubbles out of the engine coolant.
Very difficult.
Engine is higher than the read so any air in system
Gets trapped in the top of the cylinder head.
The coolant will not circulate if air in the system
And could overheat the engine.
Make sure you put the car in maintence mode and see if you have heat and no gurgling sound under the dash.

No heat=no coolant circulation=engine overheat

 

$705.00 + tax? All this time I've been doing them for half of that. No wonder I can't buy that yacht and private island to take it to.

 

But I bet you can sleep at night.

John (Britprius)

 

Yeah, just not in Beverly Hills ;-)

 

Oh of ourse. I wasn't saying to not remove it at all. Just not to remove the bolts until after the belt tension is loose. You would't want to take them out with the belt tight.

Not completely true. While the engine might be higher than the radiator, the coolant passages aren't. Coolant doesn't run to the top of the engine. Just a little bit inside the bottom of the cylinder head. Toyota designed the cooling system with an air dran valve on the left (drivers) side of the radiator at the top. A 6mm allen is needed to remove it for filling the system. When filling, remove valve and add coolant. When coolant starts coming out of the hole, put the valve back in. Squeeze the upper hose a few times and if the level lowers add more. This should releive the system of most, if not all, air in the engine. Start (Ready) vehicle and turn heater on. Let vehicle warm up and you should have heater operation. Truthfully, I've never had this proccess fail to get the air out to where the engine isn't safe.

 

I got the pump from the parts department at Gulf Freeway Toyota--they sell genuine Toyota parts, online, at a discount. Learned about it here on PC.

2007 Toyota Prius Parts - AutoNation Toyota Gulf Freeway Parts

I ended up spending right about $100 on everything, without replacing the serpentine belt.

I had a hard time finding the radiator drain tap. I used a Youtube video to help me find it. Also, make sure to loosen the radiator top vent (allen key) so the air can escape while refilling it. Otherwise it's nearly impossible to fill.

I didn't use maintenance mode. Just parked on an incline with the nose uphill and turned the cabin heater on to help keep the engine running. There were some bubbles left (and some dash gurgling) but after a few short, easy drives, they worked themselves up to the radiator fill. I topped off the radiator fill neck a few times and then it was good. Maybe don't put the front engine compartment cover back on right away. It makes it easier to check the radiator fill neck after a few drives.

You'll probably want to grab a gallon of Toyota SLLC coolant from your nearest parts department. I was hoping to capture enough of it to reuse but I lost quite a bit when separating the pump from the engine.

 

Turning the cabin heater on not only helps keep the engine running, but also turns on the little mentioned electric coolant heater circulation pump. This pump is used to pump heated coolant from the engine through the heater when the engine is not running "EV mode".

John (Britprius)

 

[/QUOTE]

Not completely true. While the engine might be higher than the radiator, the coolant passages aren't. Coolant doesn't run to the top of the engine. Just a little bit inside the bottom of the cylinder head. Toyota designed the cooling system with an air dran valve on the left (drivers) side of the radiator at the top. A 6mm allen is needed to remove it for filling the system. When filling, remove valve and add coolant. When coolant starts coming out of the hole, put the valve back in. Squeeze the upper hose a few times and if the level lowers add more. This should releive the system of most, if not all, air in the engine. Start (Ready) vehicle and turn heater on. Let vehicle warm up and you should have heater operation. Truthfully, I've never had this proccess fail to get the air out to where the engine isn't safe.[/QUOTE]

Your much better than a dealer as I have seen many a dealer fail to remove the air out of a coolant change on this site.

 

I'm Toyota Master Certified.............. I have also seen some stupid mistakes other dealers have made. I would like to say we pride ourselves in our VERY high Customer Satisfaction Index of around mid 90% in service. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. lol