I have a 2010 with over 170k miles. I'm going to save up to replace the water pump, as a preventive measure, since it seems higher mileage it has a higher risk of failing with catastrophic damage. While driving about 15 miles on the freeway at speeds from 60 to 80 MPH, I monitored the coolant temp with an OBD-II adapter and an app on my phone. The temp ranged from 195-199 F. Is this a safe temp for a working water pump? Once I get ~$300 saved up I plan to buy an AISIN WPT-190, which is the same make as the OEM part number from my understanding, and thermostat (AISIN again, is that a good brand for that part?) from RockAuto. From what I've read on here, that should be a good source for the authentic part at a decent price? Thank you!
Just buy yourself an impeller from Amazon when you get around to it at a coolant change interval undo the pump which only takes a few minutes take the plastic backing plate off pull your impeller off and you'll see or not see the peeling plastic from around the magnetic portion of the impeller that stuff starts to peel up grab the bore that it's spinning in and slows the pump impeller down and it can't move water properly to cool the motor usually the rest of the pump is fine it's just a circuit board and the other end of the mag drive which is behind different kind of plastic which usually doesn't get destroyed Not sure why they don't wrap the impeller in the same plastic but oh well then you don't need $300 the impeller's like 34 bucks seriously you should try it You can still keep monitoring your temperatures and all that kind of stuff I've never looked at my temps in the two generation 3s that I've had never was an overheat problem either I have the hood up all the time checking oil just looking in general for leaks and just stuff I'll smelling overheat before I'll see the light
Order from Amayama; cheaper & the TOYOTA original (not AISIN) / @Mendel Leisk can probably help you out here with the part numbers & ordering procedure /
Amayama is selling Aisin wpt-190, just Google those 2 words. They’ve been very dependable for me. I lie; looks they have the Toyota pump: Water pump for Toyota Prius ZVW30L - Auto parts - Amayama so far for me it’s part cost plus shipping only, no extra tax, duty.
Thanks! So I checked and when I click to add to the cart it gives me several part selections (toyota OEM, Daihatsu, and AISIN). The AISIN part is cheapest at $101, and if I understand correctly it's identical to the OEM except the logo. Shipping is high, but it's still about $40 to $50 cheaper than rock auto. I'll do the preventative replacement as soon as I can save it up.
Becuase you're monitoring it all so closely, you're going to be on top of avoiding any problems. 195-199 is fine. When it gets near or above boiling point (212), that's when you'll hear the radiator fans running after turning the car off and it's time to look into it all. It's interesting that my friends who ignore their water pump throwing codes for spinning too fast are having same reliability as friends who replace the pump as a preventative before it throws codes. As in I think the preventative measure is not necessary. However, I still encourage you to buy an inexpensive spare pump to have around if you run into problems. Because they're fairly cheap and the install of one can be done by most anyone in a less than an hour. The friendly guy in this video does a good job explaining it all:
