Engine Water Pump, Pink Crust on Weep Hole

I had my 2008 Prius serviced in early April for the Electric Water Pump and Steering Shaft recalls, and during the service, the tech noticed that there was pink crust on the weep hole of my engine water pump. Replacement cost was to be $300, and I declined at the time.

I am about to go in for a 5k service (144.3k miles), and was hoping to get some quick input from anybody as to whether or not this service is truly necessary, provided my car is and has been running just fine?

Is it worth it to risk it for another 5k miles just to see (like I did from April - now)? What's unfortunate is that the dealership sent me a coupon to save 15% on this specific service after my decline, and now I cannot find it, although I could probably work out a verbal arrangement ($45 is $45).

Thanks in advance for your input, I did search for other threads but they all seemed to indicate actual failure, or people being told they needed to replace it (before actual failure).

 

I haven't seen the crust myself, but I also don't distrust this dealership...they declined my initial request to drain and fill ATF, meaning, I was willing to give them my money and they said no. I went ahead and just bit the bullet, even though my instincts were telling me no, what to fix = working. I'm potentially looking at trading the vehicle in soon anyway, so I can cite this major service along with the past services to ATF, inverter pump, etc. as to reasons why I deserve more trade in value. We need more space so we are looking at the Sienna, and would still have our 2011 Prius. If they scoff at my trade in logic, no sale.

 

$278 before tax, $100 parts ($80 pump, $20 coolant), $178 labor. Provided I can find one of the coupons I neglected to bring with me, I may be able to knock it down a little bit more. As for the trade in prospect, I agree, it's a foolish notion, but I am one of those people that cares a lot less about my car's exterior, and more about how well it functions, hence why we own 2 of these cars to begin with (they aren't pretty). I only bothered mentioning it because as I was filling out a quick questionnaire online for a trade in quote, one of the questions was whether or not the car had a major service performed ($200+) and how recently, so I figured good preventative maintenance might help the car hold some value. I'm sure I'll ultimately get dinged for exterior damage, as I have a nice 8 inch scrape on the right rocker panel, and 3 puncture marks on the front bumper, but these are purely cosmetic.

The other idea we have is to not bother with trading in anything, and simply save up whatever we ideally thought we would get for the Prius on trade in, and then simply purchase a third vehicle. With all the money I have put into my Prius in the past year, and the fact that it is paid off, I may as well just continue driving it until it doesn't. The only major concern I have for the car is the traction battery - not that I have any cause for concern, but I have been noticing some funky behavior as of late....most days when I start up and drive, it gets down to 3 or 2 bars and hangs out for a little bit before jumping back to 6 bars, 7 bars through my regular commute (33 miles each way, 5x a week). I never really used to have this issue when the car was younger. Mileage seems to be fine, hanging around 52-53 with conservative cruise control acceleration and speed limit cruising, or 45 - 46 when I accelerate near WOT and cruise around 8+ over the speed limit (up to 78).

The car has never given me an issue in the almost 6 years that we have owned it, minus the occasional accidental gas run out .