Water pump bearing? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

TBayToyotaBoy · 02-08-2007, 12:11 AM

Has anyone ever had a water pump make a lot of noise in its old age? I've bought a replacement 2VZ engine for the beast, but it's won't be in the car until spring. When I fire-up the car now (with 380,000km on it), in the cold, I'm hearing a new and unsettling sound. Very difficult to describe, like an intermittent humming/droning/metal-on-metal sound from the general area of the pulleys. Goes away once warmed-up (from 25 below freezing).

Sound familiar to anyone?

timebuilder · 02-08-2007, 04:29 AM

Sounds like the WP bearing that went bad in my 95 Corolla at about 85k miles.

For 5k miles, it made the noise, never leaked, and I simply replaced the pump with a new Toyota unit.

TBayToyotaBoy · 02-08-2007, 05:52 PM

Thanks for confirming my fears...there really wasn't anything else it could be, but I like second opinions...

Cheers!

nogard · 02-08-2007, 06:44 PM

I is really cold were I live (northern wisconsin), and my '88 3S-FE with 136,000 is making the same sound when it is really cold (10 deg and colder). It is very loud, coming from the pulley area, there is a lot of depth to it, almost internal sounding. Then with in 30 sec. to a minute it gets more quiet, and goes away. It is a roaring growning sound kind of a err, errrr, er, ohh, oh, ah, and then gone. I wasn't sure what this was, but that makes sense that is could be the water pump.

TBayToyotaBoy · 02-08-2007, 10:08 PM

Yeah, mine didn't start making the sound until the past two weeks (it's been -30 Celsius most nights/mornings). The block heater on one bank of a V6 can't really keep everything warm, and two heaters would be overkill...

marc780 · 02-13-2007, 11:54 PM

If i were gonna keep that engine i'd just change the timing belt and change all the other stuff then. Idlers and water pump too. And maybe a valve job if the compression were low.
I'm guessing that you probably have no plans to tear into it with a new engine waiting and all, so maybe i'd dump in some "water pump lubricant" in the cooling system for now.

TBayToyotaBoy · 02-14-2007, 06:55 PM

^^^ Good thinking, marc780. I can't get the new block in until it warms-up in a few weeks (I hope), so prolonguing the life of this one is a good idea. I had completely forgotten about the pump lubricants you can buy...thanks.