nsedwards

I just replaced the water pump in my 89 4runner v6. The old water pump had blown the seals and was leaking from the WP weep hole. That was the only weep hole present on the old pump. This new pump has an additional weep hole coming off the thermostat housing.

Got it all installed with new thermostat, and it starts leaking from the thermostat weep hole. Seems to be draining through the tiny hole in the thermostat (jiggle pin?) and then out the weep hole once there's enough coolant to fill the radiator return hose. My original thermostat didn't have that pin, so I tried it and got the radiator all the way full without leaks, but once I start burping the system and getting coolant down into the engine, the weep hole starts "weeping" again . Does this indicate a bad water pump, or do I just need a special type of thermostat? The one I got was $8 from O'Reilly, and is a quarter-inch shorter in length than the one I started with. Any help would be great. Thanks!

nsedwards

just to clarify: I think the hole is actually for an oil coolant hose. I looked but didn't see anywhere that was missing that hose. Can I just plug it up somehow?

TNRabbit

That's not a weep hole; it's a HUGE exit! Yes, that WP was for the models with an oil cooler. You should be able to seal it up with a plugged off piece of hose. They sold you the wrong WP.

Also, I'd stick with OEM Toyota thermostat--they're hard to beat.

nsedwards

So I talked to the guy at Oreilly. He said I could bring in it for a direct trade for the right part. Then again I could always cap off the hole and hope it doesn't blow off. So either a 3-hour job to do it right, or a 3-minute quick fix. Decision time...