can someone please describe to me how a water pump sounds or acts when its bad? i had someone listen to it and they said it could be the water pump bearing? i thought it was my timing chain at first. this is on a 1st gen 4runner.

 

1st gen, so I'm assuming 22r(e)? Mine was squeaky, grindy, knocking kinda noise. Hey, it was 17 years old Oddly enough I wasn't leaking any coolant out of the weep hole. Toyota definitely knows how to make seals!!

Take a look at the pump while the motor is running. You'll most likely see the fan wobbling. Also, with the motor off, grab the fan in the middle at the 9 and 3 o clock positions and rock it side to side. A good pump will have zero play, a bad one will.

 

this is on a 3.0. but ill check.

 

On a 3.0 the noise is more likely to be the timing belt idler pulley than the water pump. They're near each other so the noise may appear to be coming from the pump. The only way to tell for sure is to remove the belt. And when you go that far you'll want to replace the belt, one or both idler pulleys if they're noisy and the water pump if it's original.