I have a 98 4runner limited and just had the timing belt replaced at 92k. The water pump had started seep pretty bad out the left side and there was a considerable amount of antifreeze crap crusted to the bottom part of the front of my engine. So just a heads up, come timing belt change time, be prepared to change the water pump as well, and since the water pump is powred by the timing belt, no better time to change it. BTW, I have always been a NISSAN person and this is my first Toyota. I have had several NISSANS go 150k and never have to change a water pump. I thought Toyota was supposed to be a better product?

 

I think half the time in your situation the problem is with the re-installation. I used my old original water pump (with considerable hesitation) when I put mine all back together and it doesn't leak yet. It has over 182K on it now. I took quite abit of time to ensure the gasket surface was as perfect as it could be. I'm one of those impossibly patient people who can do this....it's awfully tempting to rush through a procedure like that and leave the surface with excess roughness.

 

I agree with Justanother, when I had my timing belt replaced at 60k, my original waterpump was put back on and I have never had any problem with it. I now have 100K on mine.

 

My experience is that Nissan is a better product then Toyota.

If that Pathfinder was not so ugly I would have bought that instead of the 4Runner in a hot second, but, it does seem that the 4Runner crushes the Pathfinder off road. Well the 3rd gen anyway.

Gadget

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