Hello, I own a 2007 Toyata Matrix, with little over 71k miles. I live in L.A. County in California.
Yesterday when I was at work, my mother took the car to her mechanic for scheduled oil change. But he told her that the car has a leaky water pump, and offered to replace it & thermostat for around $350. Is that reasonable? The guy also told her that if we went to the dealer, it would cost at least $450.
The guy is pretty trustworthy (as my mother tells me), since he is husband of my mother’s close acquaintance. He did number of repairs on the car in the past, so I’d like to trust him. But my mother thinks $350 is still too expensive and also not very happy about it.
Almost ALL newer cars have the waterpump driven by timing belt. A Honda will cost 700 for a TB service. This matrix is different? 1hr to change water pump? Dran coolant. Adjust timing? Obviously not? So WP is not driven by timing belt? It’s drivn by a 2nd belt? Hmm, ok.
I thought the labor to replace that water pump was in the 1.5 hour range.
If it is in the 1.5 hour range, then the $350 price sounds a little on the high side, but likely defendable.
You can assume labor costs in the L.A. county Calif to be in the $100/hour range or more. So labor, the price of the pump, antifreeze, shop fees, and tax can quickly add up to $350.
On the 1.8L engine, and other Toyota engines also, it is difficult to positively confirm the water pump is leaking until it is removed or it totally fails and leaves you stranded. I have found the yellow/green indication of coolant leak at the weep hole on Toyota engines while searching for the cause of a belt type noise and replacing the water pump ended the noise and a close inspection of the pump indicated it was nearing total failure. If the belt is removed and an inspection mirror held carefully below the pulley with a small flashlight reflected off the mirror the weep hole can usually be seen. A yellowish “scab” at the hole indicates the seal is failing.
Sounds perfectly reasonable. $120 or so for the part, $150 or so for labor, $25 for a gallon of Toyota long life coolant, $25 for a thermostat, taxes etc, easily $350.
Better than a $700 water pump on a PT Cruiser or something.
Price seems perfectly reasonable especially if it includes the new thermostat and a drain and fill w/fresh coolant mix. Even more so if the coolant has never been replaced.
You’ve probably already had the service done or decided not to do it since your original post was two months ago, but you might consider having the timing belt/chain replaced at the same time. I don’t know how different the Matrix is from my 2000 Mazda 626, but I had the timing belt replaced, and a few months later had to have the water pump replaced. My mechanic was apologetic and said the labor to crack the engine open was the same for both, so one labor charge for two repairs. I’m thinking about having both done preemptively for future repairs if I have to have one done.
Again, as mentioned, this car does NOT have a timing belt, rather a timing chain (which does not drive the water-pump). The water-pump is driven by the serpentine belt, which should probably be changed when this work is being done.
The post is pretty old, the price sounds very reasonable esp for LA county.