Not again

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I’m trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong. About a month ago, I replaced the water pump on our '03 Toyota Camry because it was leaking. After a couple of weeks, I noticed that it was leaking again. I got to looking and noticed it was leaking from the “weep” hole on the pump. Well, I figured “Murphey’s Law” had occured and I had installed a faulty pump. So now, I have installed yet another new pump. And, you’ve guessed it, it is now leaking as well. It looks like it is leaking from the same place, the “weep” hole. Is it possible that I am creating the leak upon installation, or have I found the batch of bad pumps?

The only thing that I can come up with, that doesn’t point to me or the parts store, is the belt tensioner pulley. It was EXTREMELY hard to compress to allow me to remove/install the belt. Could this be putting too much stress on the water pump, and cause it to leak?

Thanks ahead for any advise.

2

You’re not doing anything wrong during the installation. If you’re aquiring the water pumps from the same source, then one has to assume they’ve got a bad batch of replacement water pumps.

Try getting the replacement water pump from another source.

Tester

3

I thought about doing that, but the warranty is still good on the new, new pump. I would hate to spend additional money on it if the cause is something else. But I may give it a try anyway.-----Thanks.

4

Check/replace your radiator cap. It is supposed to limit pressure in the cooling system to about 16 PSI. If it is letting the pressure go higher than that, then the pumps will be damaged.

5

How were you trying to “compress” the belt tensioner? By hand? If you check the repair manual, it may show you where to insert the drive of a 3/8 inch socket wrench, or breaker bar, to compress the tensioner spring.

6

Flush your cooling system thoroughly to remove any particles that might be destroying the seal in the pump…This is a brass against brass seal and is easily damaged by contaminated coolant…

7

It takes a 19mm socket and breaker bar. I was having to add a 10 inch cheater pipe to the breaker bar. This seemed a little overkill to me, but it wouldn’t deflect/compress without it.

8

I’ll give that a try, as well as the cap. Could coolant type be at fault too? I used the “good for all brands” coolant on the last change.

9

Is everyone pretty much in agreeance that the tensioner is O.K.? Cause I’m going to take everyone’s advice: New, different vendor pump, new cap,& flush fluid.

Thanks again for the input.

10

Just an update

Thanks to all for your advice, I took it all.

Apparently, there is a big difference between aftermarket and factory parts when dealing with import cars.(Dealer’s authoritative word) I endeed up using a factory waterpump, and antifreeze, even though it cost three times as much as aftermarket parts. And per your replies, as well as the dealer’s, I flushed the coolant system.

So far, while knocking on wood, there are no leaks. Thanks again.

11

There’s a big difference between OEM parts and SOME aftermarket parts. Doesn’t mean that all aftermarket parts are inferior. We have a few good local parts stores that carry quality aftermarket parts. Never had a problem with any aftermarket part I’ve bought from a reputable parts dealer.