Water pump in 2006 Camry

Where exactly is the water pump located in the 2006 Camry? Is it inside the closed housing on the passenger side just forward of the Coolant Reservoir? Where could I find a diagram?

This is Linda in RI again. Never mind about the “closed housing.” Someone showed me that the water pump must be down below the serpentine belt and behind the closed cover on the end of the engine block, but we don’t know exactly where it is. Or what would have to come off to replace it. It would be so helpful to have a diagram or a description. Thanks.

Do you have 4 or 6 cylinder? If you have a 6 (3.0 or 3.3), the water pump is driven by the timing belt and the replacement procedure would be way above your head. The 4 (2.4) cylinder engine water pump simply bolts on the front (passenger side) of the engine and is driven by the serpentine belt. Is the water pump leaking?

Thanks. It’s 4 cylinder, an LE. At the 75000 mi maint, he said the water pump was leaking and that it was dripping onto the serpentine belt, which would have to be changed also. Agreed that it could wait a month to be fixed. Said the belt would squeal in cold weather. I made an appt but I’ve been monitoring the coolant and checking what I can see of the belt. No sign of leak. No squeal. (I know what a squealing belt sounds like from a prev car.) Noticed they wrote “drive belt” under recommended repairs. Given where the water pump is, how could it drip onto the serpentine belt? Basically, I’m dubious. Think I should wait until I can see (or hear) evidence to make a $500 repair.

www.autozone.com. sign up and navigate through the windows and i am sure you can find a diagram and instructions. it is called a drive belt because it has nothing to do with the radiator cooling fan. it “drives” the water pump or ac or power steering pumps. a “fan belt” actually turned the fan blade or thermostatic fan clutch. hope this helps

Thank you very much. That does help. And I’ll look for the diagram on that site.

The serpentine belt/drive belt are the same, you see it on the passenger side and the water pump is one of the items there. There are toyota specific forums and they have links to manuals and pics. One thing I will caution you is that this engine is known to leak coolant from the back side of the cylinder head on the passenger side. I am not saying this is what you have, BUT before changing a potentially healthy water pump, make sure it is really broken.

Get another opinion, it seems you don’t completely trust the advice from your current shop. Water pumps do fail, but a failure of an '06 Toyota is suspect. It could be a loose clamp, or something minor. Get it checked out by another shop before you spring for a new water pump.

Thanks for this information. Am now planning to have it checked independently.