so i got work on my car today during work thanks to toyota warranty. i did the oil pan gasket first, then went ahead to do the water pump.

here's the pan, cleaned up and FIPG about to be put on



ahh.... clean bottom end. no discoloration at 33,000 miles because i change my stuff every 3,000 miles which is like once every 6 weeks...



the infamous water pump! you can see where it leaks from, the weep hole. i don't know why they even put this here, i think it's some sort of check valve or something. but whatever...



here's the new one i'm about to put in next to the broken one:



and now she's back as one happy, healthy xB

(old picture. sold the rims, i'm on Camry wheels right now til next spring)

 

Maybe its supposed to leak? lol. Someone slap some JBweld in there!

 

I don't know, I've way low miles on mine still (~4K), but from what you guys are saying, it sounds like the OE water pump is bad news, and to replace with it is probably a mistake ! Since I have less than great faith in Toyota service anyway, sounds like I should do mine myself with aftermarket.

 

@TrevorS: hating on us Toyota techs huh?

 

Took my tC in today and had the water pump replaced. My buddy said he wouldn't call it an epidemic but everyone in the service dept. is aware of the problem on all 2.4L's. He said they had a Corolla in there last week with 2000 miles that was spitting coolant. It seems like its pretty much a crap shoot.

On a side note, I'm very very impressed with the cleanliness of my dealership. When a tech sprayed brake cleaner he put a waste basket under each wheel to catch the dirty fluid.

 

Well define epidemic, if every dealership is aware of it and it happens on all 2.4s then I'd at least call it a widespread problem. I figure as long as mine is under warranty I'll just keep an eye on it and get it fixed for free. Maybe if it goes after the 5yr/50k miles I'll look into some aftermarket.

On another side note....my dealer just got redone so you could like eat off the floor, and I'm in a pretty small town so they are stupidly nice there...I'm lucky...

 

I see it alot on Corolla's with the 1.8(1ZZFE), Camry's, and Scions with the 2.4. Toyota needs to jump down the throat of whomever is designing these pumps.

The 2.5L is out for 2010, but not in the scion linup.

So far, I've been lucky. My pump is dry and so is the rest of my car at 40K

p.s. Pete, Thats a NICE looking xB. Very clean.

 

Nothing personal, and I wouldn't say "hating", but this is my first Toyota and in my very first service exprience (a free oil change with filter), the car was returned to me with the driver's side sill, carpet, plus pedals covered with sandy grit and sneaker prints. After I finished cleaning it, it was evident the grit had scratched the bejeezus out of the sill area. Ie. not only did the "technician" get into my car with very dirty shoes, but he also paddled all over the unprotected sill paint as well (both of which are inexcusable in my opinion).

I was furious and the dealership agreed to detail that area which translated into hitting it three times with progressively stronger solvents to soften the clear coat enough to remove the scratches. The third attempt succeeded and I'm satisfied with the final result, but is there any particular reason I should trust them again with my car?

 

Find another dealership if possible. Or just bring up the issue again when you bring your car in again.

 

I was given plenty of hard sell and assurance of what fine and reliable service work (customer care) they provide, and for the very first time that I've ever taken a car into a shop for anything, damage was caused -- and due to sheer stupidity. And when the damage was repaired, the traveling detailing guy even made a point of implying it was me that caused it.

My strong preference is to not give Toyota another opportunity to injure my car. I'll only take it to their service again if there's no reasonable alternative.

 

so i wrote toyota about them pouring wrong coolant into my car, spoke with them on the phone today, and i was told that i should get a phone call from the dealers customer service something department about solving the issue i have...either way complaint has been filed and if they dont flush my ____ like this month then im gonna do it my self at 60...based on what HATEnFATE says :D

does anyone know how mny of those 00272-SLLC2 gallons are required to perform a proper coolant flush? not just enough so that i see hot pink in my reservoir...

 

Should only take one gallon. You'll want to drain the system, fill it with distilled water, run the car a bit, drain it, and repeat until pink is gone. Then refill with 50/50 mix of Super long life and distilled water.

 

Question to the toyota techs and people who have replaced their own water pumps. When you put the new pump on do you use the FIPG to seal the pump to the block? I noticed on my repair order it lists under parts: "FIPG Oil Pan". I assuming they didn't reseal my oil pan as well.

 

I highly recommend if you're doing anything to the cooling system use the red coolant. The pink stuff is bad news. I searched on it and found many conversations on sites such as Bob is the oil guy, etc. There were some talks about metal loss with the pink. You need to flush all that pink stuff out of there and use the red with distilled water. I'm thinking about doing that myself in the near future. Maybe I'll wait until the water pump gives out first because I'm afraid the dealer would put the pink stuff back in.

 

Problem with BITOG is, a high percentage of comments are either brand loyalty or bad information. I would be careful with what you believe from there.

 

Toyota pink coolant is fine, I probably wouldn't run it 100k miles though. Now GM Dexcool is another story...

 

eitherway im not ok with how they just mixed some other coolant in there...if i had pink, i should of gotten pink...

 

@CWECKEL2000: FIPG is what to use on the water pump. it's also used for the oil pan and camshaft housing and other stuff too. shoot, i even used FIPG to fix my garage door opener haha. and as for the Super Long Life coolant, you don't need to mix it if you got the Toyota brand one.


@TREVORS: i was joking. some dealerships are wack... i quit working for one that sucked at basically everything (their techs were trash and their customer service sucked), and went to a better one where they believe in customer satisfaction, believe in their techs, and believe in their overall work. me, personally, i treat everyone's car as if it were my own. that's how you build loyalty and people bring their cars over to you over and over again. flat rate for the win.


@AZYLSTRA: um, toyota stopped using the red mixed stuff back in 98 man. we use pink for everything. no problems with it on this end...


@HATEnFATE: thanks for the compliment. that's an old picture of my box. i'm on Camry 17's right now. i've got a sick set coming for next spring after the snow goes away. you'll see in due time ;)

 

My radiator shop guy told me he doesn't like the pink, he says use the red. He's the same one that warned me about Dexcool many years ago. I also called a couple Toyota parts depts, they liked the red better too. Seems the going price locally is $24.96/gallon. Some dealers even sell plain label bottles of red (they said it's the same formula, just without the Toyota label) for about $5 less. Overall, I've searched high and low, and I find mixed reviews on the pink, while the red is consistently good. Gives me a lot more confidence in the red.

 

I agree, they def need to swap it all out and flush the entire system.

I think Toyota knows what they are doing, I'll stick with the pink stuff.