Broken Water Pump Shaft?

[That1CarGuy]

Vehicle Information

• 2000 100 Series Land Cruiser
• 342,000 miles
• Oil Change every 10,000mi
• Heater T pipes and spark plugs every 100,000 with spares kept in console
• Lifted on 2.5 OME with 33in AT tires on 1in wheel spacers
• Replaced radiator at 308,000 mi

After a 600 mile roadtrip to Montana, I heard a clunk and I lost my power steering and my battery light turned on. Of course this has to do with my serpentine belt so I figured it just snapped. The car never overheated likely because its January in Montana so I limped it back the final two miles to my destination and then popped the hood. I then looked in to see that my fan was dangling in the engine bay with the serpentine belt completely loose at the front of the engine. From what it looks like the shaft of my water pump completely snapped and now I'm wondering which parts I need to purchase to get this done other than the obvious water pump assembly. I'm currently thinking of purchasing this water pump kit but am very open to suggestions. I also will buy this t-stat and have read some of the suggestions made in previous posts like radiators which has already been replaced. I also want to replace the serpentine belt of course so I would like to know if anyone has any better choices than this.

What I'm most scared of right now is if the impeller section of the water pump could've fallen into the block or if that is totally not how that works because half of the reason I want to do this myself is to save money and the other half is to learn because I never had someone to teach me this stuff. Thank you so much for your time and kindness for helping me.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

That's your fan bracket, not the water pump. You can get a new Aisin one from Cruiser Outfitters or OEM one from a dealer.

 

[SteveH]

One reason it didn't overheat on your short trip is that your water pump is likely still fine. Did your radiator survive, or did the free-roaming engine fan take it out?

 

[leveeguy]

Water pump is spun by the timing belt so like steve said its probably fine. Although replacing the fan bracket is about as much work as replacing the water pump/timing belt so if you have some concerns there now would be a good time to address them

 

[2001LC]

I've seen this happen in the winter. Where the fan bracket shaft failed, and fan lying in fan shroud. Just like yours. The engine overheated and was blown.

It's one of the reasons. I'm super tough on grading fan brackets when doing timing belt service. I replace almost, every one of them, during T-belt service. I almost always use Toyota Aisin (OEM), rather than Aisin. They increase reliability and reduce long term maintenance cost.

 

[That1CarGuy]

I've seen this happen in the winter. Where the fan bracket shaft failed, and fan lying in fan shroud. Just like yours. The engine overheated and was blown.

It's one of the reasons. I'm super tough on grading fan brackets when doing timing belt service. I replace almost, every one of them, during T-belt service. I almost always use Toyota Aisin (OEM), rather than Aisin. They increase reliability and reduce long term maintenance cost.

I feel like I should also replace the T stat then also because the engine was at normal functioning temperature perfectly at the halfway mark showing no issues and I wasn't pushing the engine in terms of RPM either which really puzzles me. Could there be another reason that it failed other than overheating? Thank you so much for your input it helps me a lot.

 

[2001LC]

Water temp gauge centered, is good sign.

The water temp gauge, is only an indication of engine coolant temp (ECT). One issue with gauge is, the ECT sensor is placed high in the engines cooling system. If coolant system low. ECT sensor is out of coolant, and in the air. This then gives false reading on dash gauge, reading lower (below center line) in most cases. When engine is actually overheating. If coolant gets hot enough and wasn't too low. It expands enough, reaching level of ECT sensor. Suddenly water temp gauge shoots up to max. Very bad!

Fan bracket did not fail, due to overheating. But even in winter, loss of it, can result in overheating.

Fan brackets, fail for one or both reasons below:

• Fan bracket, was pass serviceable life. Likely the seal in it's back side was leaking, at last T-belt service. Someone didn't know better or was saving money, and reused it. As seal fails, lube in bearing of shaft is lost. The shaft then begins to make noise, and in time wobble. They make sound of bad bearing, in advance of failure 9 of 10 times. They're also detectable during PM inspection.
• Fan clutch, past serviceable life. It can locked up, which it then can't self balance as it spins. They often lockup, off balance. This result in a wobble. The wobble puts, tremendous force on fan bracket shaft and it's bearing. We can almost always, feel and hear this while driving. In that, vibrate the entire vehicle. Often divers think a transmission issue.

You'll likely need a fan clutch also.
I often, replace thermostat & its gasket with OEM. Placing jiggle valve up. If old or no record of being replaced, I replace them. Same for radiator cap and heater Tees.
Clean radiator fins of all 3 radiators:

Radiator fins need cleaning! Alert Alert Alert

I've a 06LC w/192K I just bought. In reading history I found PO complained of engine temp raising when both front and rear AC on. Toyota Dealership diagnosed with clogged radiator fins. Recommended new OEM radiator, $600 for the US spec Radaitor plus coolant and labor. They should have added...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[badlander]

It didn't fail because the engine over heated. The bearing in the fan bracket failed due to age and fatigue. Your thermostat is fine, as your temperature gage indicated. No need to replace it.

 

[2001LC]

We inspect Fan bracket in vehicle. Visually, listening for sound and by feel.

During Time belt service we remove fan bracket. There is one thing we can only inspect, when fan bracket is on the bench. That is the seal in the back. FSM states: Replace if any oil seen coming from seal. I'm overly cautious in grading. Any, and I mean any sign of oil on seal, I replace the Fan Bracket .
Dust sticking to oil on seal:

Even after lightly wiping grim away. Glistening of tracs of oil, can be seen on seal.

This one is hard to see. But what's there is oil coming out bearing on front side and metal fillings stuck to oil.

New

Here's a fan bracket bearing, that has failed. But caught before seizing. Driver notice sound and vibration.


Replacing a Fan bracket is half way into a Timing belt service, in terms of labor. So if T-belt due say within 10K miles or 1 year. Consider doing T-belt also. This reduce long term maintenance cost, unless DIY.