Waterpump / Thermostat DIY (1 Viewer)

[carlos33018]

This weekend I did my waterpump / thermostat on my GX - The water pump had about 158K and it was time. I referenced the following YouTube video and instructions which are attached BUT I did things in aslightly different order.

DIY & Service Manual Instructions and Torque are in the Video. The video was uploaded by someone else and its very accurate.


Tools:
10 / 12 / 14 mm Sockets
10 / 12 / 14 mm Wrenches
Long Screw Driver
Radiator Funnel -> A Must!! (Makes filling / removing air bubbles from coolant system a breeze) -> Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance - https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/lisle-spill-free-funnel-thread-24680/10615650-P
Mirror on a stick -> A Must !! you will not be able to see all the screws that have to be removed etc, this ensure you are unscrewing the right thing.

The biggest issue with this DIY is that you MUST remove the fan & water pump pulleys, which WILL spin when you attempt to unscrew the nuts / bolts, I wanted to make sure I could accomplish this before committing to the job and draining all of the coolant.

Steps:
1. Unscrew fan from its pulley -> I Wedged a screw driver as shown in the video to keep the pulley from spinning and removed the fan
2. Remove the fan shroud, its going to be tight, but it can be done without removing the top and bottom radiator hoses.
3. Remove Waterpump Pulley, I used a wrench to keep the pulley from moving, and a ratchet to remove the screw
4. Remove the belt, the video has a really good technique which involves an Allen wrench and the tensioner, worked like a charm.
5. Drain coolant using the drain valve on radiator - Close valve when drain is complete
6. Remove inlet pipe from thermostat
7. Remove the Air Pipe (Plastic pipe running from the air pump to the other side of the engine, careful mine broke upon removal)
8. Remove the 3 coolant lines on the thermostat manifold (mine had marks on the clamps, 2 blue, 1 red)
9. With the thermostat still attached, remove the water manifold (This is different than the video procedure, but makes removing the thermostat from the manifold much easier)
10. Remove the waterpump as shown, there screws are of different lengths / sizes etc. I used the gasket of the new manifold to draw out all the screw holes, and placed the screws on them as they were removed.
11. Remove Thermostat from manifold -> Install new thermostat with manifold STILL removed - TQ to spec
12. Install new waterpump - TQ to spec
13. Install Water Inlet manifold with thermostat attached - TQ to spec
14. Attach Coolant lines to Manifold (Two Blue one Red)
14. Install Thermostat Pulley - I used a wrench to keep pulley from turning and tq wrench to tighten bolts.
13. Install Belt, In the same manner it was previously installed
14. Remove Allen wrench from tensioner (as shown in video)
15. Install fan / fan shroud -> used screw driver to keep the fan pulley from turning. Could not get a TQ wrench in there, so just tight enough
16. Coolant refill & Air bleed -> Use special funnel mentioned above, attach it to the inlet of the thermostat and fill. Once the radiator is full, leave funnel attached with extra coolant (vehicle off) and you will see air bubbles purging from the system. I let this process occur for about 30minutes. After 30 minutes, I left the funnel attached with coolant in there and turned on the car, let it idle for about 30 minutes and kept adding coolant as needed. **CAUTION** Wait until vehicle is COOL to remove funnel / re-install radiator cap.

 

[r2m]

Great job posting! Can you copy the link also to the "Manuals" sticky thread?
How long did it take you and just to qualify, with all due respect, just how mechanically proficient are you, meaning knowledge and having the proper tools?
So I guess I'm asking how many "banana's" is the job assuming someone has all the basic socket's and wrenches, etc. and can at minimum swap out a battery and add oil.

 

[carlos33018]

Great job posting! Can you copy the link also to the "Manuals" sticky thread?
How long did it take you and just to qualify, with all due respect, just how mechanically proficient are you, meaning knowledge and having the proper tools?
So I guess I'm asking how many "banana's" is the job assuming someone has all the basic socket's and wrenches, etc. and can at minimum swap out a battery and add oil.

I would say I am not THAT mechanically inclined but I can turn a wrench. Looking at a lot of the DIY tutorials, like the one posted a few days ago for the coolant valley repair, if you really look at what it takes to do the job, it is literally screwing bolts, removing hoses, and being patient.

As far as tools I literally have a torque wrench that I bought from amazon: Amazon product ASIN B07M68G49RA Crescent mechanical tool kit : Amazon product ASIN B07DLHV8S3
Looking at these jobs objectively, how much does it cost in parts, vs how much the dealer or mechanic wants to charge, you'll quickly see that you can break A LOT of stuff before you get to that price point of "someone else should have done this". Also, doing these jobs myself has allowed to buy tools that could come handy in the future. In the case of the water pump / thermostat I bought that funnel that made the job SO MUCH EASIER . So next time I have to flush the radiator / coolant its going to be a breeze, and I won't have to pay 200 bucks at the dealer to do it.

In this case, the whole job was Waterpump / Thermostat / Coolant
Waterpump - Aisin Non Toyota Branded - 75.00 (Asin WP 807) Its identical to the OEM one except "Toyota" has been scratched out.
Thermostat - 30.00
Coolant - 1 Jug - 15.00
Air hose -> I Broke it because it was super brittle 49.00

Total: 169.99 For the hole job. I think Lexus will charge upwards of 1k for the job.

 

[carlos33018]

Here are some photos of the Job

Fan Removal Technique:

Waterpump Pulley Removal Technique:

Water Pump Screws and their order as removed:

Coolant Lines behind the Water Inlet Manifold

Oh Oh Broke the Plastic AIR pipe:

 

[jmanscotch]

Glad you took this on, let’s hope it solved your coolant disappearing mystery!

If you eventually need to do the radiator replacement, just know it can be done without removing the bumper. It’s tight and there’s some air damn pieces that’ll make your life suck, but it’s not horrible overall.

You have to remove these air directing pieces and they’re so damn shoved in there it’s a frustrating task.

This is the bolt they want you to remove the bumper to get to, which happens to live behind where those air director pieces slide into.

 

[Acrad]

IMO: A convenient time to put in supplemental AT cooler as well.

 

[carlos33018]

So I think I might have found my coolant leak, upon inspecting the old pump I found there is coolant in the circled hole:

is this the world famous weeping hole ?

 

[Acrad]

It is usually on the front shaft area.

Here is a document from Lexus

Water Pump Leak Inspection and Diagnostic Tips

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10183269-9999.pdf

 

[carlos33018]

Ok so after driving the car for about 800 Miles I can confirm that the coolant level has not moved. So in this case I'm going to assume the water-pump was leaking from that hole, very slowly, perhaps only while under pressure, by such a minute amount, that I was not seeing any stains. The pump itself had about 150k on it (original one) so it was definitely due for a change. While doing this job, you should also consider doing the belt / tensioner since the need to be removed in order to replace the wp.

So for now - Mystery Solved

 

[r2m]

Crazy sense of a burden relieved when one can finally problem solve and fix an annoying long term problem. Glad to hear she's back up and running with no leaks, lights or issues! Time for a cold one.