Got an oil change today and got the recall stuff taken care of. It had been 5k miles, I'm at 106,600. Dealer called and told me that oil change is done, but the techs said my engine water pump is leaking. -->They'll replace it for *only* $495. (I've had no indication of any leaking.) They also said I need: air filters (engine and a/c) transmission flush rear brake service (clean and adjust) huh?? Who thinks the dealer is scheming? I called a local shop and they quoted $320 on the water pump job...that is IF I even need it. Any thoughts from the populus?
The stealership service department always tries to remove as many dollars from your wallet as they can. That's how they make their money. Selling new cars????? pppffffhhhhttt - not much profit from that unless they can sell you the fabric protector, clear coat, and pin stripes - LOL! If the engine water pump leak was serious you would notice that the fluid level in the overflow reservoir would be below the min mark. You do know where the overflow reservoir is, right? Check the level. If it's between the min and max marks you're good to go and don't need an engine water pump no matter what the stealership told you. If the overflow reservoir is empty - you might need a water pump or there's a leak somewhere else. No such thing as a transmission flush on a Prius - no torque converter. Transmission fluid change - yes that can and should be done every 60K miles. Rear brake service? Pleeeeeease! My 05 has over 190K miles with the original front and rear brakes and has never needed anything but bleeding, which should be done periodically. Water pump - maybe. Everything else - forget about it.
there was a recall for the water pump - but your car may be outside of that warranty air filter you can do yourself - they charge $39+ just for the filter
Others know more than I, but at your miles you do need the transmission flush and fill, you probably could use the engine air filter and cabin filter -- easy enough to check yourself -- pull them out and look. If you can't see light through them, you need new ones Jadziasman makes sense about the water pump and brakes. I believe Patrick Wong makes the point that it might be better to have Toyota do any transmission fluid work. You see, all Toyota coolants and transmission fluids must originate on the slopes of Mt. Fujiyama and be blessed by the special monkeys that reside on the slopes or you can ruin your engine (or something like that....I know they charge $$$$ for the stuff). You can easily do the filters yourself....
No recall for engine water pump. Thats the Inverter. And $495 is just about right at the dealer. Just had all the recalls done and they wanted to clean adjust rear brakes for $55. I thought that was not bad. I'm at 60,000. Starwheel should be adjusted every 50k or so. And they did it and it stops better now. Trans fluid change is usually about $150 and your way overdue for that. Forget the filters you can do that yourself. $495 is a little high but the dealer gets $125 an hour labor. What do you expect? Get a flashlight and look for green dried up specks on the front of the engine. If you see any the weep hole is leaking and the pump and needs to be replaced. Unless you want to drive around till the pump fails and the engine overheats and leaves you on the side of the road. No temp gauge on this car and the CEL temp level is so high your way into overheat by the time it triggers.
$495 is more than a little high - it's highway robbery. It takes a skilled Toyota mechanic less than 1/2 hour to replace it - it's easy to replace even though it's somewhat difficult to access. An Aisin water pump is only $45 dollars at Rock Auto.
Doesn't matter how long a skilled mechanic can do it they charge by book rate. And book rate is not 1/2 an hour. Takes alot longer than that just to properly bleed the engine coolant by the book. I doubt there's an indie out there that will do it for less than $300.
A little tiny bit of dried up coolant in the area around the water pump is quite common in a Prius and when the stealership sees that they make lots of money. However I've run into people who didn't trust them about their being a leak just because there's a little dried coolant visible. These people have since drove many years and 30k to 80k miles without any other signs of a leak than that one instance. Just keep your eye on it, don't throw your money away until its time for a coolant flush / leak gets worse.
How do I keep an eye on it? If its speckling its leaking. Its already waving at me. This car has no temp gauge. By the time it lights its CEL its way into overheat. Very foolish to drive around like that. Thats $300 chasing $2500 for a new motor. The OP is clearly not a DIY guy. Very bad advice to say wait till it fails. And when it goes it will pick the absolute worst time. At 60,000 miles I have no dried up coolant specks.
I'm just saying there are plenty of people who had a one time incident of a tiny bit of coolant leak near the water pump likely when that system reached its highest ever temp and they never had a problem after that for years and years. More than one person has told me this about this experience and they still have $500 in the bank because they ignored this and no issues yet with this. And I never said "wait till it fails" that's absurd... I said keep an eye on it. Or better yet clean it all off and get a new pump as soon as it shows the slightest sign of dried up coolant. This issue has been on many threads and a tiny bit of dried up coolant in the pump area is a known problem that happens at high temps and I'm not the only one on Prius Chat that says this isn't a sign of imminent failure. Of course by Summer time when we start to heat up again it'd be wise to address this!
Ok I agree with the wait if it had a temp gauge. Thats the problem. The OP has or had no idea the pump is weeping. And would have no idea if it overheats till he smells something burning or see's smoke and then a dash light comes on. Too late. Then nothing but should have would have's. Or maybe he sends you the bill.
Toyota could make money selling additional instruments as an option package... I mean a car with no RPM and no water temp gauge and tons of screens to display data... It just doesn't make any sense?
I went to my local dealer yesterday for the steering column and water pump recalls. At 52K miles, they recommended PCV Valve replacement - $184 Inverter Coolant Flush - $181 Brake Fluid Flush - $170 Replace engine air filter and clean mass air sensor $193. From what I've seen on the forums (I'm newest newbie to the forum, btw), it may be worth having the PCV valve replaced at 60K. But can't I get it done for less elsewhere? And mass air sensor cleaning -- I've never heard that one before.
Too early, wait till 100k miles when you do the plugs. Not needed or doable on a Prius (no torque converter) Both Coolant loops (Engine and Inverter) need a drain and refill with Toyota Super Long Life coolant at 100k miles and every 50k miles thereafter. Way too early! And the Cabin filter, but you can do these yourself, just pick up the filters at the parts counter. Unnecessary in most cases! Welcome to the forum. JeffD
1 used netbook from eBay ($100 or less) + 1 OBDLink SX interface or similar ($50 or less) + PriiDash software (Free!) and you have all the metering possible. Yes, it would be very cool if the Toyota system software let you put that on the MFD. But they want to keep all that hidden from the average person, and the average person is apparently OK with that since idiot lights began replacing gauges long ago.
Honestly, I think the average person is not OK with idiot lights vs the gage - they just accept the fact that the builder is too cheap to properly instrument the car. I too am disappointed that the technologically advanced Prius only has a idiot light. It would be so easy to simply modify the software and add it to the MFD or at least have a analog type gage on the dash. Idiot lights are known to not light up until after the damage is done. Whereas a gage at least gives the operator an idea of what the temperature of the engine really is.
[ Not doable? And what does it not having a torque converter have to do with Inverter Coolant maintenance? I replaced my ICoolant at 30K after seeing how much aluminum corrosion was in it. Replacing that coolant resulted in a immed. bump in mpg's also. Cooler the Inverter the better the mpg. The Invert has an incredible amount of pure aluminum cross section and the coolant is pumped through lots of tiny channels which can clog if not maintained. It is by far the easiest thing to maintain on the car and will return the best bang for your maintenance dollar. At 9:45:
2007 Prius, just under 115k miles: original owner, original waterpump and belt still. No coolant leaks what so ever. I know, I should change the belt.
A very sensible idea. Even if you don't want to DIY, you can still save a good amount of money having a private shop do the work. My local garage charges less for labor and less for the parts. They won't do any hybrid system work but the hybrid system doesn't need much work.
