Cool to use an aftermarket inverter pump?

Get the original Toyota part on ebay, should be the cheapest around.

 

Nothing lasts forever. Thus the failure of the inverter pump, it wears out and dies.

Why buy a non genuine Toyota part for $50? The genuine OEM part seems to last 100K miles, minimum. You get what you pay for.

I have a hard time believing the "genuine OEM" parts listed on crapBay are authentic. Technology and the Internet, unfortunately has made counterfeiting easy, and ever more profitable. There is a seller, pushing a "genuine OEM" inverter pump for $70. Sure the pictures look good with a Toyota part box, but ...

The cheapest guaranteed authentic OEM inverter water pump, is available from Camelback Toyota for $96.97.
2007 Toyota Prius Parts - Camelback Toyota Parts - Genuine OEM Parts - Free Shipping
Buy a few more maintenance parts to hit $150 total, to get free shipping.

 

Item 3 here, $87.25, but not free shipping. Just for another source:

Cooling System for 2008 Toyota Prius | Toyota Parts

 

I remember a thread on this forum for a gen 2 where a guy replaced his with a mercedes pump. Does anyone have a link to this thread

 

Wouldn't the mercedes pump be more expensive?

 

I have seen a video on YouTube where he replaced the inverter pump with a Mercedes electric water pump.

I do not like the idea because he cut the Prius harness to splice the Mercedes electrical connector. That handmade connection would be problematic and not reliable long term. Then, I am not convinced the Mercedes pump will last longer as it’s not one of the reliable brands anyway.

 

I wanted to revive this thread because it is exactly what I was thinking about asking about. The OEM pump is not crazy expensive and I was screwed on a long trip having mine crap out. Installed it was $450 and the part can probably be had for $130? guess... but I have seen parts on reputable sites like RockAuto and questionable sites like EBay for far less, maybe $40. Has anyone used an aftermarket pump with success? This is more of a curiosity as I will probably go OEM here.

Also recently saw a video for Dr Prius talking about the new Lithium battery pack and the Gen2 Prius was praised as only needing a $40 pump from Ebay. If he is doing it????

 

$450 seems to be cheap for that pump, a year ago, the dealerships were charging $600 for this. Now it's probably more.

The pumps for $40 may or may not work. Problem is there is no reliable brand recognition for this part, lots of parts makers and brands. How do you trust one from another? They obviously vary in quality and if $100 difference in parts price is worth the trouble of a breakdown while you're on a long trip?

 

It probably was a year ago. I was passing through Jackson, TN. The dealership there was great to get me in and had the car fixed in a day. its a relatively easy job, but when you are away from your tools, not much choice, but 450 seemed fair.

What I do know is the warning is a triangle of death and once it stops... I don't think it starts again. The OEM lasted for over 200,000 miles and is a maintenance item by that mileage, so it was on me. I wasn't paying attention, but by now 240K, I have replaced the water pump, inverter pump and the other pump that feeds the thermal canister. I have a second Prius at 190K and its on my todo list, along with the factory water pump. The pump to the thermal canister is optional. I replaced it to pass inspection, so it didn't run for over a year.

I think Dorman makes a pump, but other than that you are right... lots of no-names. Why did Dr Prius go that route? that was my surprise.

 

I believe these pumps from Toyota last an average about 100,000 miles before they fail. This pump has gone through a recall at some point so all the pumps should have been replaced at least once courtesy of Toyota.

There is a member here that swears by these $40 pumps and that they don't make much difference in which pump you install, so maybe you can try to DIY with a $40 pump and see how far that gets you?

When a tank of gas is $80 on our Prius, I don't worry about $100 price differences anymore, especially on a part that goes 100k miles.

 

You pays your money and takes your chances. Not all aftermarket pumps are bad, just a (much) higher percentage than the OE part. The real kicker is that the AM pump might work fine...for awhile. Then maybe a few months down the road it might just decide to not pump- until you cycle the ignition a few times.

It all comes down to risk tolerance. To me the gain in reliability for 100k miles of an OE pump is worth the extra $$.

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