The best idea is to replace the pump. The temporary fix you have referred to may work on an emergency. It may give you enough time to drive the car to a shop. You can ask another mechanic to look at the car for you to make sure it's the pump leaking.

 

One problem with leaking coolant is that it may get onto painted surfaces and can damage the paint, and it can make a mess in general. Using radiator sealant can be risky since it could clog radiator passages and result in a costly additional repair, and even with that it might not stop the leak at the pump.

 

I was just told i have a leaking coolant pump. Dealer can replace for $500+tax/labor.

Did you ask the dealer to check out the pump because you suspected a problem, or is this something they brought to your attention while getting an oil change , or possibly the tires rotated? Most likely they offered you a brake job while you were there as well

A couple of years ago the dealer discovered my pump was leaking while they were performing some other warranty work. Although I occasionally smelled antifreeze after driving on a hot day, I never noticed the coolant level drop at all, and I did not hear any unusual noises. I expect that I could have put considerable mileage on the vehicle before the problem would have become obvious to me.

So unless you have noticed any specific indications of a problem, You probably have a fair length of time before it becomes a serious problem.

 

I am in the same situation as you.

Did the oil change service and my mechanic pointed out that I was missing around half a liter (2 coke cans) of coolant, there was red and white residue evidence of the leakage. He advised we change it but as he had to order it and I had to do a trip, I did a trip of more than 1000 miles and everything is good. The level is still at max.

In theory, it can only be some semering (flywheel?) on the pump, it can break in the next mile or the next 10.000 miles, you never know. If you can't do it now at least carry some coolant with you. I have red residue on the top of the hood (on the side of the engine of course) and my mechanic said a bit inside.

It's a 3-4 hours job for the I4...

 

I was just told i have a leaking coolant pump. Dealer can replace for $500+tax/labor. Is this a good price?

What's your mileage? If you're within the 5 year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty, the water pump would be replaced for free.

 

Try flushing it. Mine was leaking a little, I got the "100,000" mile coolant out by flushing it and the leaking stopped.

My instincts told me "100,000" mile antifreeze was baloney. I should have listened to them sooner.

 

No, it's not. Just had mine replaced yesterday for $250 labor, $50 for a GMB pump, and $34 for Prestone 50/50 Extended Life coolant. Had the sepentine belt replaced too since they were in there. Charged just for the price of the belt.

This was my second pump replacement. It was leaking very slowly and was only visible when it was removed (dry residue). I had been steadily loosing coolant over the past 2 years, and you could smell vaporized coolant after parking the car, especially in the garage.

 

water pump replaced

I just had mine replaced for $700 for parts and labor. They also went ahead and replaced the belt also. It started with my engine making a rattling noise and progressively became worse with leaking coolant. By looking up the same problem on this forum and others, this is a very common problem with 2007 RAV4's and similar. I think Toyota may have a faulty part that should have had a recall notice. My RAV's only 5 years old and 65,000 miles. I wouldn't have expected my water pump to go out this soon. My 1997 RAV4 didn't have its water pump changed until 150,000 miles. Dealer told me it was a wear and tear part and it's very unpredictable when these may need to be replaced.

 

My RAV's only 5 years old and 65,000 miles. I wouldn't have expected my water pump to go out this soon.

It's a known problem and you were not far outside the 5years/60k limit...worth a shot. If they say too bad, then ask for the area Toyota Rep's details and go to them. It's not like it was a $50 repair and it is a known fault. Go to the TSB section, then find and print the water pump diagnotstic TSB for the 2006 and newer Rav4's and take that with you. I thought there was one for the actual waterpump failure but cannot find it. It must just be under the 5/60 powertrain.

Let us know if you get anywhere.

http://www.rav4world.com/tsb/2011/T-SB-0117-11.pdf

 

I was looking at RAV4 repair records over at TrueDelta -- Real Car Owners Driving Real Car Information and it's shocking how many water pump failures are reported. Both V6 and I4 seem to be affected. I hope Toyota is paying attention to these failures, since they're paying for many of them to be replaced under warranty.

 

I was looking at RAV4 repair records over at TrueDelta -- Real Car Owners Driving Real Car Information and it's shocking how many water pump failures are reported. Both V6 and I4 seem to be affected. I hope Toyota is paying attention to these failures, since they're paying for many of them to be replaced under warranty.

Are the replacement pumps of better quality than the defective ones? I owned a Saturn which developed a clicking sound in the speedo - had it replaced under warranty and asked if the new one would last longer than the original. No answer was given, and the new one soon developed the same problem.

 

The Toyota water pumps used to last a long time. But it seems like ever since they switched to the pink coolant, there seems to be a problem accross the board with all of their product line. The answer could be to change the coolant more often (additives and lubricants aren't lasting as long as they thought they could), or they need to change back to the red coolant...just a thought.