Replace Water Pump At 62,000 Miles?

[OreCanuck]

I can't believe that I'm having to replace the water pump at 62,000 miles. Yes, it's a mechanical component and all mechanical components will not last forever. But, replacing a water pump at 62,000 miles is not why I bought a Lexus. Anyone else heard of a water pump replacement under 100k miles? This is a 2011 RX 350.

[1990LS400]

The only water pump I ever had fail was at about 75,000 miles on a 1990 Lexus LS400 that I purchased new and drove to 183,000 miles. Unlike your RX, the water pump on that car was driven by the timing belt so the engine stopped when the water pump seized. I was about a block from my house on a cold winter day when I first smelled coolant. A couple of blocks later the water pump seized and I was able to coast into a convenience store parking lot after the engine stopped. I was lucky in that a few hundred yards later, the city street turned into a rural highway with soft or no shoulders. It was an especially memorable experience since it was during an ice storm and it took a tow truck several hours to get to me.

So, yes, water pump failure at a low mileage is unusual but not unheard of.

How much will it cost to have your water pump replaced? At least the water pump on your RX is not driven by the timing belt like on earlier Toyota engines.

The water pump in your RX is used in other vehicles made by Toyota: Camry, Avalon, Highlander, Venza, RAV4, and Sienna, According to a part number cross reference, the RX is the only Lexus branded vehicle that uses this particular water pump.

If you are looking for a lower replacement price, any repair shop that services Toyotas should be able to replace your water pump.

[OreCanuck]

Luckily, this is still covered under "power train" warranty which expires at 70,000 miles (whew, that was close!!) so says my service advisor at my local Lexus dealership. Prior to buying this pre-owned RX last December, I reviewed the CarFax service records. It had all the required maintenance service when due either by the selling dealership or a Toyota dealership. Guess that is no predictor for water pump bearing quality.

[pj8708]

Hi Ron and welcome to the LOC.

Your comments about what should be the mean miles for a water pump failure depends on what your comparing it to. My view is that anything has the potential to fail, falling outside of that mean calculation. Just a month or so ago, "Consumer Reports" published their annual best auto survey. The sampling base for the survey was just over 1,000,000. respondents.

Of all the cars studied for the survey, Lexus was the MOST reliable regardless of make, price, model, etc. Way below the top held by Lexus was BMW and MB near the last 1/3 of the results.

A long time ago I figured out that at least in my world, if you remember one of the most quoted statements of all time, it might put things like car part failure in perspective. "Houston, we have a problem". After decades of design work, safety redundancy, and billions and billions of dollars in engineering effort, a space craft, heading home from a quick run to the moon for beer, was almost lost for the failure of a toggle switch. LOL

Paul

[VBdenny]

Anything can break at any time. If you happen to be Irish, that means often.

[Eugene Smith]

I have a 2016 rx350 with 34000 miles ..Very lightly driven vehicle with a bad water pump.That is my reality and I am so unhappy about that at the moment. I have warrenty coverage still so I don't have to spend money but its so disappointing to have mechanical problems this severe with a vehicle with such low milage and low use. I have leased a 2017 Honda Civic and drive my leased car far more then the Lexus for obvious reasons..I also have 2 other vehicles I drive regularly.. So yes I'm saddened by this mechanical failure so soon.

[Dan Saunders]

I took our excellent running car RX 350 with 31,000 mi for a tire rotation and state inspection to the Lexus dealer. They called me and told me the water pump was bad and needed to be replaced. They said it was not leaking onto the floor because the leak was “crusting up” before hitting the floor.  Quite frankly, I do not believe them for a minute but since they said it was covered by warranty I plan to let it go. I have never owned a car that needed a water pump at 75,000 mi let alone 31,000. So, bottom line I will not take my vehicle to the Lexus dealer ever again and will not buy another Lexus because this is just the type of thing I felt I would avoid with a Lexus/Toyota product. Personally, I think it is fraud versus a real issue only they are committing it to their own motor company. Unbelievable!
Dan Saunders

[1990LS400]

15 hours ago, Dan Saunders said:

I took our excellent running car RX 350 with 31,000 mi for a tire rotation and state inspection to the Lexus dealer. They called me and told me the water pump was bad and needed to be replaced. They said it was not leaking onto the floor because the leak was “crusting up” before hitting the floor.  Quite frankly, I do not believe them for a minute but since they said it was covered by warranty I plan to let it go. I have never owned a car that needed a water pump at 75,000 mi let alone 31,000. So, bottom line I will not take my vehicle to the Lexus dealer ever again and will not buy another Lexus because this is just the type of thing I felt I would avoid with a Lexus/Toyota product. Personally, I think it is fraud versus a real issue only they are committing it to their own motor company. Unbelievable!
Dan Saunders

It's fairly common for a water pump to weep coolant for a long, long time before it fails if it ever does fail.  Unfortunately, water pumps on the 3.5 liter V6 engine used in the RX and in my 2014 Sienna seem to have a little higher failure rate than normal.  

If/when the water pump does need replacing, consider consulting an independent repair shop that specializes in Toyota and/or Lexus vehicles.  Or start now so you will be ready if the water pump fails.    A Lexus dealer might tell you that the engine must be removed in order to replace the water pump but it's been found that doing that is not necessary.  I've wondered if dealerships are billing customers for far more time than it really takes to replace a water pump on the 3.5 liter V6.

I agree that a lot of dealerships scam customers by recommending unneeded repairs.  The 3.5 liter engine in my Sienna was weeping a tiny bit of oil from the pan gasket - the Toyota dealer said it MUST be repaired but I declined.  I wiped the oil film from the pan gasket.  The dealership has never mentioned the "problem" again even though it has serviced the vehicle about 10 times (every 5,000 miles) since then.

 

[KC STL]

I just had to replace the water pump on my 2016 RX 350, 67K Miles.  I have never had this happen before with any other Japenese cars.  I'm stuck with a $2,100 repair bill and Lexus Corporate will absolutely do nothing about it.

[RX400h]

That is a bit low in miles. When we had our timing belt replaced at 90,000 miles, it made sense to have the pump replaced, also. Of course, 90,000 miles on our odometer is probably 70,000 of actual engine use due to its hybrid drivetrain. There are many, many vehicles out there that still have timing belts, so when replacement is done as per the maintenance schedule, most owners agree to have the pump replaced, as they have to remove the old one, anyway.

[Yrpetrov]

2017 rx350 water pump failed at 65k miles. Was covered by original manufacturer warranty (up to 70k). 4th Lexus - 1st waterpump replacement

[Sajack]

Water pump on my 2020 LS500 developed a small leak sometime around 35,000 miles. I noticed small drop of coolant on garage floor overnight. Lexus replaced under warranty. Probably could have gone a long time without replacement. You should never have to add coolant to a car. Keep an eye out for any leak after your car has been sitting overnight. Stuff happens. Pink residue anywhere indicates a coolant leak. Always use the correct pink coolant in a Toyota product.