1992 camry water pump?? HELP!
 

Hey Y'all from Georgia. I just bought a beautiful (to me anyway) 92 camry with the 2.2 4 cyl with 147k miles. Runs like a top, however it did sit in a garage for a good part of a year as the owner passed away and the son is just now selling her belongings to settle estate. The car had been started on occasion and driven around the block.

I am big on preventative maintenance, and have not owned a toyots since my 1973 corolla back in the 80's. I know they are easy to work on so Friday I drained the coolant and flushed her out with clean water 3 times. I then replaced both radiator hoses and filled her up with fresh new coolant. I let the car run for like 45 minutes to make sure new coolant got in block and heater core and everywhere it should. It was like new. I let it sit over night and had to start it sat to move it down driveway.

This afternoon, I started it and drove it about 1 house down the street and started to hear a very loud banging as if the engine was fixin to blow. I stopped and could not find anything obvious so, I got it back in the carport of my house and the thing was banging bad. I took radiator cap off and system was full of coolant. I decided to turn it off and after I did, I noticed ALL of the coolant was starting to pour out from the bottom as if water pump blew.

My question to you all is, what the hell happened? Do you think the new coolant screwed up the water pump? It ran fine for 45 minutes when I changed it and fine for the 2 min I had it running yesterday. I did check the oil and it is full as normal so I am thinking it has got to be the pump.

Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be great. Thanks for having such a cool site for camry owners.

Craig in Marietta, GA

Don't run the engine with the temp gauge in the red as a blown head gasket is very possible.

It has happened a hose clamp was not tight enough and the hose blew off.

Given the age of the car check all coolant and heater hoses for failure including the bypass hose coming off the large dia water intake pipe on the head.

Might put a hose into the radiator fill port then determine if water runs out somewhere.

Changing the coolant will not damage the pump short term. Toyota does have their own recommendations for coolant as some have more or less of various chemicals.

It is not uncommon with age for the plastic upper radiator tank to have hairline cracks and small leaks leading to very large leaks. Check the upper tank for cracks and leakage. The bottom tank is also plastic but tends not to crack as fast.

The pump can break but if the engine runs it must still be in one piece as the timing belt powers it.

When filling the radiator will coolant burp out the air by squeezing the upper and lower radiator hoses.

Oh, it never got close to being in the red. I am very cautious about watching that. I am wondering if the tensioner or idler pully could have went? The car was running fine just making the noise. Like I mentioned, when I rev'd it up to 2k rpm, noise went away but lower than that, it sounded like a loud banging. I did do the squeeze thing on the hoses as I filled the system back up. I had heater on and made sure new coolant got everywhere it should be. All hoses are fine at this time. I just find it so odd that the car ran for close to 45 minutes when doing the work on it and not a single problem but then 24 hours later, this loud banging appears and then all the coolant leaks out. ugh!

I also have same experience but I still find it natural and didn't mind that anyway.

Could be a coincidence.

Catastrophic water pump and idler/tensioner failure are rare.

Well, problem solved I believe.

I went to my mechanics today and the car was up on the lift so I could see entire area where timing belt goes. The water pump did indeed fall apart. You could take the pully on the pump and wiggle the damn thing almost like it wasnt even connected. So, the belt was ok, however I am having a new waterpump put in the car, as well as a timing kit. A new thermostat will be added as well. We also noticed the oil pump seal has been leaking oil, so being inside that area, he is going to replace that seal as well. Let's hope when it all goes back together it will run as perfect as it did before. I love this car!! :p

Thanks for posting back with the results.

At least the pump drive shaft did not fully let go which could have caused physical damage. Many owners replace the pump on the 2nd or 3rd belt change as preventive maintenance against leaking. It is rare for a pump to self destruct.

Go idea on replacing the seal as it can drip a LOT of oil in only a few miles. Have the mechanic check the cam and crank seals for leakage also.