i see. thanks, here's another post I posted earlier about an update on my camry's water pump upon having it inspected yesterday
today, I took it to a shop which did a free, quick inspection. He showed me where the water pump was leaking and I realized it wasn't due to my spilling of coolant, it was under the belt on the left side of the engine (that's a serpentine belt, right? not the timing belt,l since some people say the timing belt is together with the water pump, but for this car, it's the serpentine belt) and I saw that belt, next to the water pump wasn't in the best condition, as in I could see the X's where it was stitched, is that bad, or is that normal, to see that x? Also, coincidentally, autozone gave out free belt checkers today, it's that plastic blue thing that sort of looks like a comb, I didn't have time to ask him how to use it, as I was in a rush, but are those any good or accurate, and how are they used? I might as well change my serpentine belt with the water pump, but the mechanic
showed me the water pump and shined a light on it and I indeed saw that down below, there was a pink spot, there were pink remnants that loooked "salty" like dried salts and it was stained, and that was evidence of a bad water pump, but it's only dripping, and is not a severe leak. How much time woudl you say I have, or is it very random and could go anytime and blow and mess things up, and if it does totally go when I'm in the middle of driving it, would i notice it? If that happens, I shut the car immediately and have it towed. is a water pump an easy diy job? I'm going to look for some water pump threads, but I'm hoping to save some money and diy it and get a water pump and sepentine belt and replace it, it's outside and you can see it, so i figure it can't be that hard. Anyways, yes, indeed it is driling. I saw oreilly had the import direct, the guy told me it was oe quality, but is that true? AAP and Napa had the aisin but that was 100+, I think 130 dollars, whereas the import direct is only 53 dollars, so is it that bad, or is it worth it goget the aisin as they told me the import direct was oe quality, and which serpentine belt should i get? they mentioned something with a v rib and another one, and i think gates was the oem one, is a gates belt good, or what other brands of serpentine belt are good? I have a timing chain, so while we're on the subject of belts, how do i inspect that and when should i change that or know that it's starting to go, as they say you don't need to change it, but that's assuming you don't drive your car into the ground as i plan to do, maybe for a normal average consumer driving to 100k, they won't, but if you are taking it to 200-300k, i figure the chain needs to be replaced at some point, so when should you do that or know to do that? thanks. and what's a good brand for the timing chain?