98 Camry V6--I had my timing belt changed at the dealer at 90k (2 years ago). The car now has 128k and there is a noise coming from that area. Suspect water pump. Do I need to have it ALL changed again just to get to the water pump?

Chances are that the water pump (if that's the culprit),damaged the timing belt.So it all needs done again.

It's possible to just change the waterpump but to do it, the technician have to remove the timing belt (the timing belt drives the water pump)

A new timing belt cost 45$CDN, if you have to get your waterpump changed, why not get the timing belt changed at the same time?

would the car continue to drive with waterpump noise like this? typicaly waterpump should last 2 timebelts.

I'd recommend confirming your suspicions and making the call from there. I agree with mox- above; if it is the water pump, go ahead and do the timing belt at the same time. Good luck and please keep us posted.

Take care,
Jerry

would the car continue to drive with waterpump noise like this? typicaly waterpump should last 2 timebelts.

On my old engine, the bearing in the water pump failed and heated.. that melted a bit of the plastic that cover the timing belt and I presume the timing belt heated a bit.. Eventually, the car started to overheat because the water pump was not working properly and I had to change the gaskets/rings on the engine because of that (I changed my engine at this point, it was easier to do ;))

If you can spend ~250-300$ on that, I STRONGLY suggest you to get it fixed.. Okay it can run with the defective waterpump but will the engine live as long as it should be ? Maybe you'll see too late that you should have put 250-300$ while it was just the water pump

Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention that this timing belt had 40k on it so far. I don't think they changed the bearings either during that service. I'm going to go ahead and have it all redone but not at the dealer anymore.

I just had my timing belt replaced and took my '84 Camry on the road for a camping vacation. In upper state NY, the engine died completely. A local garage specializing in Toyotas found the water pump went out and took the new timing belt with it. All supply houses were closed due to July 4, so it took 5 days to get on the road again. Advice: Replace the pump with the belt!