Coolant Leak

[pumpkin]

Good Evening, I recently took the FJ on a 12 day trip to Nova Scotia. The first full day we rode about 650 miles, the following morning I noticed a few drops of coolant had leaked onto some of the plastic trim right by where I think the water pump is located on the right hand side of the bike. I checked around where I thought it may have leaked and everything was tightly secured (no visible leak). I also checked the coolant reserve and the level had not changed.

The coolant continued to leak small amounts for a couple days and then stopped. The reserve level did not change, and the bike ran very smoothly the entire trip. I did a coolant flush about 4,000 miles ago at 50,000. Is there anything I can check or do now that I'm back home? Anyone with a similar problem?

As always, Thanks!

Dan

 

[PhilJet09]

Mine started doing that at 44,000 miles. I rebuilt the water pump and all is well.

Your coolant is dripping from a drain hole on the bottom of the pump. Essentially, there is a dry side (actually kinda oily) and a wet side to the pump, with seals separating the two. The dry/oily side is the side that attaches to the motor and the wet side is the outside of the pump (part closest to your right foot). If the wet side seal wears enough, it drips out the drain hole. Sometimes a little drip, sometime it stops, sometimes not.

https://www.yamahapartsnation.com/oemparts/a/yam/50046b1df8700209bc796954/water-pump

#4 mechanical seal (wet seal, as I call it) is your culprit.

I replaced:

#2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12.

I had to push the bearing (2) out to get the oil seal out, so I replaced it.

Good time to do a coolant flush and fill.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Mechanical seal on the water pump is beginning to leak. What you're seeing is coolant coming out of the weep hole.

Watch closely and time to consider a rebuild / replacement pump.

--G

Edit -- Phil types faster than I do...good information there.

 

[Fontanaman]

Both provide good advice. I know and ride with --G and trust his advice. He said my FJR needed an upgraded suspension and sure enough he was right. If he says the water pump needs fixing; it does.

 

[pumpkin]

Thanks! the part numbers and parts fiche is gonna make it easy to do! Got a new project!

 

[Fly Bye]

You have to love this forum.

 

[FJR Flyer]

Had the same problem two years ago in NC at the FJ Rally. Stopped for lunch in Little Switzerland and noticed the drip. The next morning at the KOA it was pissing fairly good. Pulled the pump and with the help of the online parts fiche and some really good friends (lost half a day of riding) disassembled the pump on a picnic table. Found some corrosion near the seal. Cleaned up it and used some Honda sealant, reassembled and hoped for the best.

I ordered replacement seals, bearings, etc for the pump. They're still in the box on my workbench as the pump fix is still holding fine.

 

[yamafitter]

Sometimes there can be some wear on the impeller shaft and the shaft along with the seals & bearings need to be replaced. This is more of a problem with dirt bikes as it is possible to get grit to enter the drain hole and the grit then works its way between the shaft and the seal and acts like a grinding compound.

If you run your fingernail along the shaft and feel a step where the seal runs on the shaft then it will be necessary to replace the impeller shaft.

 

[J Paul]

What can be causing seal leakage can be a to hi an antifreeze concentration or hi silicates in the coolant additive package.About 25 yrs ago Cummins was experiencing a large volume of warranty water pumpfailures-I believe base warranty then was 2yrs or 200,000mi-which was tracked back to improper coolant concentration or additive packages.This is when we started specifiying lo silicate coolant-I believe a GM spec # covers it. Jeff