Water pump shaft seal out?

[Big Sky]

Doing a little visual inspection yesterday I noticed a significant accumulation of oil on the bottom of the water pump housing. As I looked closer, it appears the pump is driven by a shaft that exits the engine cases, then enters the pump housing. That area is pretty oily, too. I would assume if I've got an oil leak in this area, it would be where the shaft exits the engine cases. Is there an o-ring, or some other type of seal in this area? Could this be an indicator that a problem goes beyond a mere seal, maybe worn bearings, bushings, shaft? I believe sometimes worn parts can cause excessive movement (deflection?) of parts which can then destroy seals. Don't recall seeing this problem discussed before. Wondering if it is uncommon. Not real worried - oils is just seeping at this point - but the bike goes in for major service in September and may as well get this taken care of at that time. Just wondering what I might be looking at in repairs/cost. As always, thanks for your help and expertise. (Shit, it's Friday.)

Big Sky

P.S. My '03 just turned over 55k yesterday.

 

[Rinosaure]

The water pump is a unit that plugs in right into the the engine. The shaft does not exit the engine and enter the pump, as you discribe.

There is an O-ring that seals the water pump housing in the engine. Probably you need to replace the O-ring (not too expensive).

Rinosaure.

 

[johnny80s]

I went to Mondak Motorsports and looked up the part on the web based fiche. There is an o-ring for the shaft. There are a few seals and o-rings for that part. Good thing is it looks like you should be able to fix it if you get all the seals. Is there any oil in your coolant?

 

[Big Sky]

I went to Mondak Motorsports and looked up the part on the web based fiche. There is an o-ring for the shaft. There are a few seals and o-rings for that part. Good thing is it looks like you should be able to fix it if you get all the seals. Is there any oil in your coolant?

Good question. I haven't looked for oil in the coolant. Guess I'd better. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Geezer]

In this diagram, part number 3 is an oil seal, but it looks like it keeps oil from getting into the pump and mixing with the coolant. Part 12 is an o-ring that may seal the oil from leaking out behind the pump. In any case, it doesn't look too bad o remove the pump and replace the parts.

I don't recall anyone posting about oil leaking from the water pump area before, and you don't have a lot of miles on your bike, so I would say that it is unusual.

 

[ionbeam]

You can find a related thread here, Griff has and water pump issues in the past.

 

[SkooterG]

Good info here. I was not aware of Griff's issues.

Are you sure it's coming from the pump area, and not leaking down from somewhere else?

 

[Geezer]

Yeah, but Griff had a coolant leak, not an oil leak.