Water pump seal leak???

Hi All,
I am hoping that someone or someone's. . . Can help shed some light on this issue for me. I have an 06' ST with 60,000 mi. For the last month and a half I have smelled coolant and found a few puddles on the garage floor.

I have narrowed it down to only happening on initial warm up and then it stops. It can sit for a few hrs and not leak, but if it's chilly out or on initial start/ warm up, it leaks. I took off the plastic and had a look. This is what I could decipher. . . The second picture shows the bottom of the water pump case and you can Bairley see the leak, but the first picture shows the green glow and that seems to be the only spot I see it, until it runs down the bottom left side of the engine and drips off the oil pan.

I have a friend, who is a bike mechanic order some parts to stop the leak, ie. seals of some sort. I assume that it is some type of o-ring, because it seems to seal it self once it warms up.

I have aves gone through about 2/3 of a qt. of coolant in the last month and a half. But it has been chilly here, so extra warm up time is needed.

I have not witnessed anything coming from the weep hole, and my mechanic seemed to think that the weep hole would not only weep when on start up, but all the time. . . A drip here and there, not a puddle. I could see anything running down from farther up, I only saw the coolant coming from the bottom corner of the case.

Do I need a press or special tools for this?

Any help would be appreciated


Thanks,


Cameron

Leaks that show like the pictures are usually coming from up in the space between the cylinders, the Vee, where the numerous hoses connect to the thermostat housing, cylinder heads, and radiator. If the clamps have never been tightened ithe fix might be as simple as snugging them a turn if so plus maybe replacing the O-ring seal in the thermostat housing. A worn water pump seal would weep out of a small round hole on the lower right side of the engine behind the water pump cover to engine block

You need to look at the side of the cover not the front. Take a look at the small round hose as this will be the water pump, the larger square hole would be a leak in the upper "V" area of the motor. You could have a leaking hose or a loose clamp.

Alright, I was able to get to a few of the clamps by taking off the front lower cowel and front inners. I also was able to remove the radiator bolts and free that up to get to a couple of the uppers. I did not remove the radiator, so I couldn't get to the back clamps. W'll see if that does it. . . ? I didn't want to be with out a bike for any longer than I absolutely needed to. If the problem persists, I will probably pull the airborne and throttle bodies to get to the rest of the clamps.

The he pictures that I posted are the front view of the pump housing where the "square" hole is. I didn't know that this was the square hole until I searched it in the forums and saw a picture that someone else posted. So the coolant seems to be running from the vee and going around the housing down the "dog leg" between the housing and block and coming out if the square hole. Now that makes more sense to me. The round weep hole doesn't appear to leaking at all.

of course it's hot enough now that it's not leaking on start up anymore. . . A cooler weekend may be low enough temps to test the leaking. We shall see. . . . Thanks to all that have posted and gave great tips and info.


Thanks,



Cameron

So your leak is in the upper area of the motor then if your small round hole is dry. which means that the water pump is good. Some have tighten up all of the clamps with the radiator removed with some small sockets with universal joints on them. Good luck.

970mike said:

So your leak is in the upper area of the motor then if your small round hole is dry...

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Lol mike. That can be misinterpreted!!


But I agree if you were talking about the bike. ;-)

BakerBoy said:

Lol mike. That can be misinterpreted!!


But I agree if you were talking about the bike. ;-)

Click to expand...

:bow1: