So Saturday I went into the garage to get my 01 prepped for my track day on Sunday and as the garage door opened I was greeted with a view of my 09, which is expected but with something I wasn't expecting... a small puddle of fluid under the lower cowl. At first I thought it might be oil but then thought about, I don't use K&N oil filters so I think it's something else :wink: . Second thought, fork oil, but when looking at the fluid closer, it wasn't oil! At this point I went onto the 01 to get the prep work started and I'd get back to the 09 later in the day. I took my time with the 01 as the wife was out of town until Monday so I knew the weekend was all mine. So I did a coolant flush/fill (As it was overdue), cleaned and lubed the chain and bled the clutch and brakes. Also checked the oil and safety wired the oil filter and RTVd the oil drain bolt. After that my friend came by and we loaded the 01 onto his truck and then I went onto the 09. I took off the fairings and saw immediately that the reservoir was empty, not overly concerning but a concern none the less. I opened up the radiator and WOW! coolant was almost not visible, now this IS a concern! :scared: So I filled up the radiator and reservoir and looked for leaks but nothing obvious so I went to dinner and then did a few other things and then Scubalong came by so we could get his tires mounted so I put the search for the leak on hold until later. Well Sunday was a bust due to the track day and being too tired when I got home so I took a look at it yesterday. I had a problem with my radiator cap a year or two ago so I thought that it might be the same issue or maybe the thermostat and that running the bike would be the only way to tell. Well I started it up and let it run the bike slowly rose in temperature and stopped about 150F +/- a couple of degrees so I shut it off and waited to see if there was anything leaking but nothing...right away. As I was looking the bike over I noticed that right under the water pump there was a few drops and then saw it turn into a small puddle! Here is where I saw the coolant dripping from Then taking a closer look it was actually from underneath the water pump. So now I'll need to look into this, hopefully it's just a gasket or the bolt needs to be torqued down. Worse case scenarion a new water pump but an investigation will suss this out I hope. If the latter is the case I'll probably also change the thermostat for good measure.
Oh shit---- that's not good--- how many miles on your bike again. Just for shits and giggles I replaced my cap about 3000 miles ago just in case. Hope it's just the bolt Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just a thought. I had a leak in 2000 VFR though it was fairly slow. I t looked as though it was coming from the same place. I ordered and replaced the water pump seal only to find it was the hose above that was leaking at the bottom and it dropped down the outside of the pump assembly and made it look as though the seal was gone. I tightened the hose clamp a bit and it hasn't leaked since.
I was going to suggest this too, often the lowest point appears to be the culprit but its coming from above. Try and observe if it is coming from there.
Yeah, still need to do more investigation on this. I did this a few hours before I was going to pick the wife up from the airport, so limited time. It does seem logical for a hose to be leaking vice the gasket but you never know. If it does turn out to be the pump (for whatever reason) I'd probably just replace the thermostat at the same time. This way I know it was taken care of as well. Coincidentally, the wife actually wanted me to pick her up on the bike but had to take the car instead due to the leak. We both figured coming from LAX on a Monday at the beginning of rush hour would be horrendous in the car, but it actually wasn't bad at all. Got there and back in a span of 2.5 hours! This included waiting for the plane to land and a 60 mile round trip. Would have been better on the bike of course.
I'll check the hoses later today and if that appears to not be the issue, then it would most likely need to be opened up, if that's the case, come on down!
Well based on another look it does appear to be leaking from the location in the bottom picture. I checked the bolts and all are torqued to spec. Also double checked the hoses and those appeared clean and not leaking. While sitting and not running, the leaking stops, run the motor for a few minutes and leaking starts again. So do I replace just the seal or do I order a water pump too, just in case??? Hmmm
Don't be cheap in the wrong way bud. Do it once and forget about it is my motto Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well you will have to remove the pump. Check to see is its still work! Replace it if it not spinning smoothly. Otherwise new gasket and ride on brother
Well I called the local dealer and no gasket. The parts guy said there's one left and it's in the mid-West. Expedited shipping would triple the price, so ~$15! Otherwise order today and comes in next week...Probably the same for any online seller too.
Looks like waterpump time, sorry to say. The seal is bad. On your bike, the whole assembly comes with orings and everything. Partzilla has it for $126. If you really have that many miles on your bike.... WOW! You like to ride.
