antifreeze leaking out of weep hole

Hey guys! I have been an avid reader for quite some time and I have a leak that i need to solve. I have a `04 vfr 800 and it has been 3 weeks since I have started it up. I put it on its center stand and i noticed antifreeze leaking out of the top end. It is located on the right side at the center of the motor. I checked all of the fluids and I rode it for several miles and no more has leaked out. What would cause that? Is it bad?

 

You say in your post that the antifreeze is leaking out of a weep hole. Has the coolant been changed recently? If so maybe it is just a little that was spilt when doing the swap. The water pump on these bikes is at the bottom of the valley between the cylinder heads I believe, so maybe a loose hose or something. Maybe remove the rad cap and check to see that the fluid level is all the way up in the radiator and that the fluid is at the proper level in the overflow container (not sure which side that is on the 2004 but on the 2000's it is the right side). I would think you should be ok if no more has leaked out since you rode it.

 

it might simply be weeping from a loose clamp, and there is the fact that the intake has several coolant passages. If you havent started it in a while and it has gone away i would hedge that its just a minor weeping that should cause no trouble. If your really worried you will need to do a pressure test on the coolant system and this wil force all leaks to appear in force. Just be careful that you dont get stupid and over pressure the system. this will cause a seal to break. pressure test to 1.5 times the working pressure, eg .6 bar would test at 1.15bar. go no higher than 1.75 times as bar is way higher than psig. 1bar is 14.7psig and 2 bar is 29.4psig.

personally i would worry if it came back.

 

Here is a picture to better explain myself.

 

Interesting read there; I have an OTC radiator pressure tester and they tell you to take the system up to 25 pounds, I used it on my cars but never on any of my bikes. I was telling a friend and he said he never uses more than 15 pounds. What does the 1.1 mean on my radiator cap?

 

From Zenbiker - "pressure test to 1.5 times the working pressure, eg .6 bar would test at 1.15bar. go no higher than 1.75 times as bar is way higher than psig. 1bar is 14.7psig and 2 bar is 29.4psig."

My guess from the previous post would be that 1.1 (bar) might be the pressure rating on the rad cap. From the looks of one of the previous post 1 bar = 14.7 psig so 1.1 bar would likely be close to 15 psig.

 

Thanks for the logical replies! I will see if I can rent the tools and post the results a soon as possible.

 

Do you have a Service Manual? If not, get one, or download one. Then, always start with the simple stuff! Are your clamps tight? Maybe a leak developed in the actual hose, or around the thermostat housing. Also, better than pressure testing would be to run the Motorcycle up to temparature, and see if it is leaking. Have you checked your oil to see if it is a head gasket? If the head gasket is gone, it will allow coolant to leak into the oil. Your oil will turn a light brown milky color. If you do not find a leak make sure to keep an eye on your oil and coolant levels. BTW, I wouldn't suggest to go over 1.1 bar or 15 p.s.i.. If you had/have a shop manual it would tell you in there what the correct pressure would be.

 

The picture that I posted is the only place that it is leaking. I will keep in mind what you said. Thanks for your post!

 

I have noticed a leak in my 5th gen from the same hole as you show in the picture post # 4 above. Right side lower engine block. What is this hole for? Is Weep hole seemed like colloquial name? Do you know what it's called in the manual. ALso can you post your fix / solution?

 

Replace the water pump, it means the seal is failing

 

Thanks NormK , So no other possible cause? There is no seal I can replace instead of the whole watere pump unit or is it standard to assume if the seal is going the whole pump unit needs to be replaced. Bike has 43k miles and i am trying to keep it alive as my city commuter. It's not longer the pretty belle at the ball. It feels like lots of stuff is starting to fail now, so a little gun shy about over spending money, if i can avoid it.

One more, how difficult a job is it to replace the waterpump?

 

Many years ago you could replace the seal in water pumps but not anymore, would probably cost more for a seal than a new pump. Reasonable job, expect it to drift into a second day if you are not well experienced in this sort of work

 

did you get the leak fixed?

 

Mine started leaking from this same hole today. Would love to know how you turned out. I'm in the middle of moving and don't want to take it to a shop so I'm just kinda sitting on it at this point.

 

That drain hole will let out any liquid that accumulates in the V. If you pour some water in there you'll probably flush out a heap of green dye and whatever coolant is still present.

There's a few hoses in there around the thermostat, and my 5th gen started leaking from one of them after a service where I lowered the radiators to access the front head. I think the twisting force on the radiator hose started the leak.



Replacing the hoses is easy and cheap but getting in there is not, as the throttle bodies and airbox need to be removed. If you can gain access, you could try tightening the hose clamps first. If you do have to pull the throttle bodies out, then my advice would be to replace the thermostat at the same time as the hoses.

 

Yes i did but it was a massive pain in the ass. I discovered it wasn't the water pump but some of the hoses connecting to the thermostat housing had perished and were leaking. They are buried soo deep in the guts of the frame. I ended up pulling off the tank , air-filter housing and throttle body off to get at the thermostat and hoses. It was a pretty big job that took me a long time of hesitant progress as I realized how deep i was getting in.

Luckily, i did it during a City College Mechanics class, so I had some decent support. I could not have done this myself at home with my limited wrenching experience.

Good luck with yours, happy to answer any questions.

 

Thanks for the info. Guess I need to decide if it's something I want to toothache through for the knowledge and experience or drop the cash on

 

It seems like those hoses shrink down under the clamps after a few years and might need a turn or two of a screwdriver to tighten things up again. Checking each hose clamp should be done as preventative maintenance once every year or two.

 

Sounds reasonable but to be honest, I had to do so much work to get in there and access the clamps. You don't want to take off your throttle body once a year as routine maintenance.