I recently found a little water in my oil on my 2003 SP700 and noticed that I had a couple of drips from the weep hole by the water pump. So I changed the waterpump and oil seals as well as a non-melted impeller. The impeller was fine on the fin side but where the seal went into the rear side of it was melted out pretty badly. So i've started it up a few times now and haven't seen any water at all untill last night. I went for a short ride to check out my new clutch and to double check the water/oil situation and when I got home I checked and it had turned ever so slightly yellow-ish from the antifreeze. Other than the head and base gaskets, is there anywhere else that water could be getting in the oil from? It hasn't run hot in the almost 2 years since I've had it but I relocated the radiator to the front rack and apparently I've opened a can of worms.

 

Did you remove the case to replace the seals or did you do it from the out side as some have done? Plus did you position the ceramic seal washer correctly with the hard side towards the seal? Coolant can get through the head or base gasket or even from a cracked water jacket in the cylinder(highly unlikely) but from what I've seen over the years some 700 and 800s would have a small top coating of coolant in the crank case,but didn't hurt anything. Imo I hate the all metal head gaskets as it can allow small amounts of coolant into the cylinder. Over time you can have a little coolant film at the top of the oil. Think it's the nature of the beast so to speak plus found a lot of 800s that used oil between changes. Some a little others more.Possibly the ring clearance against the plated cylinders is a little too much.

 

Yes I pulled the outer part of the case to change the seals and used rtv on both sides of the gasket. I put the oil seal in flat side flush with the case and the water seal was brass (?) side into the case until it was fully seated with a thin coat of blue rtv around it as well. The washer seal went rubber side to the impeller. It may be what you're saying about a layer of coolant in the crankcase but I've never noticed it before and I check and change my fluids very often. I'm wondering if the extra stress of the radiator being up higher may have cause another seal or gasket to begin to fail. I'd sure hate to go thru the trouble of changing the head/base gaskets and it still leak.

 

Depending on how you have the radiator mounted now,I'd still do another good purge with the cap off just to make sure all the air is out of the system. After that if the radiator and coolant bottle stay at a fairly constant level,fan kicks on and off ok and no spewing out of the coolant bottle,then it should be okay. On occasion I've even found a little white coolant foam at the top of the dip sticks on some of the old dependable 500 engines,but most of the time coolant levels were ok..

 

I'll give it another shot this afternoon and go ahead and change the oil and filter one more time just to be sure that all of the coolant got out from before. I know you say a light film or even some foam was somewhat normal or atleast common, I just don't care for the idea but you've never steered me or anyone else that I know of wrong so I'm gonna go with it for now and monitor very closely.

 

Well I ran it for a little over an hour. I had the front elevated about 8" and the back too as well as on level ground. The coolant went up and down and even a few small bubbles came out but a short while after shutting it down I checked the oil and the level rose a little bit and looked the same color as before. I guess I'm down to the two gaskets I really don't want to change. If it was still at the same level I wouldn't be too concerned but since the oil level went up I just don't want to risk hydro - locking the engine and hurting when could be a cheap fix. Unless anyone has any other ideas?

 

Before you tear things apart I'd do a coolant pressure test. If it can't hold 10 psi,then you can be pretty sure it's a gasket leaking internally,especially if the oil level is rising.

 

ok I just got done doing a 30 minute pressure test at 10 psi. I stayed watching it for almost 10 minutes and it had barely moved, maybe 1/4 of a psi. After 30 mins it had dropped just over 2 psi. The oil level didn't move in a noticable amount from before the test and after. It seems there's a slow leak somewhere but where could it be?

 

May be a small pressure drop under operating temperature,when hot metal expands and possibly when gaskets can seep or leak even more. If it's getting coolant in the oil I'd suspect the head gasket or even a base gasket.Tear down may be necessary,plus not a bad idea to have the head and cylinder magnafluxed to check for any possible cracks.Dirt Cheap Yamaha & Polaris OEM Parts & Accessories – Cycle Parts Warehouse. You can buy the kit or have a machine shop do it. Not that expensive.

 

Thanks OPT I just ordered a top end gasket set and I'll check everything out while it's apart. I've got some stuff we use at work for checking for cracks and imperfections.