Scooby,

I've flown a bunch of Bombardier aircraft and their customer service is excellent. I'd go back to Bombardier.

They have always gone well beyond the book to make their customers happy. Your dealers suck. Try going to corporate. You have all your problems documented, so I don't see why they would not want to help.

If the recreational products division doesn't help, jump right to corporate. Send a letter to the President of Bombardier Robert E. Brown. The director of Public Relations for Bombardier as a whole is Michel Lord his number(514) 861-9481.

Best of luck,

Jack

 

I agree with who ever mentioneed the radiator pressure testing, they have an adaptor to fit the small radiator pressure cap fitting, pump it up to what ever the pressure cap rating is, see if the pressure holds or leaks off, if leaks off, could be easy to find the leak from there, listen in crankcase for the noise of water dripping/running etc.
Simple if your a wrench head.

 

I have an appointment scheduled for 2 weeks out at the dealer.

Here is what someone said in the www.f650.com message board: "The shaft that drives the impellar is too soft and the seals wear a small groove which allows the coolant to slowly seep by. This should not cause damage to the engine but get this fixed ASAP. As stated the water pump kit is cheap at 44.00 retail. Make sure the dealer changes the oil AND filter a few times to get the coolant out of the crank case. This happened to my bike at 28k miles and I now have 48k miles and going strong."

 

Here is what someone else said in the www.f650.com message board: "I too experienced this. I believe it started with the water pump failing, unfortunately I ended up with a warped head due to overheating. The head had to be resurfaced. Fortunately it was under warranty...there was no indication the bike was overheating until I saw the milkshake coming out of the overflow tube. I don't know if I wound up with a lemon or not, I also had the problem with the bike popping out of first gear. This was caused by a bent shift fork (from the factory) and was also repaired under warranty. The bike is great now."

It was also mentioned that coolant with silicates would accelerate water pump seal wear. They recommended using BMW or Honda coolant mixed with distilled water.

 

Update: The dealer finally ran some tests on the DS today (They had to order the tools to pressurize the cooling system). They did not find any external leaks or a leak at the water pump seals. They pressurized the cooling system and turned the engine over. The pressure in the cooling system went way up when turning the engine over with very little coolant in the system. They feel there is a leak at one of the head gaskets, but have not tore the motor apart yet. Apparently the compression gasses are leaking into the cooling system. They have ordered new gaskets but not a new waterpump. I'm still suspicious that the waterpump is bad because there were very fine metal flakes in the cooling system when I had drained the fluid. This would lead me to believe that the waterpump shaft is wearing away at the seal, like with the BMW F650s.

 

2 weeks waiting list for service, now 9 working days in the shop and they don't have the parts in yet.

 

Havoline also makes a silicate/phosphate free coolant. Picked up a gallon at the auto parts store for $6.

 

Nice phone number. I called them and they wouldn't do anything for me. They said I needed to contact the recreational products division. I'm getting disgusted with this company.

 

2 weeks waiting list for service, now 14 working days in the shop and they still have the motor apart and out of the frame and they aren't even working on it as we speak.