I've got a coolant dripping out of a short hose attached to the bottom left (facing forward) side of the motor under the skid plate. The hose is attached to what must be the waterpump housing (I don't have service manual yet). It only leaks when it's running. Has anyone else had this problem? What would cause coolant to drip out this hose? I'm suspect a water pump gasket or something along that line.

 

Sounds like a pump seal leaking. Haven't heard of that problem on the 650's. If it's under warranty take it back. If not, keep the coolant topped up and see if the leak gets worse or better over time.

 

boghog
If its leaking from the pump , chances are its a seal. The hose on kawi are one ply, could be a leaking hose or a loose clamp.

 

I havent heard of this happening to the P650 either. But, what you discribe happend to my Kodiak and it was the water pump leaking. The dealer replaced the waterpump with a new and updated one. Never had any problems since and thats been over 2 years.

 

The only place the coolant is coming out is the breather hose just below the waterpump assembly. There are no leaks around the pump housing. I took the pump housing off to see where the hose goes but couldn't tell anything from looking inside.

Kissofdeath, was the coolant leaking only out the breather hose on your Kodiak?

 

I replaced my water pump seals, it was about 20 bux. Kinda tough getting the old one out.

When the seal leaked, it poured out that funny hose below the water pump just like you describe.

It was easy to do except for the seal part that is in the block was hard to yank out.

The part that is on the impeller is probably fine. The seal itself is probably ok. But the rubber bladder that attaches the seal to the outer seal housing could be ripped or cracked. That seems like the easiest way for a water pump seal on a 650 to go bad.

 

I took the waterpump apart again and removed the impeller and the seals. The impeller seal looks ok but inner seal (the bladder on a spring) looks defective from the molding process. There are airs strips or bubbles on the bottom of the seal preventing a proper seal. This may be where it is leaking. I posted pictures on my page.

I've ordered a new inner and outer seal and a housing gasket. I'll wait until I get the parts before I mess with outer seal housing. It looks like one of those parts you have to destroy to remove.

I think Kawi should have to replace the parts for free. The bike is 8 months old (just out of warranty) and the seal looks obviously defective from the factory.

Nyroc, did your seals look like this when you replaced them.

 

Yes, the rubber thing looked a bit malformed kinda like you said. I had to destroy the outer housing thingy.

Not a peep of water has leaked since.

I wasn't sure if this thing leaking was my fault since I used such strong cooling system flush (after I used dirty water in the radiator) that it appeared to have eaten the coolant neck. I suspected that the flush had also damaged the pump seal. I am going to keep a closer eye on the coolant strainer, since all my cooling system problem began when the strainer clogged.

 

Nyroc
Where is the strainer located?

Thanks
Andy

 

to the left side of the carbs, looks like a fuel filter except it has green fluid in it.

I pouored water wetter in the rad, but forgot to ride it a lot after. That was the only thing that happened to the cooling system before the bad stuff happened.

1. Something clogged the strainer (water wetter said it couldn't be their product). Other than that, it could only be santa claus or the tooth fairy. Most people don't have this happen. Only one other person had this happen with water wetter.
2. Strainer melted on a hot ride, when radiator was muddy.
3. Lost coolant due to steam releasing
4. After cooling and plugging the strainer hoses, contiued riding with dirty water in rad.
5. Scaling in engine due to pond water caused poor cooling.
6. I flushed the system with a strong coolant flush.
7. The pump seal and coolant fill neck were eaten.
8. Colling system is fine now, but that really sucked.