Polaris Missing water pump impeller

I am working on a 2002 Polaris 700 Sportsman with fluid leaking from the weep hole.

I pulled the water pump cover off and there is NO water pump impeller. Any ideas where it went or has this happened to anyone else?

I am not sure where to go from here, where are the impeller pieces? The bike has never been worked on before and no pieces came out of the radiator when it was flushed.

any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

If you just have the impeller nut left,cavitation from hot air/lack of coolant can eat one up in a short period of time. I've found plenty of these like this when water pump seals leak and air or what small amount of coolant in the cavity becomes super hot and melts one. Small pieces can shoot up through the water jackets and some pieces can end up inside the thermostat. The water pump should have the metal plate over the plastic cover or the updated aluminum cover that solved the problem on leaking from the covers also.Pulling the thermostat and flushing the cooling system is probably needed.Radiator can be flushed and hopefully you'll find some small pieces also.Best to pull the flywheel and stator and the inner case to be able to knock out the water pump seal and oil seal. Easy to replace this way rather than trying to take short cuts on trying to pull the seal out as some have done and bent the oil/water pump shaft.Then it gets more expensive. Item #9 is the oil seal,#10 is the outer engine case that needs to be pulled.http://www.cyclepartswarehouse.com/f...2002&fveh=5601 Best to have a manual if you don't have one. Here's a 2003 that's basically the same for 5 bucks that will show you step by step on this.2003 Polaris Sportsman 700 Service Manual PDF Download

 

I have the crank case apart and seals out. I had already ordered the mechanical seal and oil seal. I was really suprised when the pump had no impeller. I have flushed the radiator but did not find any pieces.

Should I pull the thermostat too???

I plan on flushing all the lines before reassemble.

Thanks again for your help.

 

I'd pull it just for piece of mind to see if the thermostat rubber seal is ok and no trapped pieces of impeller.Plus you can use compressed air to back flow through the cylinder. If it's clean of any debris and in good shape,just reinstall it. Make sure the small hole in the thermostat housing is pointing upwards.

 

Thank you, you have been EXTREMELY helpful with this build and on prior occassions.

Again, thanks for the help