First let me introduce myself .. Name is Mike, 50 yrs young and a long time Dirt Bike rider (KTM450) and I just inherited a son in law and his 4 wheeler. LOL

Now on to the issue, 2000 Model Kodiak 400 and it has coolant in the oil. Just as cloudy as milk .. He just bought this thing and never looked at the dipstick .. That makes him a dipstick but I digress. Anyway we drained the oil and changed it with some cheapo oil and ran it down the street about 300 yards and back and drained the oil ... YEP cloudy as milk again and the radiator had dropped about 2 inches .. Not good. Ran fine and no white smoke like you would expect from a head gasket leaking into cylinder. Also no leakage on the garage floor that I can see and nothing on the cylinder or water pump.

My question to you experts is .. Head gasklet ??? Water pump oil seal ??? Anything else we can check. I really dont mind pulling the head but I would rather not have to if we dont need to. Is there anyway to test for blown gasket other than a leakdown test? I dont have a leakdown tester.

Any advice or ridicule would be welcome.

 

Anybody ??? Nobody has been thru this before ??

I have seen lots of posts where fluid is actually leaking out thru the mechanical seal but nada on it leaking past the oil seal.

Come on .. somebody tell me I dont have to pull the head

 

i recently had a quad, non yamaha, that was putting coolant in the crankcase and would spit milk out the stator vent. we replaced the O-ring on the water pump where it installed under the engine where the pump driver was located. i don't know how to do a leak test. sorry. i would recommend to stay simple on repairs before pulling the head. unless the head went through some sort of temperature shock/swing (getting underwater while hot). when running, do you see/hear any kind of leakage at the head gasket?

 

I would try the oil change another time or two and watch the rad to see if it keeps dropping. Always park it on something like cardboard etc so you can be sure it is not merely leaking outside of the engine.
The water in the engine could be from excessively deep water riding, especially if dipstick did not know what the dipstick was, unlikely he ever changed the oil.
I have no idea if these quads have a place where they commonly have a problem of this nature, but go to tradebit.com and look for a manual to download, study it and see how many places the coolant and oil run next to each other.
I would guess, base of the cylinder, head to cylinder or water pump seal would be a prime place for trouble.
You may find yourself in the market for a automotive cooling system pressure tester which allows you to pump up the cooling system with a few lbs of air pressure and look and listen for a leak. If you can get your hands on one of these testers that would be a very good place to start if your sure there is no external leaks.

If you can't you could improvise by putting air pressure into the hole where the water temp sensor goes. Something as simple as siliconing in a piece of fuel line and blowing in it with your mouth may show the problem, (engine off) or connecting it to a regulator and giving no more then 10psi, but in that case you will need to find a fitting that screws in where the temp sender does to make a better connection.
Ken

 

check that the bolts on the head are tight. I found a bolt lying on top of the engine and found an empty hole on the head. Bolt fit so I put it in. I did not have any troubles before or after. This was on a 2000 400 kodiak.
Hopefully it is something simple like that. If you are going to do the seal at the water pump, I suggest u replace the impellor at the same time.
Check the housing aat the water pump too as the new owner of mine spotted a hair line crack in it before he bought it. ( ya I had to drop the price a few hundred because of his damn eagle eyes lol)
Could u pressurise the system with like a garden hose and listen for leaks with a steffiscope (sp) or a small piece of hose , 1 end held to your ear and the other held at various places on the engine?
Good luck, keep us informed!!

 

Thanks for the replies fellas

Yeah I am all about not pulling that head and we have no idea of the machines history as he bought it used from a little ole lady. Seriously.

Yeah we did change it a few times and each time the collant dropped. Not a drop leaking on the floor since ha has had it ... All of it going into the crankcase.


I talked to a Yamaha mechanic yesterday and immediately he said "Water Pump .. Early model Kodiaks were notorious for this". So I pulled it off last night and the mechanical seal was so corroded I buggered it up trying to get it out. Also the oil seal looked to be pretty worn as well. The pump shaft had a pretty good groove going all the way around too. So I order a new pump for a 2002 model Kodiak. (Newer design with hose instead of just weephole) and when it comes in will swap out and see if that cures the issue. The parts to rebuild the pump were about half of the price of a new one so just gonna do the shotgun approach and swap the whole enchilada.

Stay tuned and Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

Keep us posted, be sweet if that cures it
Ken

 

Well No luck on the pump replacement. . It took me a week to get arouond to working on the thing again. We are remodeleing a bathroom so I ahevnt had too much time to work on the ole Kodiak. Anyway .. Pulled the old pump off and installed the new one and filled her up with Anitfreeze and to my surprise she fired right up. Idled pretty well and after about 2 mins I shut ir down and held my breath while I pulled the drain plug ... Milky White .. DANG IT. I thought maybe just maybe that was some of the old oil left in it. Filled up with oil again and ran it for a few mins and drained the oil .. Milky again DOUBLE DANG IT. Not as bad but still milky white. Coolant level also dropped about an inch.

So round one was a $150 failure.

Plug seems OK and no tell tale white smoke out of the exhaust so I am thikning not a head gasket since it doesnt appear to be any signs of water in the top end. So in my opinion the only other thing it could be is a cracked cylinder near the base (under piston) OR base gasket.

What do you experts think? Am I missing something here, can anyone else think of how water could be getting into the oil?

HELP!!!

 

Come on guys .. Dont give up on me yet.

 

You could do this. If you were near me I would do it for you.
Amazon.com: UVIEW 560500 Replacement Combustion Leak Tester Fluid: Automotive
But why?
You replaced the easy stuff now you need to get into the engine. No big deal. Just do it. Tear it down, replace a few gaskets, check for cracks and get on with life.