2001 SRX 700 Intermittent Coolant Leak

A

albernhagen

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Messages
46
Location
Wisconsin
Hey All,

I noticed a week ago that my temp light was blinking and I thought it was due to snow conditions and cold temps. However, I found out my coolant bottle was empty. I filled it up and hauled the sled north again and found some coolant in the bed of my truck. My buddies and I looked in with a flashlight and found some coolant dripping slowly (a drop every 12 seconds) from the bottom of the front of the water pump, at least that's where it appeared to be. I packed a thermos full of coolant to ride and didn't seal the coolant bottle cap all the way to minimize the pressure in the system, and once riding the coolant stayed full and I never needed to add to it. Not sure what I should do next. Is there a certain gasket or seal in the water pump I should replace (and that doesn't require pulling the engine)? Or should I run some stop leak through the coolant system to see if that seals it? Or should I not worry about it and see if the leak comes back? I've started reading about replacing the seals, but since it seemed like the issue kind of went away I'm not sure if I should tackle this (or if I can at least wait until the summer). Sound like I could also try changing the O ring the the washer on the impeller bolt as that is sometimes the issue and not the mechanical seal?

Thanks!
 
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Sounds like its leaking from impeller seal through weep hole. It needs to be changed. Never done it but read enough posts on it to know it is challenging to do in Sled but can be done. Search impeller seal and you will get tons of info on this
 
Is that just the hose on the front? That looks dry from everything I can see, but I'll take the pipes off this week and look closer. Since the leak went away, I think I may try to just change the O-ring and the on the impeller bolt. Seems like that should be somewhat easy to do as I'm hoping to get things fixed up before riding next weekend! Sounds like the mechanical seal is much tougher.
 
What about starting simple and simple checking your torques on the water pump cover are ok along with your tube fittings?

if your feeling mcguyverish you can plumb and old bike pump to a cork stopper in the coolant res and apply some pressure-then check with leak-tek or a soap and water solution. the leak should bubble- or if big enough you should see coolant leaking.


Also, from your description it sounds like you were riding without a pressurized system since the cap wasn't seated home. Do you think your problem didnt really go away- but maybe your just not seeing it because there is minimal pressure at the leak point now? i wouldn't think riding around with a loose coolant cap is a lonfg term solve.

you did bring up something i've considered myself- STOP LEAK or some other coolant additive- has anyone had luck using this stuff for mystery leaks?
 
if you take the pipes off, you can see the waterpump weep hole easily with a mirror on a stick. Clean it off and observe if its leaking. You will be able to see the hose to waterpump inlet much easier as well. Another place they leak is the metal clamp that holds the lower hose on by the recoil, seen them wear thru the hose from vibration.
 
Thanks for the awesome feedback guys, it's really helpful. I'll pull off the pipes tonight and see what I can find.

Barry -- I thought that the lack of pressure may have played a role, but then I remembered my sled was leaking on the trailer on the way up north before it ever ran that day, so it seems like that shouldn't have made a difference. I was trying to check the coolant level while we were riding on the trail but it was bubbling hot when I took the cap off. Not sure if that's expected or not.
 
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