need water pump help??

[kyle]

fired up the bike yesterday at about 50 degr. and noticed a few drops of antifreeze dripping from the tube thats hooked to bottom of water pump. it seemed to stop after bike warmed up. is this normal?? do i need a new pump?? bikes been stored in garage all winter never under 40 degr. never noticed this before... help

[Snaggletooth]

The 1st gens, like mine, don't have the tube but I'm assuming the 2nd gens have that coming from the weep hole in the pump to keep it from running all along the frame. That indicates the seal in the water pump is not holding.

 

My '84 started with a mild and random drip last fall. It started getting worse this spring so I did a swap with a rebuilt pump. Only been a couple days but no drip so far.

 

I hate random drips. Never leads to good things for the future.

[M61A1MECH]

I would not be to concerned yet, one thing about rubber seals is they always work better when they are warm than when they are cold, ask any aircraft hydraulic mechanic. Granted yours has not been all that cold based on being garaged, but still could be the issue.

 

I would check the coolant over flow bottle to see if you have oil in the coolant, that is a definite sign you need a new set of water pump seals and maybe a new pump in case the shaft is worn.

 

I would keep an eye on it to see if it gets worse, if it stops as the weather warms up, I would chalk it up to a cold seal or sticky seal no fully seating or a short time.

[djh3]

10-4 on the sitting and fluids. Our rule of thumb on the aircraft I worked on was if it had sat for more than 8hr, wipe it off fire the hydros up and cycle several times then check with pressure on it and then static.

[kyle]

UPDATE: started bike today,ran it for 20 min. and not one drop. back to riding it like I stole it.