This is the fix that everybody is wanting to stop the leaking water pump. I have heard a lot of people having this problem but no real solutions or fixes to the problem. Most were suggesting putting new o'ring gaskets on and that wasn't the needed fix. Mine is just leaking on the floor with the machine not even running, so i decided it was time for a fix.

My waterpump is leaking from the weep hole between the oil seal the the mechanical seal. The mechanical seal is letting water by and it goes out the weep hole which is between the clutch cover and the water pump assembly. So you will need a mechanical seal- Suzuki part # 17470-02F10

z400clone doesn't like this puddle, but





"clone" likes chrome! :schweet:

Start by draining the radiator fluid and engine oil. Take off your rear brake lever. Then take off all thirteen bolts around the clutch cover. Take the cover off gently so you can reuse your gasket. You can go ahead and take the waterpump cover off as well.

Now once you have it off, you'll need to get the plastic gear off. To do this you will need snapring pliers.





After taking the snapring off, take the gear off and there will be a pin and a washer behind it. Take those off.






Then there will be a circlip holding the impeller shaft in place. Take it off. I used a small flat screwdriver for this. Now you can take your impeller shaft out.






After getting the impeller shaft out, you can get the seal off. You can see my seal is trash. It is in two seperate pieces-not good. It is all supposed to be together like the new one. My old one is on the left and the new one on the right.







The top pic, of these two below, is the rest of the seal. This is the other half of the seal which BTW isn't supposed to be seperated. Now, you have to get the back side of your old seal out. This isn't easy here. I used screwdrivers to pry until i could get pliers on it to pull. You can see in the bottom pic what has to come out and that i tore the old one up pretty good.









Here's what it looks like with that tore up piece outa there.




Now, tap in your new seal with gently. I lubed mine a little bit b/c it's a real tight fit and it will help it slide in a little better. Make sure you only tap on the outer metal part, not the rubber part of the seal. You'll have to use a small punch to get it completely seated. Here's what it looks like with the new seal in.









There's also another part to the new seal that goes on the impeller shaft. White side faces out.







And here's what it looks like with the impeller installed.





Now, just put everything back together in reverse order. If you have any questions, just ask.

:schweet: nice write up.

Is this mechanical seal part # 17470-02F10 from a Suzuki dealer ?

Where did you get the impeller ?

What advantages are there with useing the impeller instead of just re-installing the gear ?

Mine is starting to leak a little, not enough to hit the ground and diffenetly not enough to be leaking like yours.

Yes, the seal part # is a suzuki part

The impeller is stock. The gear is just on the back side of the impeller. The gear is driven off the crank if i remember right which turns the impeller

My bad :disgust

Thanks for the info and the great write up

z400clone....nice write up and awesome job with your quad. You just polish up the clutch cover and the other parts, or did you have them chromed? Also, where did you get the clear radiator hose?

The cases are chromed which BTW are nasty in the pics from the leaking.

The clear hose is row crop sprayer hose that i got from our local town and country supply. It's cheap and works good.

Edit: Not to be a d!ck, but i would like to keep the questions about the write up and you can pm me with goodies questions. Thanks

(Ringside @ WWF ATV Smackdown)

(The croud goes wild!) RRROOOAAARRR!!!

(Anounser) Great write up z400clone!

Thank you!!!!


:worship: :wave :thumbsup:

here are the rest of the part #'s:

#17435-29f00 o-ring, waterpump $7.48
#17470-02f10 seal, waterpump $21.24
#17419-29f00 seal,oil $7.24
#17435-33400 o-ring, waterpump $4.99

the only thing missing is the clutch cover gasket as the guy gave me the wrong one at the steelership.

you can also check out this thread for pictures from the manual:

http://z400central.com/invision/index.php?...t=0&#entry27378

i also recomend a billit impeller as its cheap insurance over the plastic one.

Thanks Norm. I took this straight from that page so everybody can see things all spread out. All the o'rings are great to replace, but not necessary in less they are smashed flat. The mechanical seal is what's causing the leakage which is #4 on the diagram

Nice work. Thanks for taking the time to show us how and what to do.

Anybody looking for my Pro Design water impeller install - this answers it! No need for that write-up with this here. Damn nice work, clone!

Here's the difference between the stock impeller and the PD impeller. Same number of fins, more curve to the PD fins.

OK guys and gals, i tested my fix today and it went good. It's too crapy here to go riding so i let it warm up the garage and let it run about 20 minutes AFTER the fluid started flowing(thermostat opened). That is when the water used to leak the most. Anyways, like 20 minutes of the fluid flowing and not a drop. This is the fix to the problem.


Here's some pics. The machine is running and the fluid is flowing in the pics so it looks a little lighter that normal from a slight foaming :what but as you can see, not a green drop anywhere. And, if you want to know what i look like, you can look at me from the reflection on the cases :schweet:

Damn nice job Adam!!! :schweet:

I'm glad everything went smooth for you.......this is a good write up and everything looks very nice! This should be pinned for awhile.... ;)

Just a quick question.. how exactly does that seal cause the leak? It seams to me that if its leaking out of the waterpump cover that a seal in the back of it wouldnt be the cause.. and if the seal between the gear/bearings you would have a condidtion similar to a blown head gasket with water in the oil and oil in the water. Correct? Maybe I have it completly backwards but thats how it looks to me. I have a leak going on, not near that bad yet, but its coming from the crack between the pump cover and the case, which leads me to believe its the outer o-ring since the coolant is only inside the pump if it was leaking past the rear seal it would be in the oil with the clutch correct? Somebody school me please.

Oh and great write up, I'm digin into mine this weekend, perfect timing! Thanks!

i also thaught it was the cover as mine started to leak after a crash so i thaught something was fudged with it, it was not the problem, its the seal, #4 in the pic, and as z400clone said you probley don't even have to replace those o-rings unless they are flat or dry and brittle. i always replace gaskets and o-rings, habbit i guess 8) good luck, its pretty simple.


norm

Quick question??????? I don't know about that. Not a problem though.

Class has begun. If you have a leak between the clutch cover(case as you call it) and the waterpump assembly, IT IS THE MECHANICAL SEAL. These things haven't been out long enough for the oring seals to be bad. If you read my write up you would know there is a weep hole that lets the water out between the two. And if you look at the diagram, there is an oil seal which is the last barrier to keep the water from mixing with the oil and it keeps the oil from crossing that point as well. The weep hole is between the mechanical seal and the oil seal. The water gets past the mechanical seal and goes out the weep hole onto the ground. DO NOT JUST PLUG THIS HOLE UP TO STOP THE LEAKING! This is what keeps the water from building pressure and entering the oil. Yes, my leak started out as a drip last summer and progressed to this. I would say 99% sure the seal I replaced is your problem. If you ever had it apart you would see what is happening.

well when I started typing it was a quick question.. lol Thanks for answer though. I get it now, I didnt realize there was a seperate oil seal, thats what I was getting hung up on. I'm gonna go ahead and replace the o-ring and pray that I got lucky, if that dont work I'll have to do this... thanks! :schweet:

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up, mine is just leaking a little bit right now, but I wasn't sure exactly how to fix it, but thanks to you I'm sure i'll be able to take care of the problem now, or hopefully soon. thanks once again.

Thanks for the compliments guys. I have a lot more appreciation for the people that have done technical fixes with pics now that i've done this one. Stopping quite often to take a pic, getting the camera oily from the residual oil and antifreeze from the cover, then procceding on track is tougher than i guessed. But this was well worth the extra time. Just wanted this to be at the top again so people would think about fixing that slow drip they have coming from the water pump, before it got so nice out that you wouldn't want to take the time to do it. BTW, that slow drip WILL get worse.

Being in the Swimming Pool business for almost 20 years, I noticed that the seal in the waterpump is no different than a regular PS1000 pump seal used in many different pool and spa pumps. I buy these wholesale for about $4 so check with your local pool and spa store for a seal, compare the two and save some money! Also this type of seal needs to be pressed in on the carbon side of the seal where the metal colar seats in the housing. Be sure to seal that with silicone or aviation sealant or it will leak behind the seal plate. Also a 1" PVC Coupling works great to use as a driver to drive the seal into the housing without damage to the seal.

These are the same seals used in automotive applications and it is a shame that people buy a whole new water pump for hundreds of dollars for a $5 seal... Seals are like brake pads - they are designed to wear out...

Use caution with the aftermarket impellers cause they can increase the coolant flow through the system and cause erosion problems with the aluminum radiators and passages. Also the stock impeller is plastic for a reason, it wont erode over time from the veloicity of the coolant flowing through the vanes of the impeller... But they sure look neat!

Hope this helps!

I too have a water pump leak on my brand new (used) 2003 z400 and have a question about this.. I bought the bike from a shop that told me after the fact that it has a leak and was going to fix it no charge. When I persisted in finding out more about it I found that the leak also bled into my oil. So now that I know that I had anitfreeze in my oil (the mechanic said not a whole lot) Im wondering if Im going to have to look into a new crankcase bearing?? Is this a typical thing with the z's?? And should I try to figure a way to have the shop that sold me the bike to take it back???I've been told this is the sight to go to when it comes this type of question. please help. Thankyou

I just found my pump dripping, so I went and bought the ps 1000 pump seal from the local pool shop. After I tore my quad down, I find the ps 1000, while it is the exact type of seal, is about twice the size of the one needed. After trying several different seal suppliers, I gave up and ordered from the dealer. The problem is finding the seal in metric dimensions. I paid $8.50 for the one from the pool shop, and the Arctic Cat dealer by work wanted $26 for the seal! Alba has them for about $15. If anyone has found a source for them, they should post it. None of the dealers in Tulsa even had it in stock.

so putting in the billet impellar is going to damage your radiator because of higher coolant flow? seriously? erosion like over ten years or over a summer of riding? im too curious now about this because i just bought one of the pro-design impellars to increase the coolant flow. how can a 15% increase in coolant flow damage your rad?

i've had one in mine for over 2 years now and not a single problem yet with coolent.

norm

thanks--i was doubtful about that. just didnt make sense.

Same here - about two years now and not a problem with it. The Pro Design impeller is a good one.

Bump...

this should be a sticky...

Awesome write up.

I just did the install yesterday and my seal was in two pieces also. I wonder if the mechanical seals were defective from the factory, installed improperly, or what? Are mechanical seals normally a high-fail item?

I also had the leaky seal syndrome in a 2004 ltz that I picked up.

I followed the write up and it seemed to fix the problem.

BUT after a couple of rides I 've noticed a bit of coolant coming out the weep hole when I first start her up. Seems to stop once the engine is warm. Anyone else have this happen to them?

Just wondering if I should order another set of seals and o-rings for the stock shelf if this is going to be an ongoing thing.

my 04 did the same thing but i just bought the whole new water pump

if i may add a tip . getting the cup part of the seal is the toughest part of the whole procedure, i found that the cup will come out extremely easy if the lip of the cup is bent up all the way around it.

a 15/16 socket worked very well at putting it back in

I hope people still look at this post.... I just found it today and am pissed I didn't earlier. Replaced the mechanical seal three times for this same problem. Could gunky coolant mess up the mechanical seal causing the leak out the weephole and into the crank case? Any reply would be apreciated, this problem is a pain!

newbie

Check to make sure that you didnt some how accidently bend the shaft. Any wobble at all will make it leak. I have seen that happen on other machines before.

Gunky coolant usually wont do anything to the seal that I know of.

Thanks a lot for your response. In the past I have completely replaced my entire water pump assembly (shaft and all) and have now run into the same problem. When I take the mechanical seal out and inspect it, it looks as if dirt got into the seal and caused the malfuction. I am going to try flushing out my system and put new seals in again to see if that works.
When the water pump is installed, is it normal for the weep hole to be mostly blocked by the crankcase cover? Is this a defect? The gap between the pump housing and the crankcase cover leaves enough room to collect all kinds of dirt and debree, seems like it could contribute to my problem. I will post pics of the damaged seal soon.

Well, I took off the radiator to do a good flush and found that there were many black paint chips loose in there. It is the stock radiator- TOYO 62702, and when i look inside the inlet outlet holes i can see where the paint has been peeling off. This could be the reason for the water pump failure. Big pieces of paint floating through the system. Any info provided would be very helpful.

This is a warranty repair item right??? my quad just started doing the same thing....

can you post those pics again

my 04 is doing the same thing. I took to dealer and they said they ordered the parts and fixed it per warranty. I dont think its fixed because I got a rag and dried everything, and a couple days later I see green fluid showing up?? Do I need to go ride it to let things get seated or what??? Assuming its actually leaking, will coolant from overflow bottle go to radiator if it starves for coolant?? Im probably gonna end up returning to dealer for a new water pump... good thing I got the 4 year extended........

Anyone had the dealer try to repair this problem??

I cant see the pix WTH? Now that mine needs to be done I cant see how to do it.

if you take apart your clutch cover you will understand what the pics show. i can also take some pics for you if i remember since mines apart right now.

Great walk through. I coudn't see the pictures, but it was still a huge help. no more leak. thanks clone.

if someone could make an update that would be greatly appreciated. I can't see any pics.

Someone recently brought it to my attention that my pictures were dead in this post. Imagestation (the host I used) seems to have closed it internet doors for business and I have lost the pictures from changing computers. Not owning any sort of 400 for over 3 years makes it tough to redo it too!

So if anybody remembers my pictures and has any OR is about to do this and wants to snap some photos and send to me, I will update this thread for the good of all!

sucks the pics are gone..anyway how ya been?

i replaced that o ring and the w00ter still leaks

O-ring ??? what O-ring ? if its leaking its most likely the mechanical seal causing the leak

Hey guys need some help after trying to install the mechanical water pump seal on my 04 KFX 400...as i was trying to press the seal onto the short metal shaft I somehow screwed it up and need to replace it....does anyone have a part number on that piece or a diagram so i can order a new one?? Thanks guys i appreciate it!!