Water Pump Leak Fix

[z400Clone]

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.

[FsT4WrD]

: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.

[z400Clone]

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

[FsT4WrD]

Originally posted by z400clone@Feb 9 2005, 08:14 PM
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

[miggss]

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?

[z400Clone]

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

[rstaw2_Zs]

(Ringside @ WWF ATV Smackdown)

(The croud goes wild!) RRROOOAAARRR!!!

(Anounser) Great write up z400clone!

Thank you!!!!


:worship: :wave :thumbsup:

[followmeifucan]

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.

[z400Clone]

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

[LotsaQuads]

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

[NormalZ]

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.

[z400Clone]

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:

[N.J.C.]

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....

[ZPrerunner]

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!

[followmeifucan]

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