Hi Forum,

I had a minor oil leak through last season, which I monitored and found to be small enough not to require refilling, so to the tune of a drop or two per day. Annoying none the less, and I couldn't figure out where the source was, since it was all an oily mess under the fairings.
I followed sound advice from this and other forums, and cleaned off the engine with degreaser and wiped everything down. That allowed me to see that the oil was leaking from the place where the arm of the water pump goes into the crank case. So the o-ring sealing that connection must be shot, and I've ordered a new one. So far, so good.

So the question is: Has anybody changed this o-ring without draining the oil and/or the coolant? The water pump needs to come almost all the way out, it seems, and I don't know if the hoses will stretch enough? Would be nice to avoid having to change oil and flush the cooling system if not necessary.

 

@joeson72 Hi and welcome to the forum. Changing oil and coolant seems a minor inconvenience to me, but that's just me. If they are recently new, you can always put it back in the engine after.

 

I would drain into clean containers if there was any chance of cross contamination. As IDoDirt noted, if it's all good after fixing, you can just put the oil/coolant back in...

 

Hi - thanks for the welcome and the replies. I just changed the oil and coolant recently, therefore I'd like to hear if anybody had succeeded in not draining before the fix. Oil change is quick, but coolant is a bit more involved in my opinion.

An option is to keep it and put it back in as suggested. Thanks!

 

I'm with you on only wanting to do what is necessary! Over the years, the more I've worked on my bikes, the more I realize that doing a little extra (cleaning, checking hoses, wires, etc.) usually ends up saving me time in the long run or allows me to identify potential problems before they become real problems.

 

An update for posterity:

I drained the coolant with the drainage bolt on the pump assembly and removed TWO of the four hoses going into the water pump - the two leading down and towards the front of the bike.

I then ran a strap from the crossbar in the subframe to an anchor point in the ceiling and back down to the front of the main frame below the gas tank. I could then lean the bike over on its right side, about 20 degrees, hanging in the strap. This kept the oil away from the hole through which the water pump arm enters the crank case. I could then remove the water pump, which still had the two top hoses connected, and could easily rotate it out, exposing the arm. Quick cleaning of the surfaces, a new o-ring and water pump went back in and hoses back on. Oil leak fixed!

Now I'll flush the coolant system, since what came out when I emptied it wasn't pretty..

 

Nice when a plan comes together like that! 👍