Water Pump Seal Fix!

The stock water pump seal failed on my bike at 3k miles. It's never been ridden in the dirt and the shaft was found to be grooved, so a new seal didn't fix it.

Found Kawasaki part # 92049-0104 seal will fit and is 1mm deeper, moving the sealing area away from the damaged area on the shaft. Looks like a winner for the next guy that this happens to.

Good job! Keep us posted on long term reliability.

Great info dude, will try this.

Great find!

I moved your topic from the general forum to the cooling forum and made it a sticky since there have been many posts concerning this issue.

Dale

jlburgess said:

The stock water pump seal failed on my bike at 3k miles. It's never been ridden in the dirt and the shaft was found to be grooved, so a new seal didn't fix it.

Found Kawasaki part # 92049-0104 seal will fit and is 1mm deeper, moving the sealing area away from the damaged area on the shaft. Looks like a winner for the next guy that this happens to.

Click to expand...

Don't forget to use antifreeze coolant, this also aids as a lubricant for the seal and should prolong the wear to the shaft also.
Unless you ride SM on the circuit where you can only use water.

Regards

Sparks.

jlburgess said:

The stock water pump seal failed on my bike at 3k miles. It's never been ridden in the dirt and the shaft was found to be grooved, so a new seal didn't fix it.

Found Kawasaki part # 92049-0104 seal will fit and is 1mm deeper, moving the sealing area away from the damaged area on the shaft. Looks like a winner for the next guy that this happens to.

Click to expand...

I had the same problem with my Fe 550, Fitted one new seal and it still leaked!!
When we looked at the shaft with the side casing on there was room for two seals, (Only shows One in the manual) So we fitted two and it has stoped the leak!!

Hi jlburgess

Could you give me the dimensions of the seal.

I have the same problem in a 01 bike and would like to know if its the same size.

:cheers:
ZAGA

OMGG I REALLY HOPE THIS WORKS! i just did a rebuild on my bike new piston, ring, sleeve, rod etc. nd i always had a coolant prob with it, so i also installed a new water pump shaft, seals, n the o-ring. but coolant is still dripping out of that little hole by the water pump, and it even mixed with oil when i started it up

Hi

If you changed everything and didn't worked, try this heat shrink sleeve, when you install the cover before you ruin another seal:

[attachment=0:20qt2hkd]Sleeve.jpg[/attachment:20qt2hkd]

:cheers:
ZAGA

i am having this exact problem right now, i am going to try 2 seals

zaga said:

Hi

If you changed everything and didn't worked, try this heat shrink sleeve, when you install the cover before you ruin another seal:

[attachment=0:1z6i58cj]Sleeve.jpg[/attachment:1z6i58cj]

:cheers:
ZAGA

Click to expand...

This works, it protects the seal when installing.

2 seals on my water pump shaft and i still have a seep, guessing maybe the seal is not sitting right? i am using Liquid Intelligence 115 as normal coolant just boils during technical track and hill climbs.

Hi shoei

Its not only the seal, it can be the o-ring that you have on the shaft and the special bearing that you have on the case, the SKF ICOS series.

Check if the seal that is glued to the ICOS still is glued, it can be that.

If you don't loose too much water its not the seal that makes you boil, maybe the water impeller or the radiator, jetting, ???? , just don't think you loose that much water ??

:cheers:
ZAGA

I had a huge coolant loss on my bike, after some time, it was getting even worse (I was loosing approximately 1dcl of coolant per 1mh). The leakage through the hole behind the water pump was not so scary in the beginning, but later I was loosing a huge amount of mixture of coolant and oil. Although I did not observe any decrease in oil level.
First, I changed the seal under the head, did not help.
Then I have bought new radiator cap with stronger spring, that did not help as well.
Finally, I decided to reseal the water pump. I discovered that the special atypical SKF bearing was worn (too loose). I think, this was the reason why my motor was whistling. (Some say, it is the flywheel of E-starter which whistles, but I have the starter and all related wheels put away and I was whistling!!! So?!).
It is important to change the special bearing (in one piece with its special coin-shaped seal), the small O-ring under the bearing and the small water seal at once (has not to be original, u can buy such seal anywhere for almost free).
Why to change everything on the shaft at once? Because if there is a worn bearing on the shaft, there is more room for movement of the shaft on its end where the water seal is and this causes leakage even if the water seal is brand new. Not changing the bearing would destroy the water seal in a very short time, anyway. To be sure, that you will not ruin your new water seal while installing it on the shaft, use oil lubricated smallest finger cut off from a thin latex glove which you put on the shaft and remove it after installing the water seal. To prolong the life of the water seal and the shaft do not mix the coolant with water, or mix it max. 50:50. In my case, it was not necessary to install two water seals, one does it.
RESULT:
My bike does not whistle anymore, there is not even a drop under the water pump and the level of the coolant does not move anymore, absolutely. Till now I had to inspect the lever almost at every stop and a supply of extra coolant in backpack was a must.
If somebody says to u in future, "dont worry, 9 of 10 husabergs have leaky water pump" (Fero Hostinsky, for example), do not calm down hearing this and do not hesitate to reseal the water pump immediately (do not forget to change everything on the shaft!!!). Its worth the effort, u will see after u will have it fixed.

I've recently replaced the bearing and both seals on my 650. I have been using the orangeberg kit but have gone back to the stock sealed bearing because I had a couple in the shed so might as well use them. The water pump seal is a standard size and can be acquired from most any bearing or auto parts place. To simplify replacing it next time, when you have the cover off, use a Dremel or similar to create 2 or 3 small grooves in the housing where the seal fits. This allows you to get a pointy tool in there and easily get the seal out without any damage, and without removing the clutch cover. And if you have the clutch cover off, do what Taffy suggests, and shim out the kick start sledge with a couple of washers up to 1 mm thick.

steve said:

I've recently replaced the bearing and both seals on my 650. I have been using the orangeberg kit but have gone back to the stock sealed bearing because I had a couple in the shed so might as well use them. The water pump seal is a standard size and can be acquired from most any bearing or auto parts place. To simplify replacing it next time, when you have the cover off, use a Dremel or similar to create 2 or 3 small grooves in the housing where the seal fits. This allows you to get a pointy tool in there and easily get the seal out without any damage, and without removing the clutch cover. And if you have the clutch cover off, do what Taffy suggests, and shim out the kick start sledge with a couple of washers up to 1 mm thick.

Click to expand...

Where do I find what Taffy suggests? I tried to go over all related topics twice, but without result. Please, put link here or tell where to find. Thanks.

edelweiss said:

steve said:

I've recently replaced the bearing and both seals on my 650. I have been using the orangeberg kit but have gone back to the stock sealed bearing because I had a couple in the shed so might as well use them. The water pump seal is a standard size and can be acquired from most any bearing or auto parts place. To simplify replacing it next time, when you have the cover off, use a Dremel or similar to create 2 or 3 small grooves in the housing where the seal fits. This allows you to get a pointy tool in there and easily get the seal out without any damage, and without removing the clutch cover. And if you have the clutch cover off, do what Taffy suggests, and shim out the kick start sledge with a couple of washers up to 1 mm thick.

Click to expand...

Where do I find what Taffy suggests? I tried to go over all related topics twice, but without result. Please, put link here or tell where to find. Thanks.

Click to expand...

It gets mentioned in a few places, here for example:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16319

A Google advanced search is the easiest way to search this, or any site.
http://www.google.ca/advanced_search

Another option is down here:
http://www.husaberg.org/wiki/index.php? ... e_upgrades

I've had the cover of a few times, and even knowing its an issue, and holding the shaft in when pullin gthe cover, it moves enough to release which means the clutch has to come off to sort it. I used 0.6 mm washers because I had some suitable, and makes it much easier.

thanks, steve!

several images is missing in the "engine upgrades" wiki linked above

does anyone have the images and could make tyhe wiki complete again ?

please ! :roll:

Hi

Saw this old post and decided to hijack it a bit for another not so uncommon problem. Some times, specially with older bikes the shaft from the WP wear a groove in the place were the seal works, as you can see in the pict.

[attachment=2:1p0a801n]WP_shaft.jpg[/attachment:1p0a801n]

You can try to correct the shaft or you can change the place were the seal works, witch I think can be an easier fix.
If you take a closer look at the special bearing (skf ICOS series) you will see that between the actual bearing and the casing, the seal of the bearing leaves you a lot of room to change the place of the seal that goes in to the casing. That is one way to go, but I searched for a seal size that would fit and that I would also be able to press it from the inside, so I would be sure that it would sit flat.

Took some measurements and saw that there was and extra 1 mm to play in the casing, so the OEM seal is one 10x18x4, so I started to search for one 10x18x5.
This last one is easy to find, but not exactly like the OEM one, this one is with the outside diameter in steal and is also made of VITON to deal with the temperature.
Here you can see differences between seals.

[attachment=1:1p0a801n]WP_Seals.jpg[/attachment:1p0a801n]

I could not find one 10x18x5 with all that, but I could find one in VITON. The external diameter in steal is not a question of sealing but is to maintain better its shape specially with the temperature and not to move out of place. So to try to compensate that little advantage I decided to fit the new seal with a bit of silicone, hoping it would glue the seal to the casing.
Here you have the pict.

[attachment=0:1p0a801n]WP_seal_in_place.jpg[/attachment:1p0a801n]

So far so good, I'm using this solution without a problem and needed to share with you guys.

:cheers:
ZAGA