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Water pump leaking

20K views 19 replies 4 participants last post by  shore 
#1 ·
No, I'm not kidding. Just went outside and a few drops of coolant from the water pump weep hose.

The thing is literally falling apart today.

Rode it 2 weeks ago and nothing was wrong.

Today, noticed the front diff rear seal dripped a couple drops on the floor.
No big deal

Took it out for a ride around the neighborhood and the regulator crapped out.
again, no big deal.

Just walked out in the garage and coolant on the floor...LOLOLOL.

I'm a bit afraid to go back out there. :chairfall:


Anyways, haven't read about any water pump seal failures.

I took off the ski plates a week or so ago to clean it out and see the waterpump tucked up in there. Looks fun.
Who has done this and what is involved with doing it myself? On a 850 XP not any other sportsman.
 
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#2 ·
Ya know, to think about it. It did lose some coolant about 2-3 rides ago. Not a much and I wouldn't have noticed had the overflow tank not been a touch low and caught my eye. I've put many hours and miles on it since. No coolant loss.
 
#3 ·
#7 ·
coolant in the radiator is clean and green.

Hmm. This wouldn't be the 1st water pump that dripped a little and then stopped.

Time to run that drain tube up in the pod and keep an eye on it.
 
#8 ·
Does anyone find it ODD that the voltage regulator and the water pump went bad together??

Like maybe the stator is wet from coolant?

I've ridden it twice now around the yard for various duties and all that leaks out the water pump drain is a couple drips of blackish/brown water.

Hmm.
 
#10 ·
Couple questions, if you don't mind.

When yours leaked what did it do? As in did it let go and leak a lot of fluid or dd it just drip a couple drops like mine did. I see no green anymore, just blackish/brown water.

Also, if you could, can you write out what I need to do to replace the seal by steps? I don't have a manual but I'm pretty handy. Also what parts do I need to order?

Thank you for your time.
 
#15 ·
As I suspected, the stator housing was full of muck and water. not sure how that got in there but it did.

I'm hoping I can clean the stator up and it will work. It looks like it was trying but fighting the magnets through the muck was not letting it make voltage.

What I need to know is, how does the water pump shaft assembly come out?
 
#16 ·
Stator does not seem happy. I put it back together sans gaskets/coolant and ran it to check if the stator was doing it's job before I go assemble everything..not really any better.

crap.

$400 stator and nothing used that I can find.
 
#17 · (Edited)
ok, since no one will take more a than a couple seconds to answer, I'll do it.

The water pump shaft/bearing has to come out. It has to be pressed or hammered. I hammered mine out and good thing. The seal was not good and the coolant had gotten in it and displaced the grease. The bearing spun decent but you could feel some grit to it. It would have failed for sure. This also looks to be where my fluid got into the stator housing. The grease from the bearing was spun all around the backside of the water pump coupler. You couldn't see it without removing it. Another $40 part.

The water pump seal must be removed from the inside out after the water pump shaft is removed. Not hard but certainly the way to do it without some special seal puller.


Also, I'm 100% sure this all happened because of the drain tube. No doubt it let gritty water inside behind the water pump seal, that in turn let grit eat the seal which let it weep out the hole, it also allowed gritty water into the water pump shaft bearing area and that is what got into the stator and fried it.
Once you take one apart you'll see the recess for the drain tube and how it could let water in.
Colossal fail...all of which would have been avoided by just running the stupid water pump vent tube up into the pod housing. $350 in parts and my labor for a 25 cent piece of clear tubing...and the stupid ass idea of Polaris to put the stator behind the water pump.

Water riding is what causes this. Sandy florida water down here, it gets up in the tube and right to the seals and whirls around.
 
#18 ·
Shore,
Thanks for the write up. I don't get the chance to do many water crossings out here in the desert, but I think I'll do as you suggested just as preventive maintenance. Thanks for taking the time to write everything up.

Action
 
#20 ·
This was 1 time in the water and it wasn't that bad.

It's my fault, I know better than to not snorkel that drain tube. You can't cap it off, you need to be able to see what it's doing should it leak for normal reasons.

I'm going to run a clear vent tube for it, like the rest of the atv already has for the diffs and trans.
 
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