01 520 EXC Waterpump problems...

[Concho]

Guys,

I've been having Waterpump splooge from the weep hole and I've currently working on it. First, I was waiting on parts and then work was waiting on me to do other crap. So I'm finally into the Waterpump area of my 520 EXC. I removed the waterpump cover to find a nasty surprise of more waterpump splooge. Keep in mind that this motor only has 150 miles on it.

First here's a picture of the waterpump weep.

I've got a collection of some sort of slippery oil like substance in the bottom of my waterpump housing. I'm not sure what this stuff is. It looks like a mixture of oil and radiator fluid to me. I could be wrong about that though. Any ideas from the worldwide internet gurus? Actually if you look close you can see that the holes on the body of the propeller also has some of the gunk on it. I'm using Silkilene Pro Cool with a dash of water Wetter so maybe I'm getting some sort of nasty reaction. I'm kind of doubting that, but its a possibility. I've always had excellent results with Silkolene products before so I'm surprised at this development. I hoping Darr will tell me exactly what this gunk is made of.

If you look at the lower cavity that's below the waterpump chamber, its completely clear of any gunk. This is probably a high flow area and immune to settling but the water pump area has the gunk sticking on parts that aren't exactly on the bottom of the housing.

This is not the greatest picture but it does show what looks to be some sort of contamination of my 520s oil supply. Its got way to many bubbles for my taste. I'm wondering if I'm also getting radiator fluid into my engine from the waterpump seal area.

Later,

Concho

 

[cujet]

Looks to me like your water pump seal has failed. As I understand it, there is weep hole between the 2 seals. It seems unlikely that there would be a transfer of fluids however It is possible if the weep hole is clogged.

Let us know what you find.

Chris

 

[Concho]

Guys,

The more that I examine my 01 520EXC the more disturbing its becoming. This bike has less than 150 miles on it. I'm now thinking that the gunk in the pictures above is partial melted or knicked off remnants of my impeller. The ends of the impeller and impeller wheel base are scratched with grooves that look like impact surfaces. Also one impeller paddle is cracked and looks like it might break off if left on. Add that to the parts list of a bike with less than 150 miles on it.

I'm now wondering if I have a foreign object(s) in my radiator fluid pathways. This engine choked on itself the very first breakin ride. (broken starter pin off the case another friggin sad story for another day)

After waiting 8 weeks to get my engine back from the factory mechanics at KTMUSA in Ohio. What took KTMUSA and my local dealer 8 weeks to complete my warranty work? I'm finding this type of crap. I must state that I don't know for sure if in fact I do have something floating around in my engine but I am finding evidence that points that way. Does anyone know how deep into the engine the radiator passages carry. Do the fluid jackets extend down into the cases? I'm planning a search into my engine and radiators but I'm wondering how successful I'll be without splitting the cases. What a total friggin bummer.

Here's another angle of the scratched impeller :

Here's a picture of the seal carrier. The weep hole is slightly above 3:00. I've learned from this board that this weep hole should be at 6:00 so that any radiator fluid will leak out so that fluid will not build up and leak to the oil side of the seals. Is this the general consensus guys? Makes sense to me. It seems to me that the seal carrier will get to half full or more before weeping will occur.

What makes me scratch my head a little is why there are waterpump seals driven off the camshaft. I'm sure its to save weight and to move the waterpump away from the bottom of the engine and the obvious seperation of fluids. Those cam lobes and rocker arms produce alot of vibrations and heat. That's a pretty violent area for a highpower big bore engine. The cam bearings are of a smaller diameter than my YZ400s cam bearings. The YZ motor has two camshafts with two larger bearings per shaft with bearing guides. IMO, KTM is going for weight savings here but at what cost to reliabilty?

I'm not an engine builder so my viewpoint might be total bull**** but aren't these questions worth asking? Also, one of the cam bearings lie right next to the outer oil waterpump seal. Are there heat transfer issues with these seals being adjacent to the rotating camshaft bearing? Is the reason for the new seal carrier washer and the new ultra tight metal jacket seals?

Well guys I hate to vent so much over the internet and being a faceless flamer.(I've included my email if anyone would like to respond privately) But after repeated emails to KTMUSA have been ignored and getting the ole "there's nothing wrong with this bike" and "as far as KTMUSA is concerned this is user error" from the local dealer my faith in those institutions has been shaken and fowled. Actually I was so pissed off when the local shop mechanic/sales guy tried to explain what a reserve was on my gastank that I just packed my bike and left the dealership. I added up in my mind the number of reserves that I had bought/changed over the years for other brands of bikes (1 RM,2 YZ,1 YZF) and just got even more pissed. Maybe that was knee jerk reaction but one that I haven't regretted doing.

Saying all of this I have found others at KTM that do seem to care and have provided good to excellent service. The KTM dealership in New Orleans gave me an excellent price and was very detailed on what to service and what to watch out for on my new 520EXC. The local dealer down "south" of town has provided me with good service on calling back about part availability so not all is bad in the land of Orange. The members of this and other bbs are helpful and insightful. I'm just wishing I could get this whole ugly 5 month long process behind me and get on to racing my bike and having fun.

At this point you can only stomach being pissed off for so long and I admit I'm being stubborn about doing all the work myself at this point. But man, who else is going to take care of my bike as much as me.

Apologies in advance for any innocent bystanders to this post.


Concho

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[cujet]

Well it looks like the impeller had FOD (foreign object damage). I suggest getting a new impeller and flushing out the water passages with a hose. Disconnect all the hoses first. As you found out warranty problems can be a long wait. I prefer to pay for parts myself and fix it right myself. I have had a number of dealer screwup's, one of which cost me an engine and left me stranded 50 miles from home.

As for the "reserve" on the gas tank,,,, that device is called a petcock. It may have a reserve setting, it might not, depending on the type of bike.

Chris