2014 WR450F coolant leak

After the last time that I went riding, I noticed that there is a small puddle of coolant below the bike in the garage. I've found where its coming from but don't know what the next step is. Everyone seems to have a leak in the water pump area, this is not where mine is. Mine seems to be coming from where the top radiator hose connects to the engine, right next to theexhaust. I wiped it all up last night and came back this morning to find a few drops on the floor, so it wasn't a one time thing or from after riding.



It's kinda hard to describe, so I attached a beautifully drawn picture. The picture is as if you are viewing the bike from the front (and maybe a little to the right of it from the front). On the top right there is the hose that is coming from the radiator. It come around top and attaches to a metal connector, and this metal connector attaches to the engine. This connection happens directly to the right of the exhaust connection. The leak does not seem to be coming from where the hose connects to the metal connector, but rather it looks like its coming from where the metal connector connects to the engine.



I also attached a pic of the puddle and an up close of the area of the bike.



Coolant level is still good and the overflow reservoir in the back is like 1/3 full.



Any advice?1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg
 
Time to wrench and remove some of the items to get to it. Also, get some engine ice coolant for your backup plan. Like Timo said, probably a bad o-ring and yes, you will be loosing a little coolant during the operation (if not all and exchange.)
 
If it's the same as my 07, you can get it done without removing much, but you might as well drain the coolant out of the intended drain hole, or you'll have most of it everywhere. Personally, it's not that big of a deal to pull all the plastics/seat/tank. Then with the coolant drained, pull the exhaust (4 bolts) and the left radiator (2 bolts and 3 clamps) and then the outlet will come out easy, but more importantly, will go together easy.

Edit: I looked at it, it's the same. If you're going to keep the scooter for a while, do yourself a favor and buy 10 of those o-rings, it fits the Y inlet on the other side also.
 
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It's an easy fix to swap the oring. You should get a manual for this bike though. It will save you hundreds of dollars on simple repairs like this one. If you can read and hold a wrench then you can fix your bike. :thumb:
 
It's an easy fix to swap the oring. You should get a manual for this bike though. It will save you hundreds of dollars on simple repairs like this one. If you can read and hold a wrench then you can fix your bike. :thumb:

I have been reading for over two hours, holding a wrench, and my water pump on my tanker is no where near being swapped out. It must only work on bikes.
 
Well guys, I fixed the leak last night! I first drained the coolant... which got EVERYWHERE. I did not expect it to shoot out as far as it did. After replacing the oring, I flushed out the radiator with distilled water and replaced the coolant with some Engine Ice coolant. 16 Hours later and there is still no leak on the bike or ground, so I would call it a sucess! Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

I did have one more question. The coolant overflow reservoir in the back, does it cycle the coolant back to the radiator when its running low(for any reason), or is it literally just a catch for any fluid that boils over and it can and should be kept empty?
 
It cycles back and forth just like your car. I usually keep mine half full.
Great, thats what I was hoping to hear. The manual says to check inside the radiator cap every X rides, to make sure there is enough coolant. So does the cycling back and forth mean, I can just look at the resevoir tank and as long as its got fluid, the radiator should be full?

I think its a fill cold system. which means fill it to full line when the bikes cold and check the coolant when the bike is cold.

I think the manual does say to check when cold. However it also says that after refilling, run the engine for a few minutes and check levels to make sure there is enough. Kinda contradictory.
 
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