Hi guys, been a long while since I’ve visited this site. I am about at my wits end with my 660. Long story short earlier this summer the temp light came on which had never happened before. I shut the machine down, but had to get back to the farm as I was six miles away. Needless to say I would just run a while, let her cool down, then repeat process till I got home. I haven’t had time to address the issue till recently. I found that the radiator was dry. Noticed some oily residue by the water pump and after a search found that it probably puked coolant out because of a seal leak. Also inspected the thermostat and it was toast. So ordered parts installed them topped off with coolant and now it just pours coolant out of the weep line from the water pump! I figured it may be air locked so I bleed it and bleed it to no avail. What is weird is it won’t even pull coolant from the resivoir when it is puking coolant from the weep line. I thought maybe I have another bad water pump? But after doing some additional research I would say it is very likely I have blown the head gasket. Looking for some opinions here before I try and tear into this. How hard a project is this? I am fairly mechanical but not an expert by any means. I do have a Clymer manual but the section on the cam shaft tensioner is freaking me out a bit. Also I wonder if I haven’t also warped my head. My Grizz has 1100 hours on it so I don’t even know if it’s worth messing with or not. Could be many parts need replacing but what stinks is this is the first real issue I’ve ever had with it outside of some rear diff seals. Should I take to the shop or try this myself. Looks like a job.
Grizzly puking coolant
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The water pump is toast and will need replacement/rebuilding. Coolant only comes from the weep hole when the water pump seals are leaking. The seals usually only leak when the water pump bearings are bad.
Do a compression test to see if you have a blown head gasket. In my opinion, you do have a blown gasket. Not that hard a job to do, but it's a bit of work. You can also do it without removing the complete front plastics. Just have to remove the front rack, the black cover under it, the gas tank and the white guard under it.
The timing is actually not that hard.
Do a compression test to see if you have a blown head gasket. In my opinion, you do have a blown gasket. Not that hard a job to do, but it's a bit of work. You can also do it without removing the complete front plastics. Just have to remove the front rack, the black cover under it, the gas tank and the white guard under it.
The timing is actually not that hard.
How could the water pump seal be bad? It’s a brand new part. It was actually leaking out of the weep hole line when I filled it with coolant before I ever started it up. I thought that was odd. Could I have installed the water pump wrong? Really don’t see how that would have been possible but I guess ther is a way I could have damage the seal during install. This stinks as I just paid $130 for the pump.
One thing I forgot to mention was when I got the new pump and spun the impeller it had a little bit of a “drag” on it like it was not able to freely spin every once in a while. It was a OEM Yamaha pump I got off EBay. I saw some cheap ones that were not OEM for about half the price, but wanted to make sure I had OEM because I didn’t want fitment issues. Should I just try and order a new cheaper aftermarket one and see what happens? I already have some much time in this thing it’s about got the best of me. Just hate to throw parts at stuff not knowing for sure if it’s the real problem.
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Believe it or not, damaging the water pump seal is very easy. Most do it without even realizing it. Assembling the water pump is where the problems start. There is special tools for installing bearings and seals straight. While they can most certainly can be done without these tools, extra care must be taken.
Page 5-7 to 5-11 of the Factory Service Manual gives all details of the water pump.
Right now since the water pump is new, you can most likely just replace the seals and be on your way again.
Page 5-7 to 5-11 of the Factory Service Manual gives all details of the water pump.
Right now since the water pump is new, you can most likely just replace the seals and be on your way again.
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841 Posts
X2 WHAT DEZZ SAID. WATER PUMP IS TOAST OR AS I HAVE HAD BEFORE IV HAD THE SNAP RING COME LOOSE ON THE SHAFT HOLDING THE SEAL TIGHT. INSTALLED NEW SNAP RING AND WAS GOOD TO GO.
JUST BECAUSE IT WAS A NEW OEM PART DOESNT MEAN IT CAN BE DEFECTIVE.
AND YEAS THERE IS FAIR BIT OF DRAG ON CERAMIC SEAL FOR PUMP WHEN YOU SPIN SHAFT BY HAND.
I WOULD JUST GET A NEW SEAL. I DONT HAVE ANY SPECIAL TOOLS TO INSTALL, JUST USE A CORRECT SIZE DEEP SOCKET TO DRIVE SEAL IN PLACE AND HAVE NEVER HAD ONE LEAK.
POST WHAT T]YOU FIND WHEN YOU GET APART. IT WILL BE OBVIOUS WHAN YOU DISSASSEMBLE
JUST BECAUSE IT WAS A NEW OEM PART DOESNT MEAN IT CAN BE DEFECTIVE.
AND YEAS THERE IS FAIR BIT OF DRAG ON CERAMIC SEAL FOR PUMP WHEN YOU SPIN SHAFT BY HAND.
I WOULD JUST GET A NEW SEAL. I DONT HAVE ANY SPECIAL TOOLS TO INSTALL, JUST USE A CORRECT SIZE DEEP SOCKET TO DRIVE SEAL IN PLACE AND HAVE NEVER HAD ONE LEAK.
POST WHAT T]YOU FIND WHEN YOU GET APART. IT WILL BE OBVIOUS WHAN YOU DISSASSEMBLE
Werner you were exactly right. Took the new water pump back off and examined it. Come to find out the snap ring had indeed come loose! I think this was the issue from the start as the drag I was hearing was the impeller hitting the inside of the pump cover case. Look at the pics. New impeller is done. Scratched the cover pretty bad too. Took my original impeller and put the snap ring in place and re-installed. Guess what, no leaks. Just more frustrated that anything because I spent hours trying to diagnose the issue. Thanks a bunch for the heads up!
Now for my last issue (I hope). I would assume with the temp light coming on and no coolant and a blown thermostat the head gasket is probably done. When I filled with coolant and the bike was running I did see some tiny bubbles for just a bit but after a while disappeared. Figured some air in the system. Ran the bike for quite a while idling and reviving up to see if temp Light would come on. It never did but it’s also 30 degrees in my shop right now. Funny thing is fan cycled on and off like it’s supposed too. What are the signs of a bad head gasket? Thinking since it’s still pretty much tore apart to just replace but never done it and it looks like quite a job and I have limited skills without asking lots of questions! In other words it would take me hours to do I’m sure! Lol. No white smoke no hint of oil in coolant and no hint of puking coolant to the overflow, but again it hasn’t been run hard and it’s cold.
Now for my last issue (I hope). I would assume with the temp light coming on and no coolant and a blown thermostat the head gasket is probably done. When I filled with coolant and the bike was running I did see some tiny bubbles for just a bit but after a while disappeared. Figured some air in the system. Ran the bike for quite a while idling and reviving up to see if temp Light would come on. It never did but it’s also 30 degrees in my shop right now. Funny thing is fan cycled on and off like it’s supposed too. What are the signs of a bad head gasket? Thinking since it’s still pretty much tore apart to just replace but never done it and it looks like quite a job and I have limited skills without asking lots of questions! In other words it would take me hours to do I’m sure! Lol. No white smoke no hint of oil in coolant and no hint of puking coolant to the overflow, but again it hasn’t been run hard and it’s cold.
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WHEN MY HEAD GASKET WENT ON MY 843 AT 1/4 THROTTLE OR LESS WOULD NOT SPIT COOLANT OUT. UNDER ACCELERATION IT PUKED IT OUT. SPRAYED COOLANT EVERYWHERE SO I THOUGHT WAS PHYSICALLY COMING FROM THE GASKET AREA.
AFTER JACKING REAR WHEELS OFF GROUND COULD FINALLY SEE THE OVERFLOW TUBE FROM COOLANT BOTTLE IS ROUTED UP TO AND ABOVE THE FRONT LEFT WHEEL. WHEN COOLANT BLOWING OUT OVER FLOW IT WAS HITTING FRONT TIRE AND GETTING THROWN ALL OVER
ENDED UP GOING WITH ARP STUDS, COPPER HEAD GASKET AND HAD RACERS EDGE IN AZ CUT A FIRE RING IN HEAD AND INSTALL A PIECE OF STAINLESS STEEL WIRE. WAS BULLET PROOF AFTER THAT
AFTER JACKING REAR WHEELS OFF GROUND COULD FINALLY SEE THE OVERFLOW TUBE FROM COOLANT BOTTLE IS ROUTED UP TO AND ABOVE THE FRONT LEFT WHEEL. WHEN COOLANT BLOWING OUT OVER FLOW IT WAS HITTING FRONT TIRE AND GETTING THROWN ALL OVER
ENDED UP GOING WITH ARP STUDS, COPPER HEAD GASKET AND HAD RACERS EDGE IN AZ CUT A FIRE RING IN HEAD AND INSTALL A PIECE OF STAINLESS STEEL WIRE. WAS BULLET PROOF AFTER THAT
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There is a fairly cheap tool sold at the parts house called Block/Head check. You put this liquid filled container on your open radiator and run engine till warm , the liquid will change colors if combustion gases are present in the cooling system. It works great I've used it on many gasoline and diesel engines over the years.
Well finally got the old 660 going again! Took the advice and bought one of those combustion test kits I picked up from O’Reillys. I tested multiple times and could never see the coolant change color. So maybe from dumb shear luck I have avoided the dreaded blown head gasket issue. Took it out to the farm today and ran it pretty good. Air temp was 50 degrees so not hot, but temp light never came on and I ran it full throttle for several miles at top speed. Ran like a top. Value adjustment picked me up 10 mph. The intake valves were so far out of spec it was making the valve train rattle when I got to 50 mph. Now I can go 60 and it hums like a sewing machine!
She isn’t in the greatest shape but I have put 1050 hours on it and it still doesn’t burn oil. Only about 5500 miles because I do a lot of low speed stuff around the farm. Yes there are some other small issues I need to address, but at least it’s running again. I just want to get a couple more years out of this thing before I consider upgrading. I hope by that time Yamaha will put the new 850 engine into this platform. It still amazes me how durable these things are. What’s crazy is I’ve never put a belt or wheel bearing in yet. My RZR needs bearings and it only has about 150 hours on it!
Thanks for all the great feedback on the forum. I’ll keep you all posted on my high hour Grizzly as I plan on using it quite a bit more this year.
She isn’t in the greatest shape but I have put 1050 hours on it and it still doesn’t burn oil. Only about 5500 miles because I do a lot of low speed stuff around the farm. Yes there are some other small issues I need to address, but at least it’s running again. I just want to get a couple more years out of this thing before I consider upgrading. I hope by that time Yamaha will put the new 850 engine into this platform. It still amazes me how durable these things are. What’s crazy is I’ve never put a belt or wheel bearing in yet. My RZR needs bearings and it only has about 150 hours on it!
Thanks for all the great feedback on the forum. I’ll keep you all posted on my high hour Grizzly as I plan on using it quite a bit more this year.
It's frustrating sometimes when you can't figure something out and sometimes I feel like I should set on fire! But when you do finally fix it at least you got to know a little more about your machine and can hopefully pass this info for others.
This forum is one of the reasons the Grizzly is running again and not in pieces in my shed!
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