Maxim X leaks coolant

I had to freshen up the top end of my bike. I did replace most of the orings in the cooling system except for those in the pipe that comes from the water pump?, (does a right angle to the motor) I could not figure out how to remove it. I am not sure exactly where the water is leaking from but am of course shure it is from an area I can hardly see.
Question is: Have any of you figured out a way to stop this kind of leak without taking the whole thing apart again? If so please share. I am tempted to try a stop leak, but do not want to compromise the cooling system's efficiency.......Thanks in advance.

PS the bad news, the carbs prob have to come off again...the good news: I am getting really good at it..

 

DON'T USE STOP LEAK
If you have to take the carbs off again anyway, then take the tubes apart and check the "O" rings, make sure the connections are free of any dirt or corrosion and re-assemble with a little spit for lubrication. Make sure the connections are in perfect alignment with each other and you should be dry.

 

+1> don't use stop leak!

If you look on the parts fisch, you'll see all the orings and also (maybe) understand what I'm trying to explain :?
I'm going to assume you are talking about removing elbow #24 from the pump outlet? It's aluminum along with the pump and they seem to get stuck together HARD....I doubt you are leaking from that joint.
BUT, to remove the steel elbow #27 you have to remove the screw #26 and move it sideways.
To get enough "flex" the two connections onto the cylinders need to be loose and you can take the left side tube and block connection off completely. Screw #33 is a bitch to get at!
You pretty much have to dis-assemble the entire "train" from the caboose forward if that makes any sense. Don't mess with it unless you have another form of transportation OR have the orings in your hand because the 25 year old rubber is hard as a rock and won't seal again.

IF you have the carbs off and can't see a leak from this end of the piping, I personally wouldn't touch it.
The culprit is more often the inlet to the pump (tucked under the clutch cover) it's hard to see what you are doing when you put that curly tube back in and the mounting screw on the engine cover makes it hard to get it in position.

There is also a chance that the water pump mechanical seal is leaking. There is a weep hole out the bottom of the pump to indicate that the shaft seal is dead. The weep hole allows the coolant to leak out if the mechanical seal fails and keeps the coolant out of your oil.
If the seal is dead, you'll have to tear the water pump off and take it completely apart. Good news is the seal is only about $20 I think. Bad news is there are a lot of orings that you will need to replace in the process and they will add up. I would also suggest you replace the pump bearing #3 and oil seal #2 if you need to go into the water pump. The seal is pressed into the housing and requires the proper fitting tool to get it installed properly. Total cost for parts is probably $100 by the end of the job.

 

Thanks for this information. I largely expect the problem is with the external parts that I disturbed in my rebuilding the top end. I found the orings I replaced were not hard, but flattened and not able to give a good seal anymore. One way or another gotta stop this leak......

 

Hi Forgiven,
I know this is an old topic, but did you find out where the leak is coming from? What was wrong with it? How did you fix it? I am having the same problem with my bike. Thank you in advance!

 

The leak was coming from o rings that are sealing tubes at the lower point in the motor. I had put new o rings on all that I could get apart. I had disturbed one pipe that I could not remove without further tearing apart the components (at the base of the motor) and I could see it would be difficult to do. So after putting the whole thing back together one or 2 of those older o rings leaked a bit. (this is what I assume, it is impossible to see exactly where the leak was with everything in place.)

I do not like using barsleaks, so I put a little in at a time until the leak stopped. It was either that or tear everything down again....the weather was nice and it was time to ride! You will have to take off a lot of stuff to get to all the o rings. I had redone the top end of the motor and I can't remember exactly why it seemed like so much more work to get the last pipe or 2 free, but I could not figure it out at the time.....