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Leak on new Viper - Final Update


Did the 15 minute test this afternoon. Had ridden 6 miles in the fiend out back earlier in the week. Coolant reservoir was about 1 inch below fill line and was topped off before test. Sled warmed up and there were no leaks.
 
Coolant leak and fuel fitting note

Rode my XTX into trailer from dealer, backed it out at home and rolled it into the garage. Took all plastic off and inspected, checked hoses and more. got a turn or less on some but overall everything was acceptable.

Took up north and actually rode it from trailer 30 feet to garage and notice coolant leak. Rolled on it's side and pulled bottom pan, at first I thought it was a bad weld on the exchanger, however it turned out to be a loose hose clamp on the small line (1/2" line maybe) running from the exchanger to the motor. Note the exchanger is tied into the the motor as an additional motor mount; seems a bit crazy to me.

This particular hose has two different style clamps on either end. On the motor side it is one of those special clamps (oketier SP?) and on the exchanger side it is a regular hose clamp. The problem was that the hose clamp was facing up and if not for the fact that it was lose enough to spin, it would have only been accessible from the top side... header cover removal (riveted): in short it would be a bitch to get to. It should have been installed with the screw have been facing downward. I turned it using the closed end of a box wrench, and this took several tries to accomplish; it's tight and no leaking thereafter. 5 miles of break in thus far.

One other notable issue. When I removed the high pressure fuel line retainer on the tank side it spit into two piece in my hand. I used no tools just my finger to spread the prong. You need to get the entire fitting just for this retainer, if anyone knows differently or has a line on this retainers it would be worth having a few of them. With this high pressure fuel system and the proximity of the exhaust header, a failure would spray a lot of fuel very quickly onto BAD places.

The engine side is a different connection all together and attached to a metal pipe as opposed to the tank side which is plastic to plastic. I think you could also infer that it is Yamacat on the tank side and Yamaha on the motor side.

Happy New Year to all,
 
The small coolant line directly under the header will leak if the clamp is not very tight, the rubber hose is a loose fit on the barb. You need to remove gas tank and heat shield to get to it.
Yup 2 vipers both were loose and 1 leaked.
 
I also had two leaking hoses at fittings. one on clutch side right below primary and one on exhaust side in front of plastic thermostat housing. Both just needed to be tightened.
 
My 18 had a leak at the thermostat and oil tank. The oil tank leak was one that had a spring clamp I put a hose clamp at that one as it was on the bottom of the tank. My break in is going to be a 10 day trip to Saguenay Quebec.
 
Quick note, don't go overboard on tightening them! I had one pop apart while riding yesterday, I "snugged" all of them up, but I didn't crank them down THAT tight. The adjusting screw broke loose from the band and allowed the clamp to open up, thankfully it was an easy to reach one and a zip-tie managed to slow the leak to a small drip to get my back to the truck. I think I'm going to replace them all with better quality ones.
 


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