I have just replaced my second water pump seal (did the oil seal while I was in there) on the 800 after 71 hours and 511 miles. The 500 has had one replaced under warraty as well and yes the coolant overflow bottle is snorkeled on both quads.

The problem is definatly crud entering the weep hole and wiping out the seal (even starting to corrode the shaft). I noticed that Polaris has a factory installed snorkel on all of the 09 500's I looked at but strangely not any of the 800s???

Do yourself a favour and snorkel your weep hole!!!!

Info in the FAQ on how to do this. Find it in the Polaris FAQ section.

I read somewhere that some guys were pumping grease into the weep hole to keep the mud and dirt out. I added a snorkel to the 800 as soon as I got it home and also had one on my old 500. I have not had a seal problem yet....

I did the grease thing when I put in the last seal, obviously it wasn't good enough in my case.

I also added water pump lubricant to the 60/40 antifreeze/distilled water mix last time, this time I added Red Line "Watter Wetter" into the mix as well. I suspect this will be the last seal I need to change.

Grease isn't a permanent solution. The way mud gets in there, is the engine gets hot from riding, and then you hit a mudhole, deep enough to submerge the bottom of the engine cases. This quickly cools the cases, and 'sucks' mud up in there. Grease does help, but the only permanent solution is to snorkel up high enough so that the sudden cooling only sucks in air. Water wetter won't hurt, but the real cause of seal damage is mud getting in there, and then drying out, leaving an abrasive residue which chews on the seal from the outside.

strandr wrote:

Do yourself a favour and snorkel your weep hole!!!!

Sounds to me like you're feeling a lil frisky there strandr.. haha

Actually, the Outty's have the same problem.

Creisol wrote:

Actually, the Outty's have the same problem.

That is first time I hear this Creisol. I must mention this to my neighbor as he has an 800 Outty....

Yep, dealer installed a fitting with a short snorkel and I continued it up to the pod.

You just need one of these bad boys

i saw the factory snorkeled one on the new 500's but they just route the hose on the frame not up high i guess polaris ran out of hose lol

My 08 800 already has a snorkel on it. I dont remember my 04 600 not having it either (ie...I think my 04-600 had it too). I assumed when I look over my atv's past and present that this was a normal thing to have a snorkel tube coming out of the overflow. I sold my 06 a few years back but I never had a problem with seals on any of my 3 sportsmans from 02 500 to 04 600 to 08 800. Mind you, I dont really bury them in mud either.

This thread has got slightly off track. What strandr eluded to was snorkeling the weep hole under the water pump......

I am assuming you just tapped the hole and put a nipple on it?

Yes srpiasta that is what most people do. I siliconed a tight fitting piece of tubing in the hole and ran it up the frame....

Could not get a drill or tap into the space available so found a brass fitting in my collection that worked without tapping. I think the fitting was originally for an automotive vacuum hose from my hot rodding days, it is 3/16" hose barb X ?" thread.

I don't have another fitting so when I do my 500 I am going to use a grease nipple after removing the ball and spring. Skiboat claims that they will go in without tapping and to use a tie wrap to hold the hose on.

nbsportsman's tight fitting piece of tubing sounds like a good idea too!