Hello Folks,

Well Im new here as we have just picked up a cheapish but good(ish) 97 414Si for my wife.

Was tempted by the relative good looks and nowadays cheap price.

Its only done 76,000 miles and had 2 owners, it had a full 12 month MOT, we got it in a private sale.

I know a bit about cars and mechanicals and have done most of the maintenance on most of our previous ones. I have a few questions though.

I understand the K series is known to have a slightly weak cooling system and any leaks can cause probelms. I've already spotted that when parked the car leaves a few drops of coolant on the floor, its level has not decreased by any noticeable amount though and its not got oil in water or vica versa. It looks to be slightly damp at the bottom of the area where the timing belt/waterpump etc lives. Is there any immediate things to check for that would be leaking very slightly in this area? It seems to me that the pump itself is most likely culprit, all advice welcome though.

One other worrying thing i spotted is that the lower edge of the radiator is rusty/flaky is it likely to fail soon? do they do that?

Im trying to find all the common 'foibles' with the model :-)

appears that will need a new water pump, better soon than later, radiator doesnt sound too good, would replace that, and fill cooling system with a good 50/50 mix soon as possible, radiator was the first item to replace on my car when I first got it..

Hello Folks,

Well Im new here as we have just picked up a cheapish but good(ish) 97 414Si for my wife.

Was tempted by the relative good looks and nowadays cheap price.

Its only done 76,000 miles and had 2 owners, it had a full 12 month MOT, we got it in a private sale.

I know a bit about cars and mechanicals and have done most of the maintenance on most of our previous ones. I have a few questions though.

I understand the K series is known to have a slightly weak cooling system and any leaks can cause probelms. I've already spotted that when parked the car leaves a few drops of coolant on the floor, its level has not decreased by any noticeable amount though and its not got oil in water or vica versa. It looks to be slightly damp at the bottom of the area where the timing belt/waterpump etc lives. Is there any immediate things to check for that would be leaking very slightly in this area? It seems to me that the pump itself is most likely culprit, all advice welcome though.

One other worrying thing i spotted is that the lower edge of the radiator is rusty/flaky is it likely to fail soon? do they do that?

Im trying to find all the common 'foibles' with the model :-)


Does your car have A/C?

If so, you will probably find the water on the floor is not coolant but condensate from the A/C condensor drain.

(OT 2,500th post! :) )

EDIT Reading your post again, I agree that the water pump may be faulty.

Take the timing belt cover off and look.

If it's only a little flaky with no signs of leaking my advice is to get a new rad and change it when you next do cooling system work, as it is likely to last till spring. But if the water pump is on the way out then change the rad then, rather than draining and bleeding the system twice (as bleeding is a right royal pain in the ar$e)

Hi,into two strokes are you?It may be water pump but then level would drop.Are you shure it's not just water thrown up from the road that drips off when you park?Keep close eye on water level It is EVERYTHING to the K series.If you think the rad is a bit sus i would do it.You can get some nice clean 50% antifreeze in there for the winter then.If you have the blue/green stuff in there stick with it.Orange stuff like wise.

Thanks for the info folks,

Yes will probably do rad, waterpump and as the waterpump needs the cam belt off i assume i may as well do that too.

Its not A/C condansation 1, hasnt got A/C and 2, its definitly coolant, sweet smelling.

As for the 2 strokes, yes. Old yamaha LC's and YPVS's as it happens images/icons/icon7.gif

Yes if the belts done some work you shouldn't re-use it and if you don't know history it might have been skiped at 60K and it's a time bomb.Prob tensioner as well.If you're stuck for rad at right price,they had some fair ones last time i looked at www.buypartsby.co.uk I'd use a Gates belt if not the MGR one.MGR belts are a bit high price.£48 for a "L" series,not sure on the "K"

As for the 2 strokes, yes. Old yamaha LC's and YPVS's as it happens

Had a Yamaha YDS-3 bought new many years ago.