Coolant leak from the motor

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I had put about 9,000 miles on my Empulse TT when I noticed a little puddle beneath the bike.  Upon closer inspection the yellowish liquid appeared to be coming from the motor.  I really hoped it would go away but the drips continued so I pulled off the bottom panel to get a better look.  The leak was coming from behind the coolant tube connection at the base of the motor.  No simple loose hose clamp to tighten.
Called up the dealer, made an appointment to drop it off and a few days later they told me the same thing they told PaulHMartinez... the motor needs to be replaced. 

Fortunately the bike is still under warranty until October so the repair/attempt to repair is covered! Whew!!!
I'm guessing it would have been $5,000 out of pocket parts/labor?

They were not able to repair Paul's bike so time will tell if the same happens to me.

At least two Empulse TT's that we know of with this same coolant leak motor failure!?

[HadesOmega]

That sucks I'm about 3000 on mine.  Luckily nothing has happened. 

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Nice to hear HadesOmega!  My bike was working nearly flawlessly except for a rare tach/speedo cluster malfunction but no system fault errors to speak of!  My Empulse R was always throwing error messages.

[siai47]

If you are really stuck and out of warranty, the Parker motor for the Brammo (Victory) is available at the following link for $1995.  A tough call but at least they are there and someone bought a close out from either Polaris or the vendor. 

      http://store.evtv.me/proddetail.php?prod=brammo 

[HadesOmega]

That sucks to have to replace the whole motor for a coolant leak.  I'm sure the dealer is just saying replace the whole motor even though the problem could probably be fixed.  I used to have a 2004 Toyota Prius I got as a salvage car, the car would randomly not start up.  Apparently the car had been to the dealer I went to before and they knew about the problem and didn't mention it to us.  The dealer wanted to replace the WHOLE wiring harness for the hybrid powertrain for like $3000.  I took it to a shop that specializes in hybrid cars and they found the problem was that when the car was being put back together after the crash they didn't install a connector properly which caused the car to not start.  The tech found this out and fixed it and it was only like $200 labor to fix it. 

Fortunately they are replacing it under warranty.  If not I would take it somewhere else or try to fix it yourself.

[cybergodzilla]

While my 2014 Empulse was repaired for Fault S82; I wanted to know what other problems I might expect. I asked what other common problem they've worked on? They said leaks from the motor... It is too risky to repair, so they replace =/

CyberG
SoCal

[Ultratoad]

Before I spent a ton of money on a new motor, because of a stupid coolant leak (seal)....  I would put in some of that mystical magical coolant leak crap from Lucas !!!!  Really, what do you have to lose ?

[Richard230]

Before I spent a ton of money on a new motor, because of a stupid coolant leak (seal)....  I would put in some of that mystical magical coolant leak crap from Lucas !!!!  Really, what do you have to lose ?

Ah, Bars Leak. The old standby. It works on cars, but will it work on an electric motorcycle? Who will be the first to find out? And who will be the first to clean out their radiator and water pump if it doesn't?

[Leander]

would not worry to much, I have a leak also, comming from the o-ring behind the plastic cover left side.

just keep an eye on the coolant level.

if it's not to hot outside or when you are not racing, it should be fine.

doing 140km every day no problem.

[HadesOmega]

Maybe try JB weld?

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If you are really stuck and out of warranty, the Parker motor for the Brammo (Victory) is available at the following link for $1995.  A tough call but at least they are there and someone bought a close out from either Polaris or the vendor.

This a a great find!  Nice that there is at least this option for owners that are out of warranty.  Getting it to work with the bike without the software would be very tricky I imagine.

That sucks to have to replace the whole motor for a coolant leak.  I'm sure the dealer is just saying replace the whole motor even though the problem could probably be fixed.

It does seem like a terrible waste!  I believe that the problem is with the motor case itself (cracked?) which you would think could be fixed by welding.  Although the heat from welding may transfer to the magnets and destroy the motor.  Maybe you could disassemble the motor to work on the case without jeopardizing internal components although a dealership wouldn't risk an untested fix like that and hand it back to an individual and be liable if there is some kind of problem that causes a crash/injury/death.

Before I spent a ton of money on a new motor, because of a stupid coolant leak (seal)....  I would put in some of that mystical magical coolant leak crap from Lucas !!!!  Really, what do you have to lose ?

If this wasn't a warranty repair I would definitely attempt this.  If it gummed up the cooling system I would probably just remove it.  Lose that weight and turn the Empulse into a quick scooter I wonder if 40-50mph without the cooling system would push the motor to its temp max?

would not worry to much, I have a leak also, comming from the o-ring behind the plastic cover left side.
just keep an eye on the coolant level. If it's not to hot outside or when you are not racing, it should be fine. Doing 140km every day no problem.

Nice to hear you are able to work around the issue!  Are you using the little plug check screw on the side of the motor to check the level?  Sure wish there was a dip-stick to check the fluid level.  Same for the transmission.

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While my 2014 Empulse was repaired for Fault S82; I wanted to know what other problems I might expect. I asked what other common problem they've worked on? They said leaks from the motor... It is too risky to repair, so they replace =/

I have kept a few pics of the codes my 2013 Empulse R displayed, listed below:

GET SERVICE V78 - Real Time clock not working
SYSTEM FAULT A6 - AIM Module Not Communicating
SYSTEM FAULT B40 - BMS Back in Idle Mode
SYSTEM FAULT B62 - * do not see this fault listed in the manual

Over the few years I had the bike they replaced 3 of the 7 battery modules (all water issues) and 2 VCUs.
I was also having a strange issue that I do not think anyone else experienced which was a subtle throttle pulsing.  Which was erratic and most noticeable in 1st gear.  No one was really able to diagnose it but the first VCU swap did make the problem go away, and when it returned the fix was to replace the VCU again which resulted in the bike no longer working and the trade for my Empulse TT.  The TT has been issue free until this leak.

[siai47]

So, if all these motors are leaking, has anyone tried to contact the motor manufacturer.  Are the only motors leaking manufactured by Parker?  Is anyone having a problem with the IET motor?  Parker builds this same style motor for many applications and if there are leaks in the motorcycle motor there are most likely leaks in their other motors.  It is possible there is a service bulletin or a fix for the issue?  If my motor was leaking (it probably will start after writing this) I would be on the phone to Parker's service support.  I doubt it would be worse than trying to get any rational information from Polaris.

[PaulHMartinez]

It was never explained to me what the actual source of the leak was.
My hunch is an internal seal.  I never rode it hard so can’t see any case cracking. I think motor replacement was the best option. To remove it and disassemble it to replace a 50 cent seal would take far too long and not be cost effective.  Also, to attempt this repair on your own seems risky and you’d have to have the pricey service book and software to get it to run again.
Because it’s happened to other bikes (this is the 3rd I now know of) it could be a bad batch of motors. We should check build dates to compare.
  Your biggest concern may be the ability of the dealers service dept.
the techs I took mine to replaced the motor but had no way to program it to the controller. That’s what killed the bike.  They got no support from Victory or Polaris who eventually had to replace the bike after threat of litigation.
  The good news, the replacement bike has been good at nearly 8,000 miles aside from the speed sensor failure.
I took it to a different dealer for that and they also had another non running Empulse there and admitted they didn’t have the software or ability to repair it.  They did attempt to charge me for that but quickly argued it as a warranted repair. Good thing that was just an external mechanical part.
  These are really great, cool motorcycles so it’s a shame they gave up on electric and those of us that own them are kinda taking a gamble that there won’t be any issues.
 

[HadesOmega]

It's kind of amazing how Brammo put these bikes together, it's not as easy as slapping new parts on if something goes bad they got to all talk to each other somehow.  It's almost like riding a computer to install a new part you need to uninstall the part and install and register the new one.

Sometimes I wonder, I like the Empulse more and more as I keep riding it but as newer bikes and technologies emerge I wonder how the bike could have grown.