Newbie here, so bear with me.
I have a stock 1986 Ninja 1000 that I have owned since day 1. Bike only has 20k on the odo and the motor has never been modified or re-built. As you can see, I ride it very infrequently. I've recently developed an oil leak that appears to be coming from where the water pump slides into the side of the motor. There is an O-ring around the cirular portion of the water pump shaft where it slides into the motor. The impeler shaft is notched and it slides onto a recessed tab (that is inside the motor and that drives the impeller shaft). So, I'm guessing that the leak may be occuring due to a bad O-ring, but I'm not completely convinced.Reason I say this is becauseit seems odd to me that Kawasaki would design the water pump/motor interface where engine oil is retained within this cavity (that the water pump shaft fits into) by an O-ring. But, when reading the service manual w.r.t. water pump removal, the manual says to drain the oil prior to removal of the water pump. Soooo, I guess that oil is retained within this cavity.
Has anyone ever dealt with this type of issue on the GPz motor? Is it more than just an O-ring problem, meaning that the leak is occuring deeper in the motor, where the impeller shaft goes into the motor? I appreciate any input....