How
to replace/rebuild the water pump on a GL1000
This was written in the spring of 2001 and all info is
relative to that date. The information gathered here was compiled during my
experience in replacing the water pump on a 1979 GL1000.
I received a great deal of assistance from people on the list, most
notably Jim Hughes, Ray Woolridge, Joey Herring, Frank Marx and a few others.
I also used the Clymer and Helm manuals to complete the repair. The combination of the two was good and the Helm added
technical details (and better pictures), but the Clymer was more descriptive.
My weep hole started weeping coolant in August of 2001, at first
just a few drops, in the end, much more. I
knew the solution was to rebuild or replace the water pump.
My Honda dealer wanted $115 for the pump, I found that ridiculous so I
started looking at rebuild options. By
the way, Western Honda (http://www.westernhonda.com)
in Arizona only takes $83 for the pump (January, 2001) and that is much more
reasonable. If you use them, be
sure to tell them you're a Classic Wings Club member (account #510) to get the pretty decent
discount. They also offer free shipping on
all orders of $100. Niehaus Cycles (http://www.niehauscycles.com)
also offers a discount to CWC members. Another place you might try is Service
Honda (http://www.servicehonda.com).
Their parts book and all pricing info is on the web and they appear to offer about 20% off list.
I am very new to working on my GoldWing and it wasn't
without a little bit of fear that I approached the task.
I depend on my Wing to get me back and forth to work and the thought of breaking
it beyond reasonable repair was ever-present. I basically found the
job pretty easy. One
of the things I have found with working on this motorcycle is that patience is
key. If you try to force or muscle
something, you will probably pay for it in the end.
Step One
Drain the coolant by removing the drain plug on the bottom of the water pump
cover (be sure to take the cap off the radiator) and the oil
(remove the filter as well).
Step Two
Remove the fairing. I have a
little bit of experience working with cars and my philosophy (to the extent
practical) is to get as much out of the way as possible.
I probably could have gotten away with leaving the fairing on, but taking it off
gave me some different angles on things and to my way of thinking (perhaps
mostly psychological) made the job easier. The
bike sure looks different (almost more appealing) without it. I have read that if you need to replace the fork seals, take them apart
before doing this job, that way, everything is out of the way.
Step Three
Remove the radiator. This is
pretty straight-forward, two bolts at the bottom of the radiator and two more at
the top. In addition, remove the
lower radiator hose and remove the engine side of the upper hose.
My bike still had the older clamps, I replaced them with the worm style
clamps. The spring things around
the hose are there for heat protection. I
also decided that since I was this far in, I would replace the hoses.
I used GATES #21413 for the top
hose and #22038 for the bottom. Both
hoses needed to be trimmed to make them work.
Alternatively, a Daco #70942 can be used to get both the upper and the lower
hoses. I personally wasn't real happy with the way the Daco trimmed up -
there seemed to be a bit of 'twist' to the OEM hoses, use your best
judgment. I also had to remove the hose (radiator side) to the coolant recovery
tank. This initially hung up when I
tried to remove the radiator. Disconnect the fan
wire too.
Step
Four
Remove the water pump cover. There
are four fasteners. The Clymer
indicated that the fasteners were screws - mine had hex-head bolts.
Honda started using hex bolts on later models - it depends on your VIN
number. If you have screws, replace them with bolts. There are two 6
x 22 hex head and two 6 x 80 hex head. During the procedure, I
actually snapped one of the 6 x 22's and a 6 x 20 replaced it just fine.
If you remove the part of the cover that the lower radiator hose connects to
(you don't have to) you will need two additional 6 x 22 hex head bolts.
Step
Five
This is the hard part - remove the transmission/oil pump cover on the front of the
engine.
There are nine screws that have to come out.
Get out your impact driver and have at it.
The basic problem is that there is a frame cross-member that gets in the
way on at least three of the screws. My
impact driver (cheap) has a relatively large head.
I used the #3 Phillips bit. I
worked all right on four of the screws. I
then had to improvise. I took the
Phillips bit and fit it into a 8 mm 1/4" drive socket (don't tell Sears),
placed the socket on 1/4" to 3/8" converter and added a 1 1/2"
extension. That worked for two more
of the screws. I was stumped on the
other three. I removed the timing
belt covers and gained clearance (perhaps it was nothing more than vision, but I
thought it helped). One of Ray's
messages talked about using a wobble extension to get around the cross-member so
I headed for Sears to pick one up. While there, I discovered that Craftsman makes a 3/8"
socket with a Phillips tip. The
unique part is that the Phillips tip is relatively long and allowed good
clearance on the offending cross-member. I
got two more of the screws that way, one left.
That final screw was a lost cause - a mere circle where there should have
been a Phillips head. Again,
following Ray's advice, I took my cold chisel and 32-ounce hammer and started
banging away. My initial thought
was to attempt to remake the Phillips connector (through brute force).
As I was pounding on it, as if by magic, the screw came loose (I got
lucky). Of the nine screws that
came out, there are two different lengths of that screw, be sure to note which
one goes where. The Helm manual
notes this for you, the Clymer manual does not.
It's not a disaster of you don't write it down, it's pretty easy to tell by
looking at it. A tap with a rubber mallet and the front cover was in my hands.
Those Phillips head screws did NOT go back on this bike.
The bolts are sort of strange
lengths in that they are 35 and 55 mm respectively. At my hardware store,
they only carried 30 and 50 mm lengths. I went ahead and purchased the
Honda bolts for the GL1100 - they are exactly the right size and worked like an
absolute dream compared to the Phillips head screws.
Step
6
If you're going to replace the pump, remove the three screws that attach the
water pump to the front engine cover housing.
Tap (Ok, hit it pretty hard) the pump out.
If
you're rebuilding the pump, read on. Click
here to see several photos of the water pump in various states of disassembly.
There
are three screws that attach the water pump to the front engine housing cover,
loosened them 5 or 6 turns. The first
step in the rebuild is to remove the impeller shaft.
On the backside of the water pump is a c-clip that holds the impeller
shaft in, remove the clip. The
impeller shaft ends in a V. Place a
narrow chisel inside the V and hammer out the impeller and shaft.
There is no need to remove the impeller from the shaft. There is a seal that usually remains inside the impeller.
It is a round piece of white ceramic incased in a round black piece of
rubber. Bumping up to that is a mechanical
seal. These are the CX500 seals that
you have to purchase from Honda - part number 19217-657-023 gets you both
seals. Finish removing the three
screws that attach the water pump to the housing and remove the water pump.
Stick a screwdriver through the front of the water pump and knock out the
bearing on the backside of the pump. Use
a flat chisel from the backside to remove the front bearing and the cover and
the pump is essentially apart. To
rebuild the pump, you need to replace the bearings and the seal mentioned above.
The bearings are SKF 6000 2RS JEM. Gently
reassemble the pump. The order of
the pieces goes like this:
- Impeller on Shaft
- Ceramic Seal inside impeller
- Longer spacer that fits over impeller shaft
- Mechanical seal
- Tin cover
- Bearing
- Spacer
- Bearing
- Circlip
I
personally chose to replace the pump, mostly because I was chicken.
Three major factors drove my decision.
First, I like to ride my bike. I'm
braving 20-degree weather in a cold garage so that when it finally hits 40, I
can ride. I don't want to have to
tear it apart again because the rebuild didn't work.
Second, the bearings were $11 each and the seal was $28 - a total of $50
for rebuild parts. The new pump was
$80 from Western Honda - to me, it wasn't worth the messing around for $30.
I realize that I live in a small town - one Honda dealer, one bearing
supplier - prices are likely a bit higher here than they would have been
elsewhere. Ed
Audet mentioned that he got the rebuild parts for closer to $35, so if you're very cost
conscious, check around a bit. He didn't say where he got them. Finally,
my mechanical know-how and my toolbox are somewhat limited.
The fit of the bearings into pump and the fit of the impeller shaft to
the bearings is very tight. I wasn't convinced that given the above limitations that I
could fit the thing back together without ruining the bearings.
To my way of thinking, one would have to hammer it back together.
The bearings are rather small and I wasn't sure that I knew how to
"hammer" without taking a great chance of ruining the bearings.
Perhaps mechanical know would have made up for lack of a proper tool (Is
there a proper tool?). Or perhaps a proper tool would have made up for a perceived
lack of mechanical know-how (Or am I just paranoid?). Not
sure. I also recognized that given
a very limited motorcycle budget, I couldn't afford to buy both the rebuild
parts and the new pump - I took the safer path.
A
final note on the rebuild - I did have the Honda dealer and the bearing supplier
show me what I would have purchased and they matched.
If you choose to take the rebuild route - the part numbers listed are good.
Step
7 - Begin putting it back together
Place two new o-rings on the water pump, put the pump back in the engine
housing and put the three screws back in. The
pump is kind of an odd shape and only fits into the housing one way.
It took considerable force to get the new pump in and I cleaned things up pretty
good in a parts cleaner and with Scotch-Brite.
Step
8
Put the transmission cover back on the bike. Replace all
o-rings. There are six that go in the
cylinder block, see the end of this document for a complete list of all o-rings,
part numbers and locations. If you have a Helm manual, take a look at
section 6, page 7 for a good picture of exactly where six of these o-rings
go. In addition, replace the seal that is in the front of the main
oil pump. There are two collars
that go into the reassembly, they both have o-rings and placement is obvious.
There are also three dowels between the engine and the engine cover.
Placement of these is also obvious - they only fit in certain holes.
On the top right hand side dowel, you need an o-ring, it's a tiny one.
Be sure also to replace the seal on the front of the main oil pump. If
your weep hole is leaking oil, this is why. The seal comes as part of the
K & L kit.
Step
9
Replace the water pump cover, radiator, hoses, oil filter and drain plug.
Fill with water and oil.
Step
10
Start it up, flush the coolant through a few times to make sure that all the old
anti-freeze is out, replace with a good, silicate-free coolant - I used Dex-Cool.
If you use this it's really important to flush the system well.
Step
11
No leaks, no drips? Put the fairing back on (or not) and head on out
for a ride.
Notes
