Water pump seal is leaking.

[dezracer]

I change the oil in the 500 and it was an instant milk shake maker.  A nice thick mixture of oil and coolant.   How hard is to change out a waterpump seal on the 500?  Are there any little tricks or tips that you guys can offer?  Is it possible to change the seal without taking off the engine cover and all of that BS?  I was told also to use a different coolant other than Engine-Ice, as for some reason that stuff will cause the seal to leak.

[mikesmith]

Not to hard a job,may want to do water pump bearings at the same time.Make sure you keep in mind how everything came apart,and yes you have to pull the cover.

[dezracer]

Thanks, new seal and bearing installed.  Will test in the morning.     My bike was an old Team Green race bike and I found all the parts in the big box of goodies that was handed down to me.  

[afritts4u]

I'm having the same problem. Do you need to split the cases, or just take off the clutch/ignistion covers? Also, any other ways water can enter the transmission. I did not notice this happening untill I took apart my top end and put it back together

[hughes]

Clutch cover and impeller cover is all that is needed to be removed. I can't think of any other way water can get into the trans

[afritts4u]

Thanks for that, Just did some 2 Gear wheelies in my condo complex after changing the transoil again to make sure its an ongoing ordeal. Shure enough more shaving creem. Time to change those seals, thanks for the info!

[hughes]

If you cought it in time maybe the bearings are o.k. might be easier to just remove the impeller and pick the seal out and install new.

[afritts4u]

Can you do this without pulling the clutch cover? (Change the seals only?) That would be awesom! Looks like you can by the parts diagram?

[hughes]

Drain the coolant and remove the water pump cover. The seal is behind the impeller. That bolt that hold the impeller can ge tricky. That impeller is not keyed no need to try and hold it while you loosen the bolt. The engine might need to be in gear to remove the bolt. The impeller shaft is gear driven.

[afritts4u]

Rebuilt the forks, rebuilt the shock, pressed in all the linkage seals, rebuilt top end. I can never sell this thing now, "I could have graduated from MMI by now" lol (Motorcycle mechanics Institute ad.) All of these sucesfull repairs started from info on this forum. Thanks everyone. Thanks Hughes, Now I can go to glamis this weekend. Parts are in stock at my local dealer!

[KXcam22]

A4,
  You might want to check those waterpump bearings. between the coolant and the alum residue from the clutch plates they lead a pretty hard life.  Cam.

[afritts4u]

Last night I pulled the pump cover, and removed the thrashed seal, could see oil leaking through. Behind the Seal was a thrashed barring. The 2 Bearings that butt up agents each other, the one on the water pump side was missing half of the balls in the Bering.  So I pulled the clutch cover, this was easier than I thought, and removed the bad bearings. It took freezing the clutch cover and torching next to the bad Bering to get it to come out. But it worked pretty clean.

A few follow up questions though! What is the best way to get any of the old water out of the area. I was thinking og drowning away the area with brake cleaner and shooting some up the drain whole.

Also the old gasket is nasty and not coming off easily. I have always wondered other than scraping with a razor blade what the best way to get off the old gasket material is.

[hughes]

contact cleaner or carb clearner might help with the gasket or dab some gas onto the gasket with a rag. To get the water out of the engine you will need to waste a couple of quarts of oil. fill the gear box start engine and let it run for a couple minutes and then drain it. repeat this about two times should help.

[KXcam22]

A4,
  A rinse with methy hydrate (wood alcohol-gas line antifreeze) should combine with the water to wash it out (also a bit of the clutch residue too). Otherwise as hughes suggests, the rinse with cheap oil works too. Cam.