Detailed Instructions for the Water Pump Fix

[drzvfr]

I did the fix last night and took some pics and notes to make this easy on people that haven't done it and want more detail. Please chime in if you think I've missed something.

Required Tools:

Set of Allen wrenches

#3 Phillips screwdriver

small flat head screwdriver

8 & 10 mm sockets

13 mm open end wrench (I needed this to remove my skid plate)

snap ring pliers

gasket scraper

compressed air

Required Parts:

New clutch cover gasket, Suzuki Part # 11482-29F00

Tube or can of RTV sealant

Oil filter and oil (if you plan to change the oil)

1. Remove your skid plate (if you have one). I have a Tonn's skid plate and it was in the way.

2. Remove right side radiator cover.

3. Unbolt the rear brake lever. This will require removing a cotter pin on the backside of the bolt, and then the bolt itself. I was able to swing the lever far enough out of the way without completely removing it from the bike (see pic).

4. Drain the coolant. This requires removing the radiator cap and the small bolt on the water pump, which has an aluminum washer on it. I rocked the bike from side to side to get most of the coolant out of the bike.

5. The oil, two options here. You can either drain the oil and remove the oil filter or you can do what I did which is lay the bike on its left side to keep the oil from pouring out of the engine when you remove the clutch cover. I still removed the oil filter so I could clean the clutch cover with brake clean after scraping the old gasket off.

6. Loosen the hose clamp on the coolant hose that attaches to the top of the water pump and fold the hose out of the way.

7. Remove the water pump cover and the clutch cover by removing the bolts holding them on. Note that some of the bolts are of different sizes so keep track of which hole you pulled them from. Also, not all of the bolts need be removed, see the pic below.

8. Remove the old gasket from the clutch cover and/or the engine with your gasket scraper. I then cleaned the clutch cover with brake cleaner as it was fairly oily.

9. With your snap ring pliers, remove the snap ring from the plastic gear on the clutch cover seen here:

10. Remove the plastic gear.

11. Push out the metal pin and remove the washer underneath as seen here:

12. With a screwdriver or whatever your preferred tool, remove the “E” clip as seen here:

13. After removing the “E” clip push the water pump shaft out of the clutch cover.

14. You will now have the part in your hand that needs fixing. Remove the porcelain gasket at the bottom of the shaft by blowing it with compressed air. Don’t not pry it with a screwdriver as it could damage the gasket. Mine was stuck fairly well so I sprayed some WD-40 on first to loosen it up.

15. If you used WD-40 clean the shaft and gasket with some brake cleaner and then apply the RTV sealant to this area (I reused this pic as its perfect):

16. Push the gasket back down flush on the shaft wiping away any excess RTV that may flow out.

17. Reassemble the shaft into the clutch cover in reverse order as listed in steps 9-13.

18. Place your new clutch cover gasket on the engine and then place the cover back onto the bike.

19. Put the bolts back into the clutch and water pump cover and tighten equally. I could not find a torque setting for these in the manual so I snugged them evenly.

20. Put the oil filter or a new one in the bike and put the oil filter cover back on.

21. Re-attach the brake lever and tighten the bolt to 21 ft lbs. Be sure to install a new cotter pin on the backside of the bolt.

22. If you drained your oil, refill the crankcase with the proper amount. If you didn’t drain the oil be sure you have enough in the crankcase from oil lost from removing the clutch cover.

23. Let bike sit for 24 hours to let the RTV set up before adding coolant.

24. Re-attach the coolant hose to the top of the water pump and tighten the hose clamp.

25. Fill the radiator with a “Silicate Free” anti-freeze and put the radiator cap back on and tighten the radiator cap screw.

26. Put the radiator cover and your skid plate back on the bike.

27. You are done, go ride!

This post has been promoted to a wiki

[drzvfr]

.....

[RuiCarmo]

Thanks a lot for such detailed post.

???

[Ross Buckingham]

Nice write-up! ?

[aclfish]

Nice job posting the detailed water pump repair. I'll probably do this repair this weekend cause my bike is already dismantled for overhaul. 434 millenium tech replate and porting.... it needs more power....

[anathema]

Thanks for the nice post. Bookmarked.

[Sundog]

?

[CO-DRZ]

Nice Job!! ?

[Wayward Son]

nice impellar picture................ ?

[kevint]

Just a note alittle grease yes grease on both sides of the gasket will help you get it off next time. yes after the first time they tend to fail more, any good info. Want to go supermoto with the dr/ try misupermoto.com

[drzvfr]

Just a note alittle grease yes grease on both sides of the gasket will help you get it off next time. yes after the first time they tend to fail more, any good info. Want to go supermoto with the dr/ try misupermoto.com

Is this true? i thought once fixed it was good to go? ?

[thewoody1]

Great write-up!! I am going to add a copy of this to my manual. I do have one question. I have read about the nuts on the end of the crankshaft coming loose, are those post for the primary nut behind the clutch cover? If so, it might be a good time to note this so it can be checked while the cover is off.

[commando]

Excellent write up. I was able to do the water pump fix in about an hour. Especially thanks for the pics. Really easy to do

Nice hint about using WD-40 and compressed air to loosen the ceramic washer

[drzvfr]

Glad it worked out well for you. I'll be posting more "how to" when I do them.

[wingysataday]

sweet ass reply. thanks but now i have to go back to the stealer across town for the damn primary gasket!!!! Thanks again!

[Stu35]

Great job. Excellent thread. Thanks

[jigmoore]

thank you, thank you, thank you.

excellent write up. your hard work on this is very much appreciated.

had this exact problem, did a google, registered with you guys, have the fix.

thanks again.

[JCORMI]

Great write up and pics! This is something I have not done yet, As I have not had any problems with it, but this winter I plan on going over my bike and doing alot of differnet things. Greasing it up mainly, is this something I should add to the list or would I be best to leave it if it hasnt acted up? " If it aint broke don't fix it" type of thing?

[commando]

If your water pump isn't leaking don't fix it... when it starts to leak... fix it

[coughlig]

Question: should you locktite the clutch cover bolts when you re-install them?

Also, how much RTV are you applying? Is is just enough to seal between the shaft and the ceramic washer or better to have more under the entire ceramic washer?

Great write-up, thanks for it.