[WildDoktor]

Ugh, man; what an ordeal! I hope *this* time is *THE* time for you!!

 

[Hilo Haole]

If you have a leak again and I hope you don't, I would suggest removing the T stat housing and check both halves for flatness. My housing was showing signs of a leak but not as active as yours. I placed 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper on my table saw (counter top will do) and polished both halves flat. The outer cover took a bit of work before it shined up across the face. It is also important to draw the bolts up evenly when installing the cover.

I like RTV but not in this situation. I would recommend Permatex form a gasket #2 or Permatex aviation form a gasket to provide an additional seal to the metal faces of the T stat housing. Both are rated to 400 degrees and are compatible with water and ethylene glycol.

 

[DesertBike]

Happy news! The other three oil separator screws broke loose, with careful use of a #3 Philips bit (local hardware store doesn't carry JIS bits) in a power drill. Once broken loose, they turned easily. No evidence of corrosion. Dunno why they were so tight.

I'll be replacing those screws with M6 x 1.0, 12mm button-head (4mm hex) screws. Stainless, because that's all Ace had last night in that size. That's identical to the factory screws apart from being hex-head vs. Philips #3 (or, probably the JIS equivalent) and stainless, BTW. No tightening torque is given anywhere I can find, so I'm going with "hand-tight" and blue Loctite.

Further observations:

-The water pumps on the two bikes share moving parts, but are different arrangements. The DL650 water pump is a single unit that can be swapped (and purchased) whole, apart from the plastic drive gear. On the DL1000, the water pump is built into the crankcase cover, in such a fashion that there's no way to easily swap the whole works.

-I suspect the "built-in-ness" of the DL1000 water pump is why you need that "Oil Separator" wall thingy. This separator is sheetmetal with a rubber lip, much like other oil and dust seals found elsewhere on the bike. I'll be extra-careful to get the oil separator, and the compartment it covers, squeaky-clean for reassembly, as it prevent oil from seeping into the backside of the pump. I don't want coolant getting in the oil, or vice-versa.


Next task is to press/pull out the old bearings, oil seal, and mechanical seal. Have new replacements for all.

This is one case where I definitely will not be obtaining the "proper" factory tool. A Suzi bearing remover kit is $559 (https://www.partzilla.com/product/suzuki/09921-20240).

However, I'm not sure things will be that simple. More later, once I get a chance to work on it.

 

[DesertBike]

Looked at it again before leaving for work. I don't see any way I can press out the old mechanical seal without first removing the bearings.

The bearings are themselves pressed into the crankcase cover. So I suppose will have to be pulled out (there's no way to press them out, mechanical seal is in the way).

Not sure how I'm going to do that. I've been looking at automotive bearing pullers online. Slide-hammer time? I would prefer to be more gentle, if possible. Really don't want to have to buy a replacement crankcase cover!

Also of note: The old impeller shaft has some deep-ish grooves in it. New one is pristine. From what I've been reading, this groove/scoring on the impeller shaft is Bad Waterpump JuJu, so looks like a rebuild was truly needed.

 

[DesertBike]

If you have a leak again and I hope you don't, I would suggest removing the T stat housing and check both halves for flatness. My housing was showing signs of a leak but not as active as yours. I placed 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper on my table saw (counter top will do) and polished both halves flat. The outer cover took a bit of work before it shined up across the face. It is also important to draw the bolts up evenly when installing the cover.

I like RTV but not in this situation. I would recommend Permatex form a gasket #2 or Permatex aviation form a gasket to provide an additional seal to the metal faces of the T stat housing. Both are rated to 400 degrees and are compatible with water and ethylene glycol.

Checking T-stat housing halves for flatness seems worth doing, regardless. I mean, I have the coolant drained and things taken apart anyway.

I don't know how the T-stat housing halves could have become not-flat, but it's clear that RTV is not going to do the job. I've applied it twice. Both times, it held for several rides, then started leaking again.

That's puzzling, because it suggests abnormally high coolant pressure. Only things that should cause that are overheating, or a defective radiator cap, or some of both. However I have no indication of overheating. On the contrary, the leaks often happen when the system has not yet warmed up. If anything, when the engine is still warming up, there should be lower coolant pressure than usual.

 

[DesertBike]

Ugh, man; what an ordeal! I hope *this* time is *THE* time for you!!

Thanks, it's been annoying as hell. I'm really tired of smelling hot coolant almost every ride, and finding streaks of dried coolant on the engine case and a sticky green mess in the bottom of my skid plate.

I found exactly one video about driving the old waterpump mechanical seal out of the crankcase cover. That's pretty simple. An old banjo bolt (left over from my brake line replacements) may work as a driver.

But...the guy already had the pump bearings out of the way. No indication how he did it. Can't find info anywhere else either.

 

[WildDoktor]

But...the guy already had the pump bearings out of the way. No indication how he did it. Can't find info anywhere else either.

Maybe you can reply to his video with a question. Who knows...he may answer!

 

[DesertBike]

Maybe, it was posted in 2010 though so I'm not super optimistic!

I think I'll dig through VSRI and ADVRider first though.

 

[DesertBike]

Action photo time! Here are the old and new impellers, side by side:

The scoring on the shaft of the old impeller isn't as bad as it probably looks. I can barely feel it when dragging a fingernail down the shaft. But, it's there, and possibly part of the cause of my weird leakage.

As for the rest of the situation: I threw in the towel and gave my crankcase cover, along with all the relevant new parts (pair of bearings, oil seal, mechanical seal) to a motorcycle shop. They're going to get the old parts out and new ones in, then I can do the rest.

I still cannot find a DL1000-specific narrative on how to pull the water pump bearings. However I did discover that there's a tool for this situation. It's called a blind hole bearing puller. Something like this:

https://www.otctools.com/products/blind-bearing-puller-set

The problem is, as usual, that automotive-oriented versions won't quite work. Often, the smallest pulling collet is a little too big to get inside this water pump bearing.

 

[DesertBike]

I gave up and took the crankcase cover to a motorcycle shop to swap the parts (bearings, mechanical seal, oil seal).

A couple days and $53 later, it's done.

There was an extra part included with the mechanical seal (SEAL, MECHANICAL, 17470-02F10), shown here:

It's a ceramic and rubber disc, that's all I can say for sure. There wasn't one in the pump already, so it must not be needed.

I bought the parts about a year ago. Now is a newer version of the mechanical seal listed for the 2007 Vstrom DL1000. It's listed as 17470-02F11. Photos show the exact same part, so the disc is still a mystery.

Thank goodness, I can finally get the bike back together.

I'm also going to apply some Permatex #2 to that thermostat housing. Took some time and elbow grease to fully remove the RTV I put on last time. Occurs to me maybe I used too much of the Permatex Water Pump RTV, and that's why it failed. Maybe it was taking up too much room & bearing too much pressure, even though I had the housing bolts as tight as I dared.

Don't know if there's anything to that, but I'm going to be more sparing in applying the Permatex #2.

 

[Hilo Haole]

The extra part you show 09283-10005 is required. It is shown as #4 in this parts fiche. I hope it was installed at the shop.
https://www.ronayers.com/oemparts/a/suz/506b2bdcf8700231bc956363/water-pump

And yes, go easy on the Permatex. A light shmeer on both surfaces is good.

 

[DesertBike]

No, that's not an oil seal (09283-10005) in the picture, the whatever-it-is just happens to be sitting on the bag for the oil seal. I can see why that was confusing.

The oil seal is a sheetmetal thing (vaguely resembling a Bundt pan) with rubber along its lip. Partzilla has a pretty good photo:

https://www.partzilla.com/product/suzuki/09283-10005

What I have is a mysterious leftover that was in the bag with the mechanical seal (17470-02F10). Looks and feels like a flat ceramic ring with rubber on one side. Here's a better photo of the rubber side:

There wasn't one of these in the water pump to start with, so it must not be required.

(Turns out it was hiding on the inner side of the impeller. Sneaky.)

 

[Hilo Haole]

Here are some pics from the manual. That part is installed on the impeller. The ceramic disc and rubber cup is half of the mechanical seal.

 

[DesertBike]

Yep, just figured that out. Re-reading the service manual pays.

It's a mechanical seal for the backside of the impeller.

Weird that it's packaged with the new mechanical seal. You'd think it would be in the bag with a new impeller.

 

[DesertBike]

Job finished, including new motor oil and coolant refilled. Some riding done. No more drips - so far. But, jury's still out. I won't believe it's cured until I get several hundred miles done & still don't see any leaking.

Some notes on the finer points:

-Service manual recommends engine oil lubrication of the water pump bearings...in a diagram at the very end of the section covering installation, after you've presumably already installed all the parts. Gee thanks, Suzuki. I could not see any way to get lubrication into the "inside" of the two bearings (the one closest to the outside when pump is assembled), as it is covered up by the other bearing. No space between them to so much as work in a Q-tip to drip oil on the inner bearing.

I pushed some Mobil 1 synthetic grease (my chosen substitute for when Suzuki Super-Grease "A" is called for) into the top bearing, and am just going to have to hope for the best, I guess. If I start hearing bad noises from the water pump area, I suppose I at least know where to start troubleshooting.

-Having done the job, I'm not sure what the big sheetmetal piece called "Oil Separator" does exactly. At most, it creates a semi-sealed compartment in the vicinity of the water pump. It does not do anything to prevent oil from entering the water pump bearings, or the well where the water pump mechanical and oil seals reside.

-Maybe this is why the DL650 engine does not have this "oil separator," as well as making the water pump a removable module (which still requires removing the crankcase cover...which makes you wonder why they bothered!).

 

[DesertBike]

Did not get to ride last weekend, but have a number of weekday commutes done, with no coolant drips so far.

I won't be convinced until I go another few months with no more drips.

If I'm still having the problem from before, I'll know soon. The coolant will push past the #2-created gasket, just as it did with the RTV gasket.

 

[DesertBike]

Hope you didn't get your party hat out just yet. Wasn't long after that last post that I found evidence of more dripping from the T-stat housing.

And it's been doing it regularly, since. I started keeping a folded up paper towel stuffed in the vee, tucked under the bypass hose. Surprisingly, it stays in there even on the highway, if I position it right.

I replace the towel every day or two, and there's always some staining from a little coolant.

It's absolutely infuriating. I've replaced every damned piece of rubber in my cooling system, even the radiator cap, except the bypass hose, and cylinder head O-rings.

Nevertheless, just for giggles I bought a replacement bypass hose and will be replacing it over the weekend.

For the time being, my cooling system is wearing a diaper. Ugh.

 

[WildDoktor]

*sheepishly removes party hat*

 

[DesertBike]

Seriously. I've half a mind to rig something there to catch the dips, so that I can collect the leaked coolant and pour it right back into the reservoir.

 

[DesertBike]

I think what I'll do is cut up a metal can (say from some beans), use a file to remove the murderously-sharp edges, and fasten it around/under the T-stat housing with wire.

Some coolant could spill out in theory, but there isn't THAT much leakage that it should be sloshing around. As long as I don't drop the bike!

I thought about using a plastic bag...for about 3 seconds, but it would melt and make a huge mess as soon as the engine gets hot.