1200 water pump

[HONDA'S]

I need to replace me water pump. EBay showes one (new) by Caltric. It's $40 cheaper than an the OEM one. Also can the pump be pulled out our must the housing be removed. So it can be pushed out. THANKS FOR ANY HELP

[oldishwinger]

hi,

In my very humble opinion its a bit of risk to go with a cheap aftermarket pump cheap and nasty it may turn out to be, I think its better to stick to OEM in this case.

yes unfortunately the front case has to come off to get the pump out, while you are in there replace the seals, take particular care with the one that seals the water pump and oil pump, it has a tendency to roll and cause a slight leak out of the weep hole if not right.

good luck.

[HONDA'S]

Thanks, that kind of was my thought too but I was not sure. If I get the OEM one I have to buy all of the gasket kit for that also. Mine is not leaking very much I had done new head gaskets and carburetor rebuild. When I started it up and ran it for about a half-hour on the bench everything was fine. I haven't had not taken it out for a road test yet because of the weather and other things. And I noticed after about two weeks up on the bench there was the drip underneath of the weep hole. So if I have to take it apart to check it out I might as well put a new pump in I guess. Thanks for the info. I was just wondering if anybody else had used that off ground and had good success with it.

[HONDA'S]

One more thing. It does not leak out of the drain hole while it is running or after it has been shut off for a day or two. Only when it has been sitting for a couple of weeks. Don't know if that means there's a seal out and leaks a little bit or the water pump is going out.

[oldishwinger]

One more thing. It does not leak out of the drain hole while it is running or after it has been shut off for a day or two. Only when it has been sitting for a couple of weeks. Don't know if that means there's a seal out and leaks a little bit or the water pump is going out.

It will be the seal for sure.

[oldishwinger]

If you have a leak from the weep hole,it will be the seal, and yep if you are in there you might as well replace the pump and the other seals while you are at it.

the pump seal is very common problem.

its quite hard to determine if the pump is on the way out because it has a very robust drive system, and if even if its worn it will continue to turn. I have never heard of one collapsing.

but one way you can see if its got wear is to drain the radiator, and remove the front housing that holds the bottom of the hose, there should be no play in the impeller. in saying that, the drive can mask any play it might have as well. I replaced mine some time ago, mainly because of a lot of garbage in the impeller housing, and it was only when I had it out, did it show how bad it was.

[CrystalPistol]

And always be 100% sure to have a silicate free 50/50 coolant mix. Best policy for long water pump life in these bikes.

[WingAdmin]

You have to remove the front engine cover in order to replace the water pump, and any time you remove this cover you have to replace the gaskets, so yes, you will need a gasket kit. Definitely go with an OEM gasket kit, a lot of aftermarket ones (particularly Saber Cycle) are very substandard, and clearance in this area is critical.

[HONDA'S]

Thanks for all the help. It's much nicer to know how far one has to go to make sure it's done right the first time. It's getting harder to find mechanics that know older bikes, that goes for any type of machine. That's why I enjoy my gl1200I and GL500I.I bought a 1986 1200 for a parts bike. Swapped a few parts. Now have to decide if it's a parts bike or worth getting it running. It needs a left side cover (battery) that costs that I paid for the bike. So time will tell .
Happy New Year To All, GOD BLESS

[oldishwinger]

Thanks for all the help. It's much nicer to know how far one has to go to make sure it's done right the first time. It's getting harder to find mechanics that know older bikes, that goes for any type of machine. That's why I enjoy my gl1200I and GL500I.I bought a 1986 1200 for a parts bike. Swapped a few parts. Now have to decide if it's a parts bike or worth getting it running. It needs a left side cover (battery) that costs that I paid for the bike. So time will tell .
Happy New Year To All, GOD BLESS

there is a seller on ebay who sells copys of left hand cover and a way better price than OEM (if you can get one) you would need to paint it etc but a pretty good option

[wiretician]

Had to change water pump in both my 1500, and recently my 1200. the Silicate thing was very puzzling. Until I disassembled the 1200 pump. It has what is called a mechanical seal. This seal is two parts, a stationary rubber ring with a compression spring behind it to press against the other half of the seal. Which is a rubber ring in the back of the impeller with a polished ceramic ring embedded in it that rotates with the impeller. The coolant acts a a lubricant to these two pieces. Now, what is silicates? Basically sand, which gets between these seals and scratches them and eats away till they are leaking. If the weep hole isn't weeping, as my 1200 wasn't (accidentally found it bad during a shift switch repair), it was clogged up by the debris from the bearing coming apart closest to the seal. When trying to turn by hand, it was very difficult to move. Wouldn't have been long, I would have had to tear the into the transmission cover again to replace the water pump. Unfortunately I found that both wings had the wrong color green coolant in the radiators, from previous owners. The fluorescent looking of the automotive variety, instead of the lime Jello color of the Honda Pro. By the way, which now blue and called Type 2. Hope this helps anybody, or at least a better understanding and importance of "silicate-free". As for me, I'm going to look in the radiator before the next purchase to see the color of the coolant.

[HONDA'S]

This is the antifreeze that I use in my bikes SERVICE PRO® ALL MAKES • ALL MODELS
UNIVERSAL FORMULA ANTIFREEZE/COOLANT
It is silicate and phosphate free. I use the 50/50 most of the time. Sometimes the consentrate.
And I do keep an eye on ebay. I guess I'm to cheap to buy something I don't know if I well need. I want to make sure that I can make sure the 86 runs before I buy more parts that will just put on the shelf as surplus.
Thanks fore all the help

[wiretician]

When I did my water pump, I actually found a rebuild kit on eBay. It came with the ceramic seal, mechanical seal, 2 bearings and 2 o-rings for the pump. I've gone back on eBay looking for this rebuild kit. I was unable to find it again. It came out of Germany, found a link to another forum that the guy was talking about the same eBay seller. But couldn't find it that way either. I try , myself to find the best price and make the money stretch as far as it will go. You might try looking further in that direction. the whole pump (OEM's) where in the 120-150 range. The kit was 37 with shipping, and a bit of a wait from international shipping. Plus a water pump/transmission gasket seal kit. Good luck.

[Overdog]

I got my kit for my 1100 from this seller...I see they have a kit for the 1200 as well. I got all OEM gaskets, O-rings etc and an OEM pump. Everything I needed and nothing that I didn't http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda1984-1987- ... xyvSVRED9N

[Rednaxs60]

Here's a thread on Classic Goldwings regarding a GL1200 water pump rebuild.

http://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/v ... =24&t=4351

Cheers

[Rusty Bike]

Yes, I hear ya about the silicates. Thanks folks...Rusty

[gervais]

"Saber Cycle"

hi all

i did know about Saber Cycle pronblems with their water pump gasket kit before i read here and it is ordered now,,

should i order another one ?

is it so bad??

gervais

[oldishwinger]

"Saber Cycle"

hi all

i did know about Saber Cycle pronblems with their water pump gasket kit before i read here and it is ordered now,,

should i order another one ?

is it so bad??

gervais

The kits from saber cycles are not OEM they are aftermarket I believe, there is no reason that I know of as to why the kits wont work, it just that its generally accepted that OEM kits are probably the best way to go. I have in the past brought other stuff from saber cycle and they have worked fine.

[gervais]

ok oldishwinger

sometime we dont have the $ to buy OEM ,,
as i am retired i am not milionnaire to so if a jobber kit can do the job anyhow it must also respect some specs.

will see when it arrived

thanks
gervais

[oldishwinger]

ok oldishwinger

sometime we dont have the $ to buy OEM ,,
as i am retired i am not milionnaire to so if a jobber kit can do the job anyhow it must also respect some specs.

will see when it arrived

thanks
gervais

I completely understand I'm retired also, good luck with your project, the kit should be fine.

[WingAdmin]

Do not install the Saber Cycle gasket kit on your engine front cover. Throw it away and buy a proper one. The Saber Cycle gaskets are paper thin. Clearance between the shifter mechanism and the inside of the engine front cover is measured in thousandths of an inch. Because the Saber Cycle gasket is so thin, you end up with insufficient clearance between the shifter mechanism and the cover, and the shifter will bind up when you try to shift - and you'll end up taking everything apart again in order to remove the Saber Cycle gasket and install a proper gasket.

As is so often the case, you get what you pay for, and especially so with Saber Cycle - you pay less, and you get unusable junk.

[gervais]

ahhh
so it is so badly design ,,

i cannot do antything with that junk!!!!

there was an alternative somewhere,,,,i dont remember the company!!

gervais

[gervais]

this one

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Honda-GL1200-GL ... a9J6L#rwid

is it good?

gervais

[WingAdmin]

I used a K&L gasket kit on my GL1100 and it worked great. This is the GL1200 gasket kit from K&L:

https://www.amazon.com/WATER-PUMP-SEAL- ... B006B20BAK

[gervais]

ok
well i baught one kit,

thanks for the link




gervais