Bad water pump? Head gasket? Sweet white smoke

Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Classic Goldwings

Help Support Classic Goldwings:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
No worries I'll figure it out! Seems like I have a bunch of stuff to do before I even get to the main event - that is where I'm gonna focus first because I'm not kidding when I say I have never seen inside the motor except if you count looking through the oil window and down into the top of the carbs when I changed out the air filter! Y'all are gonna find this funny as hell but I am excited as I am scared sh*tless. I'm laughing at myself just typing this.
 
No worries Chris. We're all here to help. I'm up most of the night so pm me if you like. It just seems intimidating until you do it. When you're done you'll ask yourself why you worried at all.
 
Chris, seen some of your other work on your bike and I think you will do just fine. Take your time, read and learn before you put a wrench to it and you will do good! :yes:
 
Chris, I didn't want to believe the white smoke coming from my motor cause I was too afraid of doing the job. Recently I finished my second set of head gaskets because the first was successful (phew!) and the second engine runs great now too. I even pulled the valves and cleaned them up too. All these tasks are simple by themselves and add up to a great feeling of accomplishment when you are done. Read, ask questions, take lots of pictures, and be prepared to be very pleased with yourself.
I did not surface the heads or block because they seemed flat, when checked with a straightedge, but I did get them very clean and used copper-coat on the gasket to ensure a good seal. I also endorse the Vesrah gasket kit as being more than complete for the job. p.s. did a water pump job on both engines too, but that is a separate issue.

its all part of the fun!
 
Thanks guys, I talked to a wingnut friend of mine here in Delaware and he suggested that I consider doing a new water pump and timing belts at the same time - makes sense to me as i really don't want to have to tear this thing down again anytime soon - question is this - should I consider doing both sides of the motor, and if I do, since I have to remove the timing belts anyway, replacement seems a no-brainer...why would I put old belts back on and all that. Is it too much to worry about to consider doing both sides of the motor at once if only the right side is smoking? I had to fight the urge to go buy that blue devil stuff after spending time on YouTube, but I shook that off because it reminded me of the one time I put fix a flat in a tire and my friend and tire guy reamed me a new one for 'spraying that shit inside a perfectly repairable tire' - lesson was I almost caused myself more heartache because I tried to take an easy way out, I have too much time and love into this bike to do that, so I'm looking at a proper job here. Still trying to make my parts list, so if you guys have suggestions please let me know. Is there a particular gasket set that you guys like? The Vesrah seems to get a lot of props - I think if I do elect the water pump I need a separate kit for that - do I have to tear a lot of additional stuff down to do gaskets if I do the water pump? Am I way too far ahead of myself? Thanks for the reality check in advance gents.
 
Do both head gaskets as it is almost the same amount of work to do one and unless you know the history of the other gasket chances are it is not far away from failure also.
 
Personally I won't even consider replacing just one gasket or belt. If I did my luck would have the other fail as soon as I got it running again. The belts would have to come off to replace the water pump. If it isn't loose or leaking I'd leave that. Yes I think the vesrah gaskets are fine. Just be sure they are the 1100 gaskets.
 
You may not have to mill anything but if you do. I'm sure you can. It will take time and you'll get the feel for it.
 
Belts don't need to come off to replace water pump.
I would leave it alone too if there is no side to side play in the bearing and you haven't seen any coolant or oil dripping from the weep hole.
 
[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=158945#p158945:ew8957n6 said:
dan filipi » Today, 8:06 am[/url]":ew8957n6]
Belts don't need to come off to replace water pump.
I would leave it alone too if there is no side to side play in the bearing and you haven't seen any coolant or oil dripping from the weep hole.
Click to expand...
+1 but, check the weep hole for clogging, it is facing the pavement & it will clog over time
 
I did my head gaskets myself as well. As with all the things I've done to this bike it was my first time and it can be intimidating. But it's so easy. Once u see just how easy it all is you'll wonder why you ever paid a mechanic. Im so confident now that I'm gonna pull the motor and replace the piston rings as they are pretty well shot. I feel like I can do anything to this very simple machine.
 
OK fellas -

I have new timing belts, timing belt cover gaskets, an entire upper end vesrah gasket kit, a can of copper coat, a good torque wrench, new oil & filter, distilled water to flush the radiator and new coolant to refill it with when I'm done...oh, and a chicken in case I need to make a sacrifice to Jobu. what am I missing?

I do have one problem off the jump - the bolt on the stator cap is rounded off - I've PB blasted it, let it sit overnight, tried channel locks, vise grips, etc. I can't get it to budge. It's not TOTALLY rounded off but I am concerned - am I screwed before I start? I know I need access to turn the motor to rotate the crankshaft to get it to TDC so I can do the timing belts - any thoughts or should I kill the chicken and start reading on how to pull a motor? Honestly I'm not sure I have the stomach for it right this minute but what the hell. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!!
 
Forget the stator cap bolt. Use the crank bolt to turn the motor. You should add tap and dies to clean the head bolt threads inside and out. Basically just chasing the existing threads. If need be to remove and replace the stator bolt if you ever need to. A really good pipe wrench will likely remove it. That chicken is best slow cooked with a nice blend of herbs and spices. I like mine on a bed of rice.
 
You can also rotate the motor quite easily using the rear wheel and second gear or higher :yes:
 
OK stupid question guys. I have been studying the actual process of the timing belt changes and Dan's awesome video on head gasket change - but in terms of tear down here's what I see - please tell me what I am missing:
- Remove crash bars -
1. Open timing cap/Stator cap - in my case I'll use the rear wheel on center stand since stator bolt cap is frozen.
2. (do I need to loosen the radiator once I drain the coolant? )
3. Drain the oil
4. remove timing belt covers (which one first?)
5. (pause to release tensioners & remove timing belts) - is this when I would remove the backplate under the cam as Dan shows in his vid?)
6. unbolt manifolds from carb to block - suspend carbs from frame so they don't drop
7. unbolt fuel pump from block - tie that up so it doesn't drop
8. unbolt the fitting (oil fitting?) from top of block between the mainfolds (not sure what this one is need to look at my diagram)
9. remove valve cover
10. remove head bolts
11. pull the head
12. clean the hell out of the block and head with razor blade/scotch brite/alcohol/brake cleaner - repeat 100 times

from here obviously is the checking of the head for flatness/low spots, replacement of gasket, reinstalling of the head, grease the bolts/bolt holes, torque sequence, checking the alignment of the cams and installing the new belts, tensioning the belts, reinstalling the covers, installing new o-rings everywhere as I go, putting the water pump back on, new oil filter/drain bolt back in new fluids, burp the radiator, check fluid levels, go over everything again to make sure I didn't miss putting something back in/on - and if I can do all that without hurting myself or others there may be a chance I've done the job correctly.

Anything leap out at you that I forgot? I'm sure there is. Thanks for checking me boys.
 

Latest posts

Top