water pump failure & rebuild

Discussion in '5th Generation 1998-2001' started by Bloo5thGen, Jul 2, 2022.

  1. Bloo5thGen

    Bloo5thGen New Member

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    Hello, new member seeking knowledge about pump repair for 2000 800FI 58500kms.

    Water is seeping from the weeping hole. I think this is a common problem, I know that the pump is no longer available and that some folks have successfully rebuilt these units. However I find information on this subject exceedingly sparse. Can some kind individual point me to information, or maybe give some pointers knowing that:

    1. I have a replacement pump kit on order including impeller, shaft and seals from ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/265147862719). There are no instructions...
    2. I have tools, shop press, lathe & reasonable mechanical abilities, and prepared that the pump is 'not servicable'

    My questions are mainly:
    1. Is removing the impeller a pre-requisite to removing the shaft assembly &
    2. Which way to press the shaft out, towards the engine, or towards the cover (impeller end?)

    I saw some posts from folks that did this job, and destructed some pumps to find out (hoping not to have to), but there was no mention of which way to press.

    Thanks everyone, and thanks for the add. I absolutely love this bike and would hate to give up on it over a piddling problem like this.
     
  2. RllwJoe

    RllwJoe Insider

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    :Popcorn: I've not been there yet, but for the future possibility, I'm watching for what responsese you receive and how the rebuild happens.

    Post up photos along with your "how-to" please.
     
  3. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    there is a guy in Apache junction az that is the #1 go-to for water pump rebuilds, tests and guarantees each one. get googling to find him.

    since bloo, the poster above, obtained a low quality repair kit sourced from china, i'd return it or throw it in the rubbish bin. not worth the risk to have cheapshit commie chinese parts fail after 2 years then be faced with another rebuild. :mad:
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  4. Bloo5thGen

    Bloo5thGen New Member

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    Thanks for the feedback. I'll press on... Anything I can share, I will.
     
  5. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Just went though this same exact issue with my RVF400. I sourced the mechanical seals from the UK, some guy on EBay UK sells the seals. Because Honda didn't intend for these pumps to be rebuilt, there are no OE seals available. Rebuilding the pump is a whole other ball of wax. Was able to get it accomplished, but it was a significant modification to the original setup. It still hasn't been tested to see how successful the repair was.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2022
  6. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Unreasonable. I challenge you to locate the seals from some place other than China.
     
  7. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

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    so often people report that chinese parts don't fit well.
     
  8. Terry Smith

    Terry Smith Member

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    I did a water pump rebuild on my ST1100 and it was easy enough with Caveman style tools. I bought the parts off Happybikes.co.uk, and I checked there for your VFR. They do sell a seal, but also had the video showing a NTV600 pump rebuild which I expect will be a useful guide to what is involved.
     
  9. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Alan is who I got my seals from, about $100 shipped. I took a little bit of a different approach as I wanted to rebuild the entire pump, including the shaft bearings. It was a lot more labor intensive than that video, but the pump is 100% rebuildable in the future, which hopefully won't be required again.
     
  10. mello dude

    mello dude Administrator

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    I believe on the "other" site reports a 6th gen pump works on a 5th gen just fine.
    ---- $151.xx from Ron Ayers....
     
  11. Bloo5thGen

    Bloo5thGen New Member

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    Thanks Terry for this info. I had watched that very video and its quite helpful. The problem with my pump has been, and I think this is central to successfully rebuilding it, is to remove the impeller. No matter how much huffing, puffing, banging, pressing, heating, coaxing or pleading, it refuses to come off the end of the shaft. I'm waiting on the replacement kit which contains shaft + integrated bearings, and all seals along with new impeller, then I plan to cut the impeller off and get into it. I will post what I found out about doing the rebuild, hopefully it will help someone else down the road.
     
  12. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    I had considered a kit type setup, with the impeller being threaded onto the shaft like an mx bike. The way Honda did the bearings on these pumps is difficult to deal with. Analyzed the entire setup and still couldn't figure out how they managed to get it all together.

    If they would have just done it like this, a rebuild would have been an easy task. You could also do an oversize impeller and a spacer like they did on the CRF450L pump and you could have easily added additional cooling capacity.

    [​IMG]
     
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