You put the water pump, where?!?!?!?!

[Kim-n-Dean]

Who's bright idea was it to put the water pump on an R1 inside the oil pan? Several months ago the seal on my water pump went out. On my 2003 R1, the water pump and oil pump are one unit and it's in the oil pan. It's not like it's hard, it's just time consuming and you have to take everything off the front of the engine and then you can remove the oil pan and take everything out from the bottom side of the engine. This is why it's taken me so long to "get around to it".

Couldn't have done it without Dave's help in lending me a lift!! You know you're not getting this lift back, right?!?

Took me almost three hours to get it this far. Still have to take the pump apart and order four-hundred seals to put it back together. Can you imagine what a shop would charge for this?

Some pics:

Front with exhaust, radiator, all plumbing, coolant inlet, and oil cooler removed



Oil pan and pumps removed.



Underneath, with everything removed you can see the transmission, crank and rods.

[birchyboy]

I'm no engineer but that seems pretty strange. Couldn't a water pump failure lead to water being in the oil, possibly making the damage worse?

[Kim-n-Dean]

I'm no engineer but that seems pretty strange. Couldn't a water pump failure lead to water being in the oil, possibly making the damage worse?

I guess it is possible. I've had o-rings go bad and start leaking. All of the external plumbing runs through o-ringed passages in the block and then to the pump. If one of those failed, you would have water in the oil pan.

The water pump seal is a common part to fail, therefore, they have an o-ringed tube that goes from the water pump through the bottom of the oil pan. Basically, a weep hole. Imagine my surprise when my bike started pissing coolant out the center of the oil pan. I could see through the site glass that there was no water in the oil. Got home and checked my shop manual and thought, "you've got to be kidding!!!! Water pump in the oil pan, WTF!!"

Yamaha YZF R1, Sportbike. A bike barely alive. Gentelmen, we can rebuild her. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic bike. YZF R1 will be that bike. Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster.

[FZRguy]

How many miles on that beast?

[Bueller]

Couldn't have done it without Dave's help in lending me a lift!! You know you're not getting this lift back, right?!?

Haha! I knew you would love it, makes life easier for sure.

[Clovis]

I'm not sure if your front sprocket is just really worn down or supposed to be that way? Looks too uniform to be wear?

To answer your question about the location...

Engine compartment compactness. See also: VW Beetles... where you have to remove the hood, front bumper, basically the whole front of the car to change out the alternator.

30 minute job on any other vehicle... $600 job on a VW!

[Kim-n-Dean]

How many miles on that beast?

62,920!!!!!!!!!! Two years on the track with the MRA and multiple track days after that. I love this bike!!!!!!!!! The stator and, now, the water pump are the only replacements I've had to do. If I did a valve job I'd probably shit my pants on the power increase!!

Haha! I knew you would love it, makes life easier for sure.

No joke! It would be almost impossible to do it without the lift!! Even with the lift, I have to bend and contort to get under the bike. Kim is all smiles because she sees how much easier it is with the lift and I'm not so much a dick when I finish for the night!! She's very happy!!

I'm not sure if your front sprocket is just really worn down or supposed to be that way? Looks too uniform to be wear?

You are correct about the sprocket wear. Brand new sprockets covered in chain lube, thus, the shiny spots.

To answer your question about the location...

Engine compartment compactness. See also: VW Beetles... where you have to remove the hood, front bumper, basically the whole front of the car to change out the alternator.

30 minute job on any other vehicle... $600 job on a VW!

Kim drives a Grand Chrokee. Her radiator fan relay took a shit and the procedure is; remove front grill, headlight assemblies, bumper, right fender well, and every fucking thing else attached to the front end. She did a search and found that you can simply remove the passenger headlight assembly and, yes, cut a hole in the fender-well. BAM!! The relay is under that spot. When she removed the headlight assy. and I cut the hole, there was the relay. Took less than five minutes, for real!!!