Day Minus 11 - Removing the old water pump

The Goldwing's water pump is located on the rear of the motor under the fuel tank. That means a good bit of the bike needs to be dismantled in order to gain access to the pump.

First step is to remove the seat and the dash cover and top shelter (the body work that covers the top of the bike). Because the tank must be removed, the air bag must also be removed. Rob also removed the battery and battery box to provide additional room to remove the fuel tank and drained the coolant. Here's the bike with those items removed and ready for the tank removal.

Rob removed the fuel tank's fuel lines and electrical connections and coaxed the fuel tank out of the bike. It is a very tight fit and required a bit of wiggling and twisting.

Next up is the alternator. It needs to be removed in order to gain access to some of the water pump bolts.

With the alternator removed, Rob was able to remove the three coolant hoses from the water pump and then remove the 3 bolts holding it to the motor. It was a tight fit but the water pump came out.

The Goldwing was now ready for the new water pump when it arrived. You can see the mounting locations for the alternator and water pump. The alternator is the closest hole.

A shot from above.

So was the water pump bad? Spinning the input shaft revealed that the bearing was sticking a bit. It was a bit grabby when turning the shaft. It should spin very smoothly. So it does appear that the water pump was bad. No telling how long it would have lasted before completely failing. Here's what the pump looks like with the case split. The Goldwing's water pump assembly includes the thermostat (lower left section of the right case).

Now we wait for the new water pump to see if that was indeed the source of the squealing.