What would you do?

[chilibowlfan]

'95 K1100LT bought used in July 2008 with 49,000 on the clock. Unknown service history.:scratch
In Sept. @ 52,000 drained and flushed Cooling System with distilled water. refilled with 60% BMW Anti Freeze and 40% distilled water.;)
2 weeks ago ran my finger over the oil/water pump seal weep hole. Came away with a drop of anti freeze solution on my finger. No evidence of a puddle on the floor. After taking several rides of about 50 miles I've checked before and after the ride. It is DRY. :help
Given that history, would you replace the seal? I'm in a quandary:dunno :help

[cayuse60]

No. Don't fix it if it aint broke. :thumb

[bikerfish1100]

i'd not pay attention to "the history", and rely on current "data"- leak is minimal, at best. easy enough to ignore, and just ride it- it's likely to last much longer at current status. however, winter is a good time to do a job like this (yank the pump yourself, and give to dealer to replace shaft & seals is the likely fix). it will need to be done sometime "soon" (but "soon" just means within the next 20,000 miles or so).
invest time & money now when more convenient, or wait until later :dunno when they get real bad and demand repair, it tends to be a progressive deterioration, rather than a catastrophic one, so you'll still have time to address, may just happen in midst or riding season (but, it's an easy & fast job, so no big whoop there).
best bet is probably just continue to ride, but monitor its status.

[PGlaves]

'95 K1100LT bought used in July 2008 with 49,000 on the clock. Unknown service history.:scratch
In Sept. @ 52,000 drained and flushed Cooling System with distilled water. refilled with 60% BMW Anti Freeze and 40% distilled water.;)
2 weeks ago ran my finger over the oil/water pump seal weep hole. Came away with a drop of anti freeze solution on my finger. No evidence of a puddle on the floor. After taking several rides of about 50 miles I've checked before and after the ride. It is DRY. :help
Given that history, would you replace the seal? I'm in a quandary:dunno :help

No! If it starts leaving puddles you have a problem. One drop - after sitting a while is not a sign of a problem at all on a 13 year old motorcycle.

[godzilla]

Unless, of course, you are planning a 7,000 mile trip to Canada. DAMHIK... then just get the thing fixed. Keep checking the fluid level. Once it drops low enough in the radiator, the coolant will not siphon back from the oveflow bottle. You can tell this very easily when you are tooling along towards the end of your 7,000 mile trip and the bike starts to overheat, yet the bottle is still full. Again DAMHIK.

And oh, by the way, a drop here and there don't seem too bad, but if it is leaking while you are riding along, you just might not notice how much you are really losing.

I was told that it is just better to replace the water pump/oil pump assembly as opposed to replacing the seals. It'll cost a bit more, but apparently replacing the seals, at least on the K100's is tricky work and if not done right, it'll continue to leak. So that's what I had done.

[58058D]

Like Paul said, No, it is not a big deal at this point by your description. Regarding replacing the seals versus the whole unit......there is a huge difference in cost. Pulling the pump yourself and having the seals replaced by your dealer is WAY cheaper than replacing the whole thing. Been there and done it may times. on the '85, '93, and maybe even the '00. They are all the same with reagard to the seals.
Jim,
Mendocino

[chilibowlfan]

Well thanks guys for the rapid response. Think I leave 'er be.
I am a little amazed about the recommendations to pull the pump and have a dealer reseal it. About 10 years ago I had a K75 and the seal went big time. Coolant in oil and fair size puddle. The late great Gene Walker and I replaced the seals and I don't recall it was a very big deal.
Mike

[godzilla]

Well thanks guys for the rapid response. Think I leave 'er be.
I am a little amazed about the recommendations to pull the pump and have a dealer reseal it. About 10 years ago I had a K75 and the seal went big time. Coolant in oil and fair size puddle. The late great Gene Walker and I replaced the seals and I don't recall it was a very big deal.
Mike

Hmmm.

Mayhaps me mechanic was being a little lazy or wanted to sell me the part, then.

I REALLY need to get brave enough to do my own wrenching one a these days. I mean I got a decent set of tools and I started out as a car mechanic, so I do have the skills. I even got a Clymer's book. Just need to start working on my bike instead of having someone else do it. I've heard that the K's are not that hard to work on. My brother works on his K and all of the R's he's had, but he has owned HD for 40 years, too, including his AMF made Dresser. We took a ride this summer while I was visiting and I watched calmly fix his HD after it quit running. He had an extra set of points, condenser and plugs along with the tools he needed to get her running again. I'd be lost.

Maybe Paul will take me under his wing as an apprentice?!?!?

OK, then I defer to the experts on this one! But still, I say if you are planning a long trip, don't risk it and keep an eye on your coolant level to monitor how much she is REALLY leaking...

[bikerfish1100]

the rationale for giving the pump to the dealer to do the seals is that the job often requires replacement of the shaft assy, which requires special pullers. their labor charge for that was not much (and since it wasn't my bike but one just purchased by mt g/f's middle son, so therefore not my money), so i did the simple nuts and bolts, and let the shop deal the rest.

[58058D]

Same for me, the simple stuff was easy, and fortunately the shaft never had to be pulled. But I tried one seal, and it was actually a set. I blew it and decided it just was not worth the hassle for the small price of them doing the seal. I think they charged me for 1/4 hour. Same as for the tranny and clutch slave seals. I have a very good mechanical ability, but for some reason, I cannot get the seals. If you are good at these seals, then go for it, but that is a small part of that project, though the most important?
Jim
Mendocino

[lostboy]

You mixed your coolant incorrectly-not that that caused a leak. It should be 60% water, 40% coolant.

[deilenberger]

One comment on the coolant seal... it's a spring loaded carbon "mechanical" seal. If you saw a drop of coolant after the bike sat for some period of time - it's really a non-issue. These seals generally seal better when spinning, and with miles (or engine rotations) on them. Unlike a rubber lip seal (like the oil side uses) - they won't fail all at once.

Personally - I wouldn't worry a bunch about it.

[bob204bc]

'95 K1100LT bought used in July 2008 with 49,000 on the clock. Unknown service history.:scratch
In Sept. @ 52,000 drained and flushed Cooling System with distilled water. refilled with 60% BMW Anti Freeze and 40% distilled water.;)
2 weeks ago ran my finger over the oil/water pump seal weep hole. Came away with a drop of anti freeze solution on my finger. No evidence of a puddle on the floor. After taking several rides of about 50 miles I've checked before and after the ride. It is DRY. :help
Given that history, would you replace the seal? I'm in a quandary:dunno :help

Sell it immediately! I'll give you $100 for it if you have a new Garmin GPS installed.
:whistle

[chilibowlfan]

Well, here are a bunch of guys with seamingly more mechanical skills than I have not doing the things I "try" to do. My number one problem is I'm retired on a decreasing income (fixed would be wonderful) and can't really afford to pay for service. Number two is "my" local dealer seems to take weeks to do any service.
Number three is I want to know enough about the bike to do road side repairs if needed. So short of rebuilds and computer problems, I try to tackle it.
The remark about the ease of service on K bikes is interesting. Prior to this K, I had an oil head. Valve adjustments and injector sync was a breeze. The K bike is a nightmare.
Another interesting point: I've always held that buying a used BMW was a safe bet since BMW folks seem to be more atuned to regular maintainence. Wrong on this bike. With 50,000 on the clock the fuel pump failed. When I went into the tank the filter was stamped August 1994 and collapsed. Probably the original filter which caused the pump to "blow apart". I didn't notice it when I bought the bike but it had a front biased and rear radial tire. It really handled bad in the twisties.
I call this my 100 mile bike. Every 100 miles I find something wrong. Think Bob204bc still wants to buy it for $100?
All that being said, when I do, finally, get it sorted out, I think I'll really like it.
Thanks for listening to my gripes.
Mike

[jpberens43639]

You'll be fine. You seem calm & collected.
Sorry for all your bad luck, now you know the truth. All PO's of BMW's are not the same. Some don't even LOVE their rides like this group does. Ride em & abuse em, them sell em.
Leave that water pump alone, spend the $ on some new tires. If you can mount & balance them yourself, you'll save even more!

If Bob won't buy it for a $100 I would.

[Acejones]

I'll up the ante to $125. Do I hear $150 ?

[bikerfish1100]

[QUOTE=chilibowlfan;406540]I call this my 100 mile bike. Every 100 miles I find something wrong. /QUOTE]

my buddy years ago had a 1950 Panhead dresser. he called it "the whore". he figured it cost him $20 every time he wanted to ride it! :laugh
he still has that bike. fret not- it will get sorted out.