Okay I have a quick question. Before I get into the mess of tearing my bike apart and removing the waterpump. Do I have to drain the oil first? I know it connects to the oil sump (crankcase?) and that's what drives the pump. I have an oil leak where it connects to the motor and need to replace that O-ring (see below).

Second, do I need to completely disconnect the pump from the hoses? Or can it dangle from the hoses as all I'm replacing is the oring that seats against the motor. Pictured below. Thanks for any help guys.

 

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm speculating. Depending on what year you have, you've either got 3 or 4 hoses attached to the pump. The pump drive shaft sticks out about 4" or 5" out the back. That's how far you're going to have to get the pump to move away from the bike in order to get the "O" ring off the end of the shaft and put the new one on. I don't think there is going to be enough play in the hoses to allow it to move that far. Anyway, what's the big deal ? Draining the oil takes 2 minutes and you can put it back in. Draining the coolant takes a couple more minutes. Although you've got to have 2 containers to drain into. One for the oil and one for the coolant. You can re-use both, altough I'd bet that the coolant hasn't been replaced recently. It'll take you 5 minutes to get the hoses off, and then you don't have to struggle with them while trying to get an "O" ring on without damaging it.

IMO

 

Thanks for the input man. Very simple job. I just planned on putting new oil and coolant in. Only about a quart or less came out when I removed the pump. The coolant was either the orange kind or rusty. Only took 20 minutes to do. Aside from putting the fairings back on. Degreased the engine too and now no leak! It must have been the culprit. an .89 o ring. While I had it apart I just replaced the larger gasket/o ring that keeps the water in the pump.

 

Hey, congratulations on completing a successfull job. I hope it was an orange colored coolant rather than rust. These engines are aluminum, so there aren't many things inside the bike that rust. Maybe a little oil got into the coolant and discolored it. It sure does feel good when something goes right eh ?

Well done.