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Okay -- gasket for water pump arrived today, so it is in (loctite on bolts). Also put in a new magnetic oil plug, added oil, and just finished adding coolant (Prestone 50/50).

I will try to start it up tonight or tomorrow, but as I was burping hoses, I came across something I wasn't expecting.

When I replaced all the hoses, here is one hose that now looks odd to me. Look at the hose exiting on the left from the radiator cap opening:




It loops around and terminates at the carb here (it is the center tube -- the green tie just to the left of the red tie, red denoting the fuel line):



Is this correct? Does this mean that coolant can flow in this line? I am certain I didn't misconnect the hoses -- this is how they were when I received the bike). Is this a mistake, or okay?

Thanks

At helixparts.com, found the gasket plus shipping for $5.82, so I pulled the trigger. (Everyplace else wanted between 8-10 bucks for shipping -- at helixparts it was three bucks. FYI...)

Went to clean out coolant (bike has been in garage, not running for 2 years) and nothing came out when I pulled the drain screw out. Pulled hose off inlet to impeller, and found the impeller cover tube full of calcified gunk.

Removed impeller cover, cleaned it out with a steel brush, inside and out:



Pulled impeller off (remember - left hand threads) and some calcified gunk there, but not nearly as bad. Cleaned off impeller, looks good...here's the back side, and as you can see the seal washer is fine:



I wiped off/cleaned up the water pump...have no desire to pull the entire pump, but will if necessary. My question concerns the following picture ... see the greyish stuff (looks like plumber's putty, but is harder, and is deteriorating) -- what is that?



Helix manual has nothing listed, only points to "mechanical seal" which to my eyes appears okay. Should there be some sort of sealant smeared on here?

Three questions:

(1) Is there any reason not to simply scrape this grey gunk out and reinstall impeller?

(2) The gasket for impeller cover is 90% intact and good...can I smear some "Form-a-gasket" over the 1/2 inch that's not good and be okay, or should I get a new gasket?

(3) And the big question -- given the gunk I found, is it necessary to pull the entire water pump? Obviously I want to make sure the cooling system is clean, and I am wondering if I need to pull the entire pump or if I can re-install everything and flush the system out (using some kind of cleaner -- suggestions?)

I cannot "turn" the water pump by hand, but I have no idea if I should be able to...

Since I bought the scooter in parts, I cannot tell you if it ran hot beforehand, etc. It had 137 miles on when it busted a rocker arm, and the original owner tore it apart, replaced the rocker arm, then lost interest in it, sold it to me, and I stored it indoors for 2 years until now.

Thanks in advance...

Not running yet, but only because I still have six cut wires I need to trace and connect up before I can try to turn it over. I need to get some advice from Doc JR about how to proceed.

Okay, I am reattaching the airbox, and no amount of twisting, turning, cajoling, cussing, etc. seems to be working to get tight connections at the airfilter and the carb. I have loosened the retaining rings on the intake manifold and both ends of the airbox (and I even loosened the bolt attaching the airfilter to the frame) to maximize the amount of "play" I have, but it's as though I can't get the right set of angles to have the airbox fit tightly to both the carb and airfilter.

I can get it tight at the carb, but then this is what it looks like at the airbox/airfilter connection:



I can tighten it up, but there is still a lot of wiggling possible, and I don't know how much is too much. Again, the disadvantage I have in all of this is that I have never seen this bike (or any scoot) all together (I got it in parts), and hence I don't have anything to draw on visually (i.e. "how did it look when you took it apart?"). I'd like to have more of the airbox pushed past the retaining ring (read lots of posts about air leaks, and hence may be overly concerned), but this is the best I can do. Any advice? Does this look normal or not? Should I keep at it, or accept what I have?

It's sitting in diesel now...

I bought the bike in parts, and never saw it run, so if the old owner allowed water to get into the cylinder, I don't know about it. The bike has sat in my garage for the past 22 months, so I don't know if that had an impact, but the cylinder was never open during that time.

Odometer says bike has 137 miles, and the condition of everything I can see (i.e. rubber parts like belt, hoses, intake manifold, etc.) supports that low mileage. Carb is practically pristine, and the belt (Powerlink 828 x 22.5) is likewise in great shape.

Already bought new plug after pulling old one, and later today I will (following tvnacman's advice), having inserted the plug, opened the intake valve and filled the cylinder with diesel, will pull the plug, hand crank the drive pulley a number of times to purge the diesel, and put it back together.

Doc, I now have everything ready to actually turn the bike over, but I still have six cut wires I need to trace. You've forgotten more about scooter electronics than I'll ever know (!), so should I hook up the battery and start checking those cut wires? If so, what should I check for? Or should I see if it will turn over at all?

Thanks again.

As I examine the old plug, and look at what got "burped" out of the spark plug hole when I pulled the plug and rotated the drive shaft, it looks a bit more "crusty" than I like, and hence I am seeking advice on how to flush out the cylinder, short of pulling off the cylinder head.

Here's a shot of the plug, with a few specks of what I found inside:

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Again, I am not sure anything is amiss save for the gunk that can build up in a cylinder when the engine hasn't been fired in over two years...or is that an unreasonable assumption?

I had though to rotate the piston to TDC and then flushing it with solvent (or gas)? I suppose I could rig up a narrow tube on my Shop Vac and suck out all I can...any other advice? Or should I leave well enough alone...?