motor/pump noise

[simonfell]

Hi,

My S1 is 4-5 years old, I've noticed recently that the motor/pump noise is quite louder than it used to be, same type of noise, just louder. Is this something i should be worried about, i see there's a few posts on failed pumps/motors. Anything in particular i should take a look at ?

Thanks
Simon

[chas]

You probably need to pull the pump so you can inspect the area between the pump and the motor. This sounds an awful lot like the problem covered with photos in this thread: http://s1cafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=986&p=14604&hilit=motor#p14604.

[simonfell]

Thanks, yes, it unfortuantly looks very similar, not a pretty sight.

[chas]

JohnB can probably give you some insights into things you can do to see if you can recover the motor and only have to buy a pump. It starts to get pricey if you have to replace both.

[JohnB]

If the motor is noisy when you run it with the pump removed you will need to replace the bearing in the front cover. The bearing is cheap & readily available.

[simonfell]

Thanks, i can tell by turning it by hand that the bearing is shot. I got the motor casing apart and the bearing is in rough shape, time to track down a new one. (and to order a new pump).

Cheers
Simon

[Endo]

"Another on bites the dust".

La Spaziale should be packing these bearings with waterproof gease and drilling the housing at BDC to let water drain out.

Also, since this happens SO often it seems, it should be part of the maintenance manual to inspect it once a year. Essential preventive maintenance to save you $$$ down the road!

Makes me wonder what that Alex Duettos will look like after 2 years with the pump mounted on top of the motor!

[JohnB]

La Spaziale should be packing these bearings with waterproof gease and drilling the housing at BDC to let water drain out.

Also, since this happens SO often it seems, it should be part of the maintenance manual to inspect it once a year. Essential preventive maintenance to save you $$$ down the road!

H'mm, both ideas sound very familiar. Have you been rereading my old posts again??

[Endo]

Nope. Just common sense.

[JohnB]

Nope. Just common sense.

Right. The factory does drill a hole at bdc but water does not drain out there. Instead it gets clogged with all that corrosion you see in the pics. The fix is to open up the small factory hole & coat the entire tunnel with waterproof grease as I detailed in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=986#p11566

[Endo]

Good photos and a good fix. Explains a lot.

Typically when I design a bearing housing I try to put the drain hole at the lowest point. (Simply put, you get corrosion wherever the water stagnates). In this pump arangement I assume it was not clear if that was on the motor side or pump side so they put the hole in the middle?

Just for personal interest (not for coffee reasons), what was the size of the factory standard hole before you bored it out to 1/4"?

Any idea what they do on the Speedster?

[JohnB]

Just for personal interest (not for coffee reasons), what was the size of the factory standard hole before you bored it out to 1/4"?
Any idea what they do on the Speedster?

The stock hole was closer to 3/16' if I remember correctly. Here's a photo of the Speedster motor/pump assy:

motor assy.JPG (114.73 KiB) Viewed 549 times

You can see 2 of the 6 drain/vent holes just behind the pump mounting clamp. There is also a metal shield in front of the motor bearing to help shield it from moisture/corrosion. That larger clamp closer to the motor cover is part of the front rubber mount assy. The motor is isolated from the mounting cradle front & rear to dampen vibes and noise. Pressure is adjusted by turning the slotted screw on the side of the pump. It takes 10-12 seconds to change the group pressure & that includes removing the screwdriver from the drawer & putting it back!!

pump bearing and seal.JPG (49.75 KiB) Viewed 549 times

Here you can see the replaceable bearing/seal at the rear of the pump.

[simonfell]

Thanks, i can tell by turning it by hand that the bearing is shot. I got the motor casing apart and the bearing is in rough shape, time to track down a new one. (and to order a new pump).

I had a hell of a time getting the bearing off the sleeve it was on, it took what seemed like forever, but i eventually managed to get it off, and get the sleeve + new bearing back on the motor, and the new pump fitted, the bearing only cost a few bucks, so that's a big improvement over 170 for a complete new motor. Everything seems to be fine so far.

Hopefully someone at CC and/or La Spaz is looking into this in more detail because it seems to be a fairly common failure.

Cheers
Simon