TOPIC:

I remember reading here that the 1300's mechanical seal doesn't like sitting for long periods but continue to see post's of restored bikes with no mention of having to replace it. Can anyone give a reliable account of this? I have a low (16000) mile bike that sat for the past 3 decades does it require a seal replacement? I haven't
't fired it up yet and don't know what to look for to determine a failure. Thanks Greg

If the bike has been sitting for 30 years - you'll be tearing the engine down; so replace this seal, the oil seal behind it and the O-ring on the impellor-shaft.

It will give an indication of leaking via the little weep hole underneath the waterpump, you'll see dribbles of coolant near the cylinder base gasket.
From experience I only replaced my mech. seal as a matter of course 10 years ago because I had to replace the oil seal behind it (that manifested itself by oil dribbling from the same waterpump weep hole, initially I thought it was a cylinder base gasket leak). The mech. seal wasn't leaking & as far as I could tell it was the original at 32,000 miles & 26 years old at the time. Up to that point I'd been using the bike quite frequently for the previous 10 years. After changing the mech seal & oil seal I used the bike quite frequently for the next 5 years with no leaks. Then I laid the bike up 5 years ago (other projects) & started it occasionally maybe once or twice a year. I then recommissioned the bike last month with fresh coolant & the mech seal has started to weep. So from my experience they don't like laying dormant.

they are not expensive, unless they go wrong on a running engine. As said you will be doing the engine anyway, so replace the lot.

That really goes for all rubbers and seals...

Paul

I think another good reason it's not mentioned that frequently is because, honestly, it's not that big of a job at all. Heck, it's not even a medium-sized job. Pull the radiator, and (counting the cover), there's only like 3 or 4 more parts sandwiched on or around that impeller shaft to take care of. Assuming nothing is frozen and you have the replacements ready, it might be a half-hour job, apart and back together.

My Voyager was in storage for about 30 years and when it was resurrected the guy I bought it from he only had the brakes serviced, and fluids changed. Everything is working fine and there's no evidence of leaks. Personally, I'd get it running and if it doesn't leak, don't fix it.