Changing The Hoses - Advice Please

So I was out in the garage till late oclock in frosty conditions yesterday attempting to change all the cooling system hoses on my 990. I'm removing a brand new set of Orange Samco hoses and replacing with Black as it should be, change is just for cosmetic reasons.

There are 7 hoses in total and a couple of moulded hard plastic connector parts. The larger hoses were relatively simple to get at / remove although I did manage to drop a tiny socket behind the starter motor deep in the V of the engine that took a lot of time to locate and remove!! The Smaller sections were a right bitch as the throttle bodies, all manner of pipes and linkages together with the oil tank all get substantially in the way. I cant believe that it's necessary to remove all this stuff just to change a few flexible hoses. Just as with every other job done on the bike so far I'm finding the design over fussy and very unfriendly to home maintenance.

The left side is now installed / in place but I'm having a few issues on the water pump side. It was necessary to remove the rigid pipe to the water pump as you can't reach one of the flexible pipe fasteners hidden behind the oil tank without doing that. Having eventually pulled it all out and reassembled as much as possible away from the bike reinstalling it is a total pain. I can't get the pipe that crosses the engine under the throttle bodies to engage with the short moulded connector piece on the water pump side.

I'm sure I will eventually get it all together but I'm equally sure there must be a better way than the four or so hours of struggle I have so far put in. I'm posting here just to see if anybody who has done the job has any tips, perhaps there is a sequence that works best or some way of loading the pipes onto the rigid elements away from the bike and threading it all back in somehow??

Any tips would be well received.......

I didn't done this job as yet (my hoses just arrived yesterday), but I'm planning to remove throttle bodies first. It is easy to do and I think it may save lot of hassle. Other bits should be relatively easy to replace. The ones behind oil tank I was thinking to remove whole lot (including rigid pipe), assembled outside of the bike and then put all together back in. Will see, may start replacing them today, but as usually - nothing is as easy as it looks and being patient is a key sometimes

As suggested: Throttle bodies off and oil tank out of the way. unbolting the coolant tank helps too.

If you think this is bad bike to work on you should really try some of the IL4's. Just to get the spark plugs out you basically need to remove the engine as that is the easiest way....

Thanks guys.

I don't rate my chances of removing the throttle bodies without fooking something up and ending up with a non running pile of parts which, given that I'm only trying to make it look a bit better, is way outside the risk / reward curve!!

I might try taking the cross engine pipe off, porting boiling water through it to make it as flexible as possible and then seeing if long nose pliers and violence will persuade it to fit on both ends of the solid parts. Was hoping there might be a trick to it but I guess it's just muddle through again!!

As for IL4's I have done quite a few of those back when they all had carbs and for things like exhausts / pipework etc I don't remember any that were as bloody awkward as the SD. Could be my skills which were never better than modest even back then are so out of date that I'm just not up to tackling even this superficial crap any more. Still I'm in it now so have no choice but to persist until it's all back together again one way or another....

Where are you based?

I'm in North Oxon near Banbury so a bit of a way from you I think?

All you need to know about removing/refitting TB - http://www.cwgsy.net/private/rick/MH_Airbox_V1_6.pdf

Thanks for that.

As it already has a Rotty filter fitted and no airbox I am tempted to give this a go as it looks fairly straightforward and would give much improved access.

Still a lot of hassle for a simple flexible hose change but I have no choice now so will do what it takes to get it back together and watertight.

Have printed off the instructions just in case.

im sure youve sorted this already. i did mine a couple of years ago and dont recall it being that hard at all and i have big hands. i took the old stuff off in sub assemblies, and made up the new ones along side them. keep the clamps loose so you can position everything loose and have access to tighten the clamps. then i reattached everything to the bike and tightened it. i never removed the oil tank, TBs, didnt even have to lift the fuel tank.

Unless you have some unknown powers I don't really see how it could be done without removing the throttle boddies. Anyway you are clearly the winner as it was an utter pain, there is barely room for the fittings in places and loads of ancillary parts have to be removed for access. I got it done in the end but hated every moment in a freezing garage struggling with it

I prefer to make the job easy (and give me the opportunity to do some winter cleaning). Unfortunately I'm waiting on my dealer to get the last of 7 hoses in. That and then off to the hardware store for some new clamps.

i can see if you wanted to clean your bike up, but even looking at it now i see no need to remove the TBs to change out your hoses.
i do have a Motobox though so i didnt have an airbox in the way...