Honda Deauville Problems: 4 Known Issues (Explained)

The Honda Deauville is a mid-range touring motorcycle produced between 1998 and 2013.

It came in two packages, the NT650V and the NT700V.

The Deauville is celebrated for its shaft-drive transmission, painted bodywork, pannier design, and liquid-cooled V-twin engine.

That all sounds great on paper, but what are the most common problems with the Honda Deauville?

In this article, we’ll explore and troubleshoot the most common problems with the Honda Deauville.

Table of Contents

1. Worn Water Pump Seals

One of the major complaints we’ve encountered about Honda Deauvilles is the bike’s water pump seals. If the seals wear, the bike’s water pump can leak coolant. If a Honda Deauville’s water pump fails, its engine-cooling process is compromised.

Honda placed the Deauville’s water pump on the side, towards the engine’s bottom, under the rider’s left toe. The water pump flushes the bike’s engine components with a unique, Honda-designated blend of coolant. A mechanical pump keeps the coolant inside the pump.

The Deauville’s mechanical seal has two parts:

Towards the rear face of the water pump’s impeller, seated in a rubber cup, is a white ceramic seal.
There’s a black, spring-loaded ceramic ring-shaped seal fitted in the weather pump body, and sitting in a metal cup,
The white seal spins with the engine, and the two ceramic faces form a mechanical seal.

Consult your Honda Deauville’s owner’s manual, and you’ll find a specific Honda-recommended blend of coolants.

Deauville owners need to use the Honda-recommended blend of coolant, as some coolants contain fragments of silicate. These silicate particles are intended to scrub the coolant lines of any hard debris deposits.

However, these particles chip away at the ceramic faces on an engine like the Honda Deauville’s. If its integrity is compromised, the Honda Deauville’s water pump seals fail at sealing the coolant in the pump, and your Honda’s water pump leaks.

Of course, Honda’s official word on the common problem is to prevent this issue by using the Honda-recommended engine coolant. The Japanese brand made the claim that the Deauville’s water pump is a sealed and cohesive unit; once the seals wear, the whole water pump has to be replaced.

Replacing the water pump on a Honda Deauville is a costly situation.

Suppose you’re the owner of a used Deauville. In that case, you might harvest the sealant-failing fruit of the seeds planted by the negligence of the bike’s previous owner—you may feel the considerable price of a water pump replacement isn’t your cross to bear.

You’re not alone, and other Deauville owners took their misfortune as a call to troubleshooting action, discovering a cheaper but rather complicated fix for the failing water seals.

As we mentioned earlier, two components form the water pump’s seal.
If you or your Deauville’s previous owner routinely ran silicate-equipped coolant through your steed’s veins and you see coolant leak, there’s a pretty good chance both seals need replacing.
Honda doesn’t sell replacement seals, only an entire replacement water pump.
Some capable home mechanics found that the seal from the Honda CX500’s water pump fits perfectly to replace the rubber-cup seated white ceramic seal in the pump impeller.
For replacing the water-pump-body seal in the black metal cup, Deauville owners found that the seal from the Honda Pan European is a solid fit and does the trick.
You may have some luck finding these seals online, but there’s also a chance you’ll have to get your hands on an old water pump and extract the seal yourself. This option is for Deauville owners who have adequate time, drive, and interest to hunt down the seals from two different bikes, open up their water pump (and maybe two other water pumps to get said seals), pull everything apart and put it all back together.
For the rest of us, consider ordering a replacement water pump from Honda or from the healthy surplus of aftermarket suppliers who make parts specifically for Honda motorcycles.

2. Coolant Leaking from Hose Clamp

Yep—it’s yet another coolant leaking problem for the Honda Deauville, but this time, the culprit is the hose clamp.

Here are a few real-life examples of symptoms of a leaking hose clamp on a Honda Deauville:

Green spots on the engine case and pipes on the right-hand side.
It might not be a severe leak; some riders say it didn’t even mark the pavement while the bike was on its side stand.
Still, if you notice green coolant-colored spots on your pipes and engine, there’s a leak.

One hazard of any new bike, one reason brands like Honda suggest a post-break-in period inspection between 300-500 miles, is that new metal needs time to heat up/expand and cool/retract before it can be dialed in. One piece of metal that needs to be inspected and likely tightened after a Honda Deauville is broken in is the hose clamps.

Some Deauville riders who bought their bikes brand new scoff at the idea of paying a dealership for a 500-mile inspection but fail to conduct the assessment on their own.

Tightening the coolant hose clamp seals is part of responsibly breaking in a new motorcycle, yet riders in the forums tend to blame Honda for making “faulty hose clamps unjustly.”
Regular coolant and hose clamp inspection is a part of motorcycle maintenance. Following the maintenance schedule in your Deauville owner’s manual will ensure you catch loose clamps and low fluid levels before it’s a problem.
Coolant is for more than just temperature protection—it lubricates the mechanics in your Deauville’s water pump and affects the boiling point of bike fluids; use the Honda-recommended bike coolant for a more reliable Honda Deauville.

3. Incorrect Tire Pressure Labels

In 2010, Honda recalled Deauvilles manufactured between November 26, 2009, and November 27, 2009—24 hours.

So what went wrong during Deauville production for that single day?

The officially stated reason for the recall was for a “Failure to Comply with Certification Requirements”. Translation: There was a typo on the tire-info label on the swingarm; the tag displayed the incorrect tire size and air pressure specs, causing problems for more than a few Deauville riders.

If your Deauville tires aren’t inflated to the proper PSI, your motorcycle’s handling suffers severely.

The handling of a motorcycle is essential, and the poor handling inherent in improperly setting up Deauville coils causes a wreck. Not to mention, if tires run at the wrong inflation, they wear and fail much earlier than adequately set-up tires.

The misprinted labels caused a few Deauville riders to fill their tires up to the wrong pressure. Since the label also contained information regarding the tire size, there could have even been some owners who attempted to replace or upgrade their tires with wrong fits.

Honda is known as one of the fastest brands to respond to dire oversights, and this situation was no different.

To rectify the situation:

Honda mailed the accurate tire information label to the customers.
The new label included the correct tire inflation instructions.
If the Deauville owners felt better about having the dealership install the correct label, dealerships were instructed to install the new label on qualifying Honda Deauvilles free.

4. Failing Spark Plug Covers

Myriad Honda Deauville owners remember the faulty spark plug covers that plagued their bikes in 2010.

The problem was widespread, particularly in the summer months, because the issue was related to the ambient temperature.

In temperatures higher than 90 degrees, the stock spark plug covers of the 2010 Honda Deauville would temporarily fail, hindering the arch of the spark plug.

At first, word on the streets and in the forums was that the culprit was a clogged fuel injector since the symptoms are similar.

The symptoms of a failing spark plug covers on a Honda Deauville are:

Engine stall outs and dies when hot
Trouble starting when hot
Engine Misfiring when hot
Engine Backfiring when hot
Engine Flooding when hot
The pungent smell of fuel

Finally, Honda received enough complaints from riders who had taken their Deauville in for some symptoms that they did a little digging and discovered that the spark plug covers were defective to the point that they would fail when they got hot.

According to Honda, the problem wasn’t widespread enough to warrant a recall, but they did issue what we call a Technical Service Bulletin.

A Technical Service Bulletin or TSB is the procedure bike brands like Honda use to address any issues the factory discovers after bikes have already left the floor. While widespread failures result in a worldwide recall that calls dealerships immediately into action, a TSB addresses owners of the vehicles and lets them know:

that there is a known issue
explains the symptoms and any bike behavior to be on the lookout for
and informs the consumer that they can take their bike to the closest dealership for repairs.

Below, we’ve attached a sample of the Technical Service Bulletin regarding the Honda Deauville’s spark plug failure:

HONDA NT700 2010 Technical Bulletin #MTB-13451: HONDA NT700 2010 technical service bulletin was issued Dec 01, 2010.HONDA NT700 2010 had a failed ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING ENGINE. HONDA MOTORCYCLE: MAY EXPERIENCE ENGINE MISFIRE AT IDLE DURING HIGH AMBIENT TEMPERATURES AND STOP AND GO TRAFFIC. SPARK PLUG RESISTOR CAPS MAY DISCHARGE TO GROUND WHILE ENGINE IS IDLING, CAUSING AN ENGINE MISFIRE. *PE .

General Pros and Cons of the Honda Deauville

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of the Honda Deauville:

Pros

Below are some of the selling points of the Honda Deauville:

The Honda Deauville’s engine is a workhorse of an engine. It’s liquid-cooled, a SOHC V-twin.
The Deauville features a shaft-drive transmission in the vein of some Honda bangers like the Transalp, Africa Twin, and the NTV600 Revere, armed and dangerous.
2002 marked the addition of a catalytic converter to regulate its emissions and appease the EU.
2002 also marked the birth of lighter engine intervals which lightened the Deauville’s vibrations.
In 2007, Honda upgraded the Deauville with the NT700V, a new version of the Deauville that had a 680cc engine.
A Honda Deauville is a reliable motorcycle provided its owner stores it properly, services and rides it regularly, and follows the maintenance schedule outlined by Honda in the Owner’s Manual.

Cons

Here are common problems of the Honda Deauville:

Coolant Leaking From Hose Clamp
Worn Water Pump Seals
Incorrect Tire Pressure Labels
Faulty Spark Plug Covers

What Do the Reviews Say?

With a fairly soft 55bhp and 41ft.lbs available, the Honda NT650V’s power and torque aren’t huge but are neatly balanced to give the Deauville smooth, silky, able drive from the word go, all the way to a decent and comfortable 70mph motorway speed, although if you push beyond 80mph is does begin to get a bit vibey and if you’re fully-laden two-up it does start to struggle slightly up mountain hairpins. Overall, though, the 650 Deauville is ‘capable’ – capable of mile after mile of hassle-free riding.
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/reviews/bikes/honda/honda-nt650v-deauville-1998-2006-review-buying-guide

What’s the Resale Value on a Honda Deauville?

Year	Mileage	Price
2010	38,915	$4,000
2010	36,774	$4,999
2010	21,503	$4,250
2010	77,990	$3,500
2010	12,700	$4,000

Sources

Honda NT650V Deauville (1998-2006): Review & Buying Guide | bennetts.co.uk

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ⓘ The information in this article is based on data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recall reports, consumer complaints submitted to the NHTSA, reliability ratings from J.D. Power, auto review and rating sites such as Edmunds, specialist forums, etc. We analyzed this data to provide insights into the best and worst years for these vehicle models.