RossKean
09-12-2008, 12:25 AM
No, I didn't drop it or break it in any way!
Caution: Long Bonehead Post
Traded in the Roadstar and picked up my new (to me) 2002 Venture today. I went over the bike with the salesman and thought I had it figured out pretty well.
Just getting out of town and an unfamiliar green light came on (on the left side of the dash). Bright day and me without my reading glasses interpreted this as an oil light !!! (Started with "O" and had two more letters/characters) Went back to the sales guy and told him the oil light was coming on intermittantly. We checked the oil level (OK) so he agreed to replace the oil level sensor (Had to be that, right?). By the time I left town again and rode another few miles, I began to see a pattern of when the light would come on - always in fifth. D'oh - Overdrive light!!! Embarrasing to have to email the guy when I got home a couple of hours later and tell him he could cancel the order for the part - especially since he had agreed to fix it on their nickel!
To make things even better, after my first return to the shop when I first discovered the "oil light" problem, I decided to try out the radio and listen to some music for the ride home. Figured out how to turn it on and found a station. Worked Ok for a few minutes and then I started getting intermittant loud static. WTF!! First an oil light sending unit and now a screwed up radio. (I hadn't figured out the O/D thing yet) I was a little pissed and returned to the sales guy and told him about the radio. This guy was great but (like me) was not intimately familiar with the Venture. He agreed that something was screwey and said that they would replace the unit inside the fairing!! The parts were ordered (oil sensor and parts for the radio). As I said, these guys are great when it comes to customer satisfaction and service!!
By the time I got home, I had figured out the oil light thing and sent an email with my apologies and told him not to bother ordering the part.
Started thinking about the radio... Seemed like it might have been an intermittant grounding issue so I started playing with it after I got home; checking antenna grounds and wiggling the wire from the control unit. I could neither induce the static noise nor stop it by any action, including giving the fairing a gentle thump. Sounded like radio interference...???
Funny thing - I never had a bike with a CB system on it but after I thought about it for awhile, I began to wonder what would happen if a CB transmission came in over the radio station. (was thinking there may have been a fault so there was some cross-talk) D'oh again!! Just realized that in my attempt to get the system operating and tuned while riding, I had managed to turn on the CB (hadn't realized it could run at the same time as the rest of the audio)!
Next step was to RTFM (Read The F***ing Manual).
Next step after that was to send the sales guy another apologetic email explaining that he really didn't have to order the radio parts, either!!
In my defence, I doubt that anyone on earth could figure out the Venture audio system without at least a sneak peek at the manual.
This brings me to a question... The bike did not come with an owner's manual. I figured out the radio thing with some help from a downloaded manual (from a link posted on this site). The PDF of the owner's manual is not printable. Does anybody have a link to a version that has printable pages?
My only other "issue" is the clutch "ring/whistle/chirp". I will look into it a bit before I make any further complaints. Three major embarrassments in one day would be just too many. Unfortunately, I understand that this is a "known" issue and it is something I will likely have to live with (or pay a lot of money to fix).
Maybe the sales guy will fix/replace the clutch for free since it didn't cost him anything for the oil light and audio?? (maybe not)
G'night
Ross
Caution: Long Bonehead Post
Traded in the Roadstar and picked up my new (to me) 2002 Venture today. I went over the bike with the salesman and thought I had it figured out pretty well.
Just getting out of town and an unfamiliar green light came on (on the left side of the dash). Bright day and me without my reading glasses interpreted this as an oil light !!! (Started with "O" and had two more letters/characters) Went back to the sales guy and told him the oil light was coming on intermittantly. We checked the oil level (OK) so he agreed to replace the oil level sensor (Had to be that, right?). By the time I left town again and rode another few miles, I began to see a pattern of when the light would come on - always in fifth. D'oh - Overdrive light!!! Embarrasing to have to email the guy when I got home a couple of hours later and tell him he could cancel the order for the part - especially since he had agreed to fix it on their nickel!
To make things even better, after my first return to the shop when I first discovered the "oil light" problem, I decided to try out the radio and listen to some music for the ride home. Figured out how to turn it on and found a station. Worked Ok for a few minutes and then I started getting intermittant loud static. WTF!! First an oil light sending unit and now a screwed up radio. (I hadn't figured out the O/D thing yet) I was a little pissed and returned to the sales guy and told him about the radio. This guy was great but (like me) was not intimately familiar with the Venture. He agreed that something was screwey and said that they would replace the unit inside the fairing!! The parts were ordered (oil sensor and parts for the radio). As I said, these guys are great when it comes to customer satisfaction and service!!
By the time I got home, I had figured out the oil light thing and sent an email with my apologies and told him not to bother ordering the part.
Started thinking about the radio... Seemed like it might have been an intermittant grounding issue so I started playing with it after I got home; checking antenna grounds and wiggling the wire from the control unit. I could neither induce the static noise nor stop it by any action, including giving the fairing a gentle thump. Sounded like radio interference...???
Funny thing - I never had a bike with a CB system on it but after I thought about it for awhile, I began to wonder what would happen if a CB transmission came in over the radio station. (was thinking there may have been a fault so there was some cross-talk) D'oh again!! Just realized that in my attempt to get the system operating and tuned while riding, I had managed to turn on the CB (hadn't realized it could run at the same time as the rest of the audio)!
Next step was to RTFM (Read The F***ing Manual).
Next step after that was to send the sales guy another apologetic email explaining that he really didn't have to order the radio parts, either!!
In my defence, I doubt that anyone on earth could figure out the Venture audio system without at least a sneak peek at the manual.
This brings me to a question... The bike did not come with an owner's manual. I figured out the radio thing with some help from a downloaded manual (from a link posted on this site). The PDF of the owner's manual is not printable. Does anybody have a link to a version that has printable pages?
My only other "issue" is the clutch "ring/whistle/chirp". I will look into it a bit before I make any further complaints. Three major embarrassments in one day would be just too many. Unfortunately, I understand that this is a "known" issue and it is something I will likely have to live with (or pay a lot of money to fix).
Maybe the sales guy will fix/replace the clutch for free since it didn't cost him anything for the oil light and audio?? (maybe not)
G'night
Ross