New member, new (to me) 1998 Royal Star

Hi Guys! I just got what I'm pretty sure is a 1998 Royal Star. The title doesn't specify, the previous owner thought it was a 1500 v-star, but I know from the year that that's not possible. Hopefully from my picture you guys can confirm. The bike needs a new head gasket, and I don't really know where to find a manual to start. Does anyone have a link to download one? I'm okay buying one, just want to get started right away. Will I need to buy a case splitter Is there a standard place everyone orders their parts from? I've only seen the big box looking yamahapartspitstop.com. Also, does anyone here have any experience with replacing the head gasket? it's got 70,000 miles so if there's anything else I need to do let me know! I love the bike; it's comfortable and fast and looks great! Thanks in advance, looks like a great group!!

Well first the previous owner was clueless in a number of ways.

There are no 4 cylinder V-Stars, only V-Twins

There is no 1500 V-Stars, I am not aware of any 1500 cc Yamaha's

What you have is a Royal Star Standard, built from 1996 to 2001.

How do you know it needs a new head gasket?

If by chance you have oil in your coolant, it is probably a bad water pump seal, happens on these bikes at around the mileage you have.

You may want to try here for a manual and more info, http://forums.delphiforums.com/royalstar

Thanks for the reply Steve!

I was assuming it's the gasket for a couple of reasons:

-white smoke when still after bike warms up to operating temp.

-edit: coolant started overflowing, shut the bike down before I could see exactly from where. looked like the rear right side.

-flushed the coolant and what came out looked like a chocolate milk shake

Would a water pump seal be a bit cheaper or easier than head gasket replacement? I know it's been a really busy weekend for shops here in Colorado, but my local Yamaha dealer quoted 16 hours for head gasket replacement.

I'll try joining that Delphi forum, it's just so poorly laid out. might be easier to just get it from Amazon haha

One way to diagnose a head gasket failure is to do a compression check and leak down check.

Yes water pump kit would be much cheaper.

Is there water in the oil also?

If you do not have the equipment to do the compression check and leak down, find out how much that would cost at the dealer or good reputable motorcycle shop, could be money well spent, blown head gaskets on Royal Stars are pretty rare.

I have been around the Royal Star bikes since 1997 and only recall a couple of blown head gaskets, but lots of failed water pump seals, I was a victim myself and also immediately thought blown gasket. After having a compression test and leak down performed , both showing no issues, the service manager was scratching his head, he was long time Yamaha mech and had a V-Max as a daily rider, so was very familiar with the motor. We sat down and looked at the schematics together and after I pointed out the connection of the cooling system and oil system at the water pump, he agreed that was the likely culprit. Once I got the pump changed it took a good while to get all of the oil out of the cooling system.

Not saying that is for sure your issue, but I would investigate that before diving into the motor.

I didn't notice any coolant in the oil, if any it's a tiny enough amount that I couldn't see it in the drain pan. It sounds like I'll probably just rebuild that water pump and go from there. It can't hurt especially given the previous owner; if i notice it continues after that, then have a shop check compression. Looking at this diagram, is the seal # 7 or #8 (or both while I'm at it)? Or does someone make a rebuild kit I can order?

Thanks for the reply Steve!

 

I was assuming it's the gasket for a couple of reasons:

-white smoke when still after bike warms up to operating temp.

-edit: coolant started overflowing, shut the bike down before I could see exactly from where. looked like the rear right side.

-flushed the coolant and what came out looked like a chocolate milk shake

 

Would a water pump seal be a bit cheaper or easier than head gasket replacement? I know it's been a really busy weekend for shops here in Colorado, but my local Yamaha dealer quoted 16 hours for head gasket replacement.

I'll try joining that Delphi forum, it's just so poorly laid out. might be easier to just get it from Amazon haha

A leaking water pump will not cause white smoke out the exhaust, but can cause oil to get into the water or water into the oil or both.

It could be a head gasket blown to the water jacket. Be very careful with this. If water gets into the cylinder and you try to start it, you can easily snap a connecting rod or worse. The compression and leak down tests will let you know if there is a possible problem with the head gasket.

Overflowing coolant is also a sign of a possible head gasket blown to the water jacket.

I didn't notice any coolant in the oil, if any it's a tiny enough amount that I couldn't see it in the drain pan. It sounds like I'll probably just rebuild that water pump and go from there. It can't hurt especially given the previous owner; if i notice it continues after that, then have a shop check compression. Looking at this diagram, is the seal # 7 or #8 (or both while I'm at it)? Or does someone make a rebuild kit I can order?

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I would still opt for the compession test and leak down check.

Flyingfool has some very good observations also, if you bust a connecting rod you got big troubles.

welp, rebuilt the water pump, replaced the mechanical seal, a couple rubber seals, gasket and o-ring, then thoroughly flushing oil and coolant systems, and it seems to have fixed the issue. We did notice some coolant leaking, the white smoke from the engine (not in the exhaust), that turned out to be a faulty rad hose (the 1 inch diameter piece, about 6 inches long before it splits to two). It was dripping onto the engine and burning up. $2.50 at O'Reilly fixed that! Now I think I just have to have the carb re-built/tuned/re-jetted, that stuff's all a bit over my head. It seems to be misfiring, but I'm not an expert by any means, and dies if I don't have the choke pulled out at least one notch, even after warming up. I've replaced the spark plugs, and have ordered new plug caps. Hopefully in about a week here I should be up and running! Thanks to everyone who has replied so far with help, I really appreciate it...I'd still have the thing apart in my garage trying to fix a perfectly fine head gasket.

I have a 97 royal star 1300, with the v4, I have been assuming that the head gasket was blown for the last 2 yrs its been sitting in the garage and only has 13k miles on it, all the local shops only want to work on Harleys and even the dealer told me it was too old and they don't want to work on it either, it's been pretty frustrating, but this thread does give me hope, I'm not mechanically inclined at all really, but, about 2 summers ago I was riding and I got a temperature warning light, so I drove straight home and shut it down, and haven't riden it since, I then checked the coolant and noticed I was getting oil on my water, so I assumed the head gasket was trashed and haven't touched it since just short runs every month to keep things fluid? I think I will do an oil change and see what I can see, I'm hoping this water pump seal might be the culprit.