Working the bugs out New(to me)'83 XVZ12t

I may have had my "New Bike Goggles" on when I test rode this one. It was near perfect for the short test run but after the shake down run including near highway speed, it's developed a hesitation and is popping on deceleration. It accelerates smooth but surges and ebbs when maintaining a constant speed. It feels ignition related to me but I've never dealt with a liquid cooled V4 before.

When I first got my Suzuki GS850, it felt nearly the same. I potted new wires into the coils and it's run fine ever since.

Minor things need some work. The right side hard bag's mounting lock cylinder is gummed up and I cant get the key in it. The trunk's lights are hard wired with no disconnect so even when I figure out how to remove it, I can't. The lock for the gas fill cover has pulled through the plastic and has been repaired once. It needs done right. The center console cover's rear mounting tab is busted off. That should be an easy fix for a Kydex Bender Extraordinaire. Pretty minor considering the age of the bike. I've fixed worse on newer bikes before.

I'm on the hunt for a factory service manual for now.

Here she is!

http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb258/luvmy40/Motor%20Cycle/Resized_20160721_191008_zpscsubire4.jpeg

Your bike looks great!

You can go here "http://www.yamahaventure.nl/xvz-1200.html" to view the service manual online. Years ago I bought a reprinted paper service manual, I'll see if I can figure out where I got it.

zag

The popping on deceleration disappeared on my '84 when I re-did the valve shims. I don't recall having a hesitation problem though. What's the milage on the bike?

So these are shim over buckets? The guy I bought it from told me the valves were adjustable rockers.

Oh yeah, it's missing one of the exhaust turn downs.

Yes, they are shims. The guy told you wrong. Hard to believe huh? Good looking bike and I'm sure you will work through the small issues. There are some major issues that can pop up on the '83 models though. You don't say how many miles on it but second gear is a bit issue and usually goes on the '83 - mid '85 models at some point. Usually around 60,000 miles or so. Also, the '83's have a problem on some where the frame rusts out. A lot of them on the road still but it is not uncommon. For the backfiring, the first thing to start with would be a good carb sync and then go from there.

28450 mi. +/- if the odometer is to be believed. As clean as everything is, I don't doubt it.

What's the maint. period for valve clearance check?

Please tell me the shims are 29mm!

If you want to buy a reprinted manual, try YamahaPubs.com

For both the '83 & '84, I seem to remember it is every 5k mi.....

What's the maint. period for valve clearance check?

Per the manual: check valve clearance every 7500 miles or 18 months.

28450 mi. +/- if the odometer is to be believed. As clean as everything is, I don't doubt it.

 

What's the maint. period for valve clearance check?

 

Please tell me the shims are 29mm!

Freebird's advice re carb syncing is good. That might just do the trick. Get yourself a CarbTune gizmo, or have it done at a Yamaha shop. At only 28k miles, valves should be okay, but I can't recall what the service interval is. They tend to tighten up, rather than loosen, over time. By the way, every shim is of a different thickness, and when adjusting you will end up replacing many of them with ones of a new thickness. You will need a special tool to extract old ones and insert new ones. It's a BIG job. A service manual will provide details, but I'm quite sure there is a thread somewhere on this forum or elsewherethat will help too.

I meant the shim diameter. I have a fairly large stock of 29mm diameter shims from my XJ bikes. It looks like the Venture shims are 25mm dia. The local Yamaha shop is really great about helping the DIY mechs and they offer free shim trades so that's not really a huge deal for me.

I have the Morgan Carb Tune and Color Tune and have set up more than a few carb banks for myself and others. I'm just new to this model.

I'll probably run some Seafoam for a couple tanks and see if there is any improvement. I should be able to clear enough room to tear the plastics off and do the valves, sync the carbs and give her a general check up in the next month or so.

I meant the shim diameter. I have a fairly large stock of 29mm diameter shims from my XJ bikes. It looks like the Venture shims are 25mm dia. The local Yamaha shop is really great about helping the DIY mechs and they offer free shim trades so that's not really a huge deal for me.

 

I have the Morgan Carb Tune and Color Tune and have set up more than a few carb banks for myself and others. I'm just new to this model.

 

I'll probably run some Seafoam for a couple tanks and see if there is any improvement. I should be able to clear enough room to tear the plastics off and do the valves, sync the carbs and give her a general check up in the next month or so.

I believe there is a Carb Tune thread on this forum somewhere, specific to the Venture. Pretty straightforward, especially if you've done carb syncing before. You can actually do it without removing any plastic, other than the main side panels.

Biggest issue with doing valve shims, aside from the special tool, is getting the valve covers off and out. Doable, but very tight quarters. Ditto getting at the inner shims. You'll likely need new valve cover gaskets. Tricky keeping those in place when reinstalling covers. Having two sets of hands helps, a lot.

You can access a manual in the first gen tech section.

I picked up a new ATM fuse block today, pulled the side covers(they need a good bit of repair work) and just looked around for a while. The carb sync looks simple, front to back, left to right But I can't seem to find any idle adjustment screw.

The couple carb sync threads I found must be for a different gen. model year than the '83 as my adjustment screws are nothing like those described and pictured.

OK,

Every link to a service manual seems to be to the "L" supplemental manual which says to use in conjunction with the XVZ12T service manual. I can't find the base manual anywhere. The info in the sup. man. seems to be primarily about the cruise control system which I do not have. The "First Gen Manual" at trunkful.com is for the 1300cc Is it generic enough to work from that?

I picked up a new ATM fuse block today, pulled the side covers(they need a good bit of repair work) and just looked around for a while. The carb sync looks simple, front to back, left to right But I can't seem to find any idle adjustment screw.

 

The couple carb sync threads I found must be for a different gen. model year than the '83 as my adjustment screws are nothing like those described and pictured.

Here ya go 40,, here is a link to @skydoc_17 's excellent write up on carb syncing. It includes a picture of the idle screw - that will clearly seen and marked in picture #8 .. Hope this helps and thank you to Skydoc!!

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?56723-First-Gen-Carb-Sync-With-Carbtune-Including-Pics!

OK,

Every link to a service manual seems to be to the "L" supplemental manual which says to use in conjunction with the XVZ12T service manual. I can't find the base manual anywhere. The info in the sup. man. seems to be primarily about the cruise control system which I do not have. The "First Gen Manual" at trunkful.com is for the 1300cc Is it generic enough to work from that?

My guesstimate on whether or not a 1300cc manual will suffice would be that it would meet 85% of your needs. I tried the link to trunkful.com 40 and it took me to a web development page so I could not see exactly what manual you were referring to so I cannot tell you what kind of quality (whether you are looking at a Genuine Yamaha manual) but I can refer you to this link: https://www.yamahapubs.com/results.php?cat-id=3&year=1983&family=VENTURE&lang=en that shows what you probably are looking for. I just inherited an old, well used, manual for our bikes (83 XVZ12) and still have one that I purchased.. I would be willing to part with the one I purchased a number of years ago (still in great shape) for considerably less than the quoted price of $89 on the Yamaha site. PM me if your interested..

In the mean time, I will also do a little research here and see if I can assist you in finding a copy on the site here for you that you can access because your a member here...

Hey 40,, here is an online copy of the 1300cc manual that I just found that @yamagrl posted up - its a PDF file.

http://www.yamahaventure.nl/pdf/servicemanualxvz13tf.pdf

I tried to locate a file like that for our scoots but so far no luck.. Lets see if Yamagrl may be able to help us out here with locating one?

By the way,, if your inquiry in the manual has to do with basic engine/tranny - drive system I am thinking the 1300cc should do you - again,, lets see what that guru - Yamagrl thinks!!

cowpuc,

PM in bound.

Thanks for the link to the sync procedure.

I had not found that thread. It's just as I had sussed out but pointing out the idle adjust knob is great. I looked for quite a while and did not see it(though I knew it was there somewhere!).

PDF manuals are great and all but I'm an old school kinda shade tree mechanic. I want a dogeared greasy book laying on the gas tank when I'm trying to unscrew the inscrutable.

OK,

Every link to a service manual seems to be to the "L" supplemental manual which says to use in conjunction with the XVZ12T service manual. I can't find the base manual anywhere. The info in the sup. man. seems to be primarily about the cruise control system which I do not have. The "First Gen Manual" at trunkful.com is for the 1300cc Is it generic enough to work from that?

The manual that I downloaded from trunkful (a few years ago) is a little confusing. There are two supplemental manuals followed by the original XVZ1200 manual. You should have 443 pages total. Go to page 119 and you should see the original manual.

Let me know if this works for you.

This is the link: http://labs.trunkful.com/vrmanuals/index.cfm

Choose "83-85 Service Manual", NOT "First Gen Manual"

I bought a disc off ebay that contains the shop manuals for the first gens, 1200s and 1300s, the second gens, road stars, royal stars, about 30 different manuals altogether and it only cost $12. I don't see one on ebay now but there is a hard copy manual for cheap.

PDF manuals are great and all but I'm an old school kinda shade tree mechanic. I want a dogeared greasy book laying on the gas tank when I'm trying to unscrew the inscrutable.

I am sooo hearing ya 40,,,, sometimes I wonder what the heck is wrong with me = kids thumb typing 120 words a milla second on a cell phone the size of postage stamp and I miss the rotary phones,,, mechanics pluggin in diagnostic computers to set ignition and fuel/air mixtures and I miss points ignition and still love carbs, people going fishing stop at a pop machine and buy their bait and I miss the softness of the night with a flashlight in my hand picking up night crawlers... Sometimes I think the globe somehow sped up and I got caught in its back draft when it did

When you order valve cover gaskets order then for 1999 - 2016 bike. Same gasket but they added a lip to them that makes them easier to install.