Does anyone else have these problems?

[SpaceMan]

I have an 07 RS Venture from new. It now has 40,000 kms on it. I have a few problems... some of which have been there since day 1. My dealer has tried to resolve some and not tried on others. The chirp/whine clutch basket noise is a common one and I am planning to talk to my dealer..... again....about trying to fix that one. My question is... do any of you other Venture owners have the other problems I have? If so, were you able to fix them and how?

 

1) whine/chirp at some rpms. Getting louder now, with 40,000 kms on the bike. Dealer response??? nothing. Do any of you think this is worth pursuing? It is getting very annoying lately.

2) groaning sound from swingarm or rear shock when flexed (sitting and bouncing up and down) when the bike is cold in the morning or on cold days. Mostly an embarassment but the bike has not always done this. Dealer response? lubed swingarm bushings, shock mount pivots, still the same.

3) Accelerate Button on cruise does not always respond to single incremental push. Dealer response? replaced switch assembly, and I think entire cruise electronic box. Still the same.

4) handlebars, forks, seem to point to the right. Bike runs straight, but points to the right. I have initial suspicion that the rear wheel is not true vertical relative to the frame. Dealer response? Bike seems to run normally to everyone else.

 

Any help or comments greatly appreciated.

[gibvel]

1. The should replace the clutch basket 1 time for you. If that doesn't do it or makes it worse they will put it back to stock. That's it, don't ask again. Some have had luck with this and some have had it shift the sound to another RPM range or made it worse. It's a crap shoot. There has been talk, lately, of Motorkote helping quiet the chirp as much as 50% or more. Look for the Motorkote thread:

 

2. Sounds like a bad shock. My shock does this when cold and has since I got the bike (about 3 years ago). Dealer should replace this under warranty. There are other things you can do but, since your bike is under warranty, I'd have them do it. Watch for an oil puddle under your bike just in front of the rear wheel. This could be a bad shock leaking it's oil

 

3. Honestly, I never use the accel button on mine. I've, pretty much noticed the same thing and it's useless to try to increase the set point with that. Mine doesn't respond like a car in that respect and I don't know if it was meant to. Others may have a different experience with it. I just hit cancel, put the speed where I want it and hit set button again.

 

4. Have no idea off hand.

[1 - UP]

Regarding your cruise, I have found that if you depress the accel button twice in quick succession you will find that you will increase your speed by one to two mph. (or what ever you use). When you set your cruise at a speed that you want to be at - when you hit your set button also hit your accel button right after and you will remain at that speed and your bike will not lose speed.

Ken:Venture:

[camos]

Not too sure this relates to your #4 problem but thought I'd throw it out for consideration. When I first got my Virago when driving a straight line down the road the handlebars were not centred. More of an annoyance than a problem as the bike still steered where I wanted to go. Got a couple of straight 2x4's to make sure the front wheel was aligned with the back wheel and found the handlebars were out about 1/2". Loosened the tripletree fork clamps, straddled the front wheel and torqued the handlebars until they were square with the wheel. Tightened the clamps and no more annoyance.

 

Doing that is probably a bit more difficult on a Venture though. If your problem is the same as the one I had then I would think the fairing being attached to the handlebars (yes/no?) would also be out a bit which would be fairly noticeable.

[Sylvester]

The groaning when sitting on the bike( #2) was stopped on my Venture by lubricating the dust covers on the shock with a little grease...so the don't bind when collapsing.

 

[Tom]

#2 Was first signs of my shock going bad..after a month or so the infamous oil on the floor appeared. Bad Shock was the diagnosis

[BigBoyinMS]

I'm not sure what the owners manual says but on my bike when I press 'accel' once it only moves up about .5 mph; 2 fast taps about 2 mph.

 

My shock was groaning really badly. When I last did a Moly60 lube on my driveline and while I had the rear wheel off I took every bolt out of every pivot point on the shock and lubed each one with the Moly. No more groans for a while but now I'm getting just a little noise again.

[gunboat]

rick butter had a cure for the groning shock. it was to add a 1/2 oz of 40wt fork oil and 1/2 oz of auto tranny fluid to the shock. i had to replace my rear shock two years ago at my own expenise. the new shouck started to gron after a while. so i injected this mx into the valve stem hole. ( got to remove the stem first ). i thing i had to do this two different times but, it cured the gron.

but if you still have any warrenty left, make the dealer install a new shock.

best reguards

don c.

[SpaceMan]

Hey everone.... thanks for the tips. It is comforting to see that others have some of these same problems. A few more comments on your comments:

 

Cruise - the manual says that a single push of the accelerate button will make the bike accelerate by 1.6 km/hr (1 mph). SO... i expect that it should work that way. Looks like others have the same problem with no known fix. Probably a software bug as they have already replaced the switch assy and cruise unit.

 

Rear groan - I have already injected a quite a bit of fork oil into the shock via the air inlet but the problem continues. I will try to get my dealer to change out the shock. Not too optimistic about that... as their, and Yamaha Canada's, line so far has been unless you can show that something is physically broken... then it is not a warranty issue).

 

Chirp/whine - Again not luck so far getting dealer to swap clutch baskets. I realize it is not a sure fix but it is worth a try. So far Yamaha Canada and dealer have said it is normal.... maybe, but it is driving me crazy and we shouldn't have to put up with it for the price of the bike.

 

ALignment - I am going to take some more measurements but after another look at things yesterday I believe the rear wheel is not vertical relative to the frame.

 

thanks again for your help and comments

[AKRefugee]

When I press the accelerate I have found that I can not just "tap" it like I do in a car. I have to firmly press it until I feel a "click". When I do this it accelerates quite well. If not it doesn't work.

[CMIKE]

My thoughts on the cruise. I have found if you press the acc button for about a second you get 1 MPh increase. I know what you are talking about that sometimes it does not seem to work. I think it is when you press FAST it to get one MPH increase and release it...maybe it rebounds to the decrease side and cancels out what you intended. Try pressing it for about a second and releasing it slowly. Seems to work for me.

[BuddyRich]

Mines the same way. A quik click doesn't work. Has to be for more than 1/2 a second.