csdexter

There is a bolt and a washer holding the heel-toe shifter attached to the bike. The bolt is P/N 90149-06280-00 and the washer is P/N 90201-06070-00 -- they shouldn't be more than $1.50 each.

The emergency stop switch is normally closed and is meant to open when the bike tips over. If some wire got loose or the switch got itself freed from its mount and is now dangling by the cables, it is well possible that braking (as you would do when coming to a stop) would trigger it, thus making the bike believe it tipped over. Check the switch and its wiring.

That sounds like the starter solenoid: two chunky wires and a smaller cable with a four pin connector. Also two big 30A fuses on it. That's it.

In fairness, the cover of the float chamber is not available as a replacement part -- and this is from Yamaha's books. The drain plug screw and the very short drain hose are -- but not the cover itself. Now to clarify the terminology somewhat: choose one carb of the four and look at its diaphragm cover (i.e. like you would be standing on one side of the bike trying look towards the other side, through the bike). The float chamber is opposite the diaphragm cover and tilted downwards. The overflow (or vent) hose would then connect to a T fitting to the top center of the carb pair you're currently looking at. It goes from there to the air filter housing on the side you're standing on and is held in place by a clamp near the air intake. The drain hose is the very short one (like 1-2" short) coming straight out of the center of the float chamber cover. It's only purpose is to prevent gas dribbling on the carb body and down onto the rubber intake joint when you intentionally drain the float chambers by loosening the drain plug screw. It could well be what LilBeaver said (drain plug screw not fully closed for whatever reason) so check that first.

The O-ring-with-two-bars that goes between the petcock itself and the fuel tank is P/N 4X8-24512-00. Most petcock rebuild kits should have it included, if you don't want to buy OEM.

Check antenna cable throughout (connection at antenna pole is okay, you say -- check that the connection in front, at the radio, is also ok). Also check the cable isn't shorting to ground anywhere. Does the radio fade in and out with the motorcycle stationary or moving? If when moving, it's the antenna wire (broken or shorting). If when standing still, there's a problem elsewhere like bad grounding for the radio.

I don't know why others do it, but in my case the reasons are: energy economy (I could always use extra spare watts) last longer than the useful life of the bike (more than 5 1/2 years if I were keeping the lights on 24/7) impervious to vibration definitely better light output (the LED version is clearly more visible than the bulb one) ability to easily (and automatically) control output depending on outside light level (which means I can now see my in-dash indicator lights even if the sun is out while at the same time being able to ride at night without having my eyes punctured by them being too bright). Same comment about "cool looking" brake and turn indicators at day that become eye piercing for the poor driver(s) behind at night. ability to easily control colour temperature and CRI so that at night I get the exact hue my eyes work best with last but not least, it's the way forward (IMHO the filament bulb has had its run for the money)

I'm guessing asking "does the auto cancel even/still work with the OEM flasher relay?" will result in stones being thrown my way :-) (I'm asking because only the US version has auto-cancel and it's known to go bad over time) For what it's worth, the setup described works for me so I'll leave it at that.

Judging by the schematic, that shouldn't be the case IF the replacement flasher was actually meant as a replacement for the kind of flasher setup the RSV has. When you go look for aftermarket replacements, get a "2-pin" flasher NOT the ones which have more pins. The RSV (both EU/AU and US models) use the flasher relay just to provide the blinking signal, all of the other stuff (hazard mode and auto-cancel) is being dealt with by the other two relays (which you should not touch in any way during the LED conversion). You need a replacement flasher relay that has two pins and starts in the "ON" (i.e. closed) state (which the vast majority do). The one I pointed to in my reply matches everything I've said here -- there may be many alternatives out there, I just showed you what I got. Once again: only replace the flasher relay behind the right sidecover, the black thing between the carb thermo switch and the carb relay (sky blue). It says things like "83 cycles for per minute" and "2x21W+3W" on it. Do NOT touch the two other relays in the front fairing ;-)

As an alternative to installing load equalizers (which get hot and somewhat kill the energy savings that you may have been planning to achieve by upgrading to LEDs), you can replace your flasher relay with a "load-independent" one. Some sites say "goes from 0W to 100W" (or some other rated power) instead of "load-independent". Some other sites quote it as "for LEDs" -- they all mean the same thing, but the "for LEDs" ones tend not to be able to drive bulbs, so if you plan on going back and forth between LEDs and classic bulbs, keep that in mind. I got one from Louis that has the same connector as the OEM one, so it was a direct replacement. I had to invent a way to fasten it to the bike where the old one was, but that was a piece of cake. Being the load-independent type, I am able to change the bulbs one by one with LEDs without worrying about breaking anything. Everything M61A1MECH said is true, except the word he used :-) It's "unidirectional" (or, even, "directional") for things that look brighter or dimmer depending on the angle you look at them from and "omnidirectional" for things that look the same no matter how you look at them. He's also true with regard to the fact that RSV owners are unlucky in this regard if you look at the shape of the flasher enclosures. This is why some companies out there have designed LED lights specifically for the Japanese "sideways" flasher that we have on our bikes (and same goes for the tail light), which look like a small board with a number of LEDs that goes between the two pillars where the screws go in and has wires connected to an empty bulb base that you can connect in the OEM bulb socket. For reasons unfathomable to me, said companies charge insane prices for those assemblies (e.g. the one for the tail light is 80USD) which is why I'm currently designing and building my own. Good luck with your LED transformation!

According to the books, all metal plates on the VR are the same as the ones on the RSV (P/N 26H-16324-00-00). By "metal plate", I mean the one with teeth on the inside and smooth contour on the outside. The first (counting from the bottom of the basket up) friction plate on the VR is the same as the one on the RSV (P/N 26H-16321-00-00). By "friction plate", I mean the one with the teeth on the outside and smooth contour on the inside. The same goes for the second to penultimate friction plates on the VR, which are the same as the second to last friction plates on the RSV (P/N 26H-16307-00-00). There are six of the latter on the VR, but the RSV clutch uses seven of them so you'll be one friction plate short. The slave cylinder may or may not match, they are different versions of the same part number -- better to look at them carefully before buying or trying to exchange with the one already on the RSV. The master cylinder has a different shape and is a different part on the VR than on the RSV. The hose fitting is the same and standard so if you manage to fit it on the handlebars, you should be able to use it.

I found the same oily picture when I removed the tank on my bike to check things up: joint soaked, left surge tank evenly "painted" in oil on the inside, right one clean. There was also white goo inside the breather hose where it joins the surge tank joint. Cleaned everything thoroughly, replaced the breather hose (I didn't like the goo idea in a hose that's only supposed to contain air), checked oil level and, failing all else, gave the previous owner a call. Surprise, surprise, he admitted to having topped it up, literally, with oil in the past only to find out later what "to top up" means on a bike Like everybody else said, make sure the oil is between the marks (with the bike level, not on the sidestand!) and you should be OK.

(for completeness only) The part number for the spark plug cap(s) (all 4 identical) on a '84 XVZ1200DL© is 4G0-82370-21. Current OEM & new price is about 14USD, places like eBay may have it for less.

I'm curious, where exactly on the Partzilla page does it say anything about stock levels? :-) I only see MSRP and their price. When you place an order, you get the "Order status" page where quantities are listed as "F" (fulfilled) or "B" (backordered) and it never happened to me to have things swing from the F column to the B one. Moreover, I twice requested partial shipment which meant all of the "F" items would get shipped that day with all the "B" ones shipping later when all of them arrive at Partzilla. Not only it worked as advertised ("F" shipped fast and complete, "B" shipped later yet still complete), you only get charged shipping once.

First of all, I've no involvement with the Partzilla brand or whatever company is running it. I get no payment (as cash or as a discount on my orders) or other benefits from them whatsoever. My only connection with them is having placed 5 orders so far that were all dispatched in due time and with the right contents. Just so we get it out of the way :-) Second, the terms are there for prospective parties to read and accept (by placing an order) or reject (by going somewhere else); just as someone can sell, say, a throttle grip on eBay for 1000USD, so can any online shop have any collection of terms -- nobody says that you have to agree with them and buy from that shop :-) Maybe I'm too old fashioned, but I always read the terms (specifically: shipping and returns) every time my money is involved.

If it helps the overall context become more complete, it should be noted that Partzilla recently (last month) went through what seems like a software upgrade or internal restructuring. I'm now at my fifth Partzilla order and everything went OK, but there's a clear difference between Partzilla looks/behaviour before about April 15th and after. I hope they do sort it out and come back on top, but they seemed to have real trouble with the IT part during April. Having said that, the e-mail contact worked fine (biggest delay was 1 business day) and they always replied to my questions and also didn't mind just sending me updates on my order when their "Order status" page was not working or showing stale information. I even remembered I needed something extra on one of my orders and e-mailed them the same day to ask if that item could be added, and they did it. Finally, about the restocking fee, it is clearly stated on their site that all returns will incur a 15% re-stocking fee, regardless of whom the fault lies with. Those are the conditions of trade and by ordering from them you have implicitly accepted them.

(for completeness only) The tour pack itself (topcase or travel bag, as Yamaha calls it) is attached to the trunk frame with 6 allen bolts: two towards the front (or forward, if you like ships) and one towards the back (or aft) on each side. The ones forward have small washers on them, try not to lose them The ones aft, depending on whether your 2nd gen. Venture is made before or after 2001, will either have a large steel plate washer and a smaller rubber one under (old) or a big metal plate and a matching rubber mat under (new). If you have the newer version, note that the two plate+mat pairs differ left from right and the left one has a big L stamped into the rubber mat. You then need to disconnect the wires that go to the trunk. To do that, both rider and passenger seats must come off first. Then, look right where the passenger seat used to be and locate the big cylindrical connector that connects the passenger intercom socket to the bike harness. It has a safety catch, you have to push that in while you're pulling the connectors apart. Next are the two square connectors that connect the passenger remote control and passenger speakers to the bike, they sit on two metal ears on the trunk frame, just at the point where the trunk wall (the one with the backrest) would intersect the trunk frame. Depending on how big your fingers are and how stubborn the connectors, you may have to remove them from the eyelets first and then push the latch in and take them apart. Lastly, remove the passenger intercom socket from its rubber holder on the left side of the rear fender. The trunk now comes cleanly right off the bike. Of course, it helps if the antennas are folded down ;-) The CB box is bolted in the middle of the trunk frame and there is no wiring that goes between the CB box and the trunk, so you can leave it there if you wish. If you decided "everything must go!", then continue as follows: Undo the two rubber bands holding the CB box's lid in place. Remove bands and lid. Disconnect the CB power connector (white, three position, rectangular) -- depending on the model, it's either inside the CB box or under the rider's seat, trace the wiring to find it in the latter case. Disconnect the CB control cable (black, cylinder, DIN-13) inside the CB box. Disconnect the CB antenna cable (black cable connecting to gray cable, male banana connector on the black side) inside the CB box. The CB radio itself now comes off, remove. The CB box is bolted to the trunk frame by four hex head bolts. If you're removing the trunk frame as well, there's no need to undo them now as the frame will come off with the box as one piece. Loosen the FM antenna, disconnect the cable and remove the antenna. Do the same for the CB antenna noting that its black cable (the short one) now becomes free, so remove it. For reference, the CB antenna is the one with the black insert at its mid length, on the left side of the bike. Once again, if you're removing the trunk frame, there's no need to remove the antenna brackets separately as they will come off with the frame as one piece. Note that the CB control cable and FM antenna cable go all the way to the front fairing while the CB power cable goes all the way to under the rider's seat. Think about either removing them completely or coiling them up and hiding them somewhere on the bike. If not already done, remove the two square connectors from the eyelets on the trunk frame. Remove the hex head bolt that holds the ground connection (black ribbon wire) onto the frame. Once again, think about what you're going to do with the ground ribbon and the wire going to the two connectors. Loosen the two hex head bolts that secure the grab rails to the trunk frame. If you have a short enough (as in "not tall") ratchet, you may be able to reach the trunk frame allen head bolts without removing the sidebags. Loosen all four bolts for the trunk and the two ones for the grab rails, remove both from the bike. That's it!

If you do find it's just a broken/maimed valve spring and go about replacing it, note that the spring(s) in question are very strong and you need to either buy/borrow or craft up a tool to keep the spring(s) compressed while you install the keeper (the small thing around the end of the valve stem that keeps the springs compressed and the valve shut). Do not be fooled into thinking that you can do it by hand or with a screwdriver or something similar -- if your improvised tool skips and hits something else around the valve well, you may need a new cylinder head. If, on the other hand, it gives way and snaps, the spring(s) and other small metal parts may jump out with great force and stop in your eyes, head or fingers. I don't mean to scare you off (I'm a DIYer myself), just make sure you understand what the risky parts are

It depends on the specs and on the internals of the other equipment. The current tends to follow (or prefer) the path of least resistance, where the rectifier in the R/R offers a very low resistance when connected in reverse so your other equipment should see a minimal surge (if any, at all) during the time elapsed until the fuse blows. Also, most (but not all!) equipment designed for automotive use will have a very forgiving power supply stage so having a bad R/R that outputs more volts than the spec or connecting the battery in reverse should do no harm -- but unless you have the schematic before your eyes, you'd better not take that for granted. I have no experience with low voltage + high current resettable fuses so I cannot chip in with any "from the field" information. If their trip times are similar (or better) than the household ones (or the ones used for USB ports), then you should be OK. Once again, unless you have access to the schematic of a box and it shows that the supply section clearly has reverse-current protection, you should assume it will fry if you connect it in reverse and thus take all due care not to do it.

The same would have happened on any bike which has a charging system which implies rectification (which means all of them). The rectifier diodes will act as a straight short if the battery is connected in reverse and since they're designed to be beefy, the main fuse will always suffer an untimely death as you connect the battery. That is also a good thing as you'd fry things like the the radio or alarm (which tend to be rather expensive) if the main fuse wouldn't die fast enough. Remember both are connected to the backup (unswitched) line so even if the ignition is off, the reverse current would still reach them.

Glad you found it, everybody hates fighting the windmills :-) Apparently, there's quite a lot of bikes and ATVs out there that use the same battery as the Venture, only with the terminals reversed -- it always helps to check before connecting anything electrical. Damage, fire or wallet drain may occur otherwise Luckily for you, the only victim was the condenser as the diodes in the R/R are tough enough to blow the main fuse without suffering any damage themselves. Wishing your bike a very quick return on the road!

It should be noted oil in general (and motorcycle oil is no exception) does not conduct electricity. It should also be noted that the generator stator coil is connected directly to the full bridge rectifier inside the R/R. So, even if it were completely melted down and in short, it would still not cause a short on the battery side because the diodes in the bridge do not conduct that way. As other bikers have experienced, a cooked stator results in no (or poor) charging rather than the main fuse blowing or things catching fire. Quick question: after witnessing the condenser exploding, have you disconnected it from the rest of the cable harness? Even if maimed, it may still be shorted. I'm insisting on that because it shouldn't have happened in the first place :-) The condenser has two wires, one of them Black (or Blue, can't remember right now) and the other Red (if anybody has the schematic handy, do correct me). Could you please check that, with the R/R disconnected and the main fuse replaced, you get a positive voltage reading of ~12V between the Red and Blue wires? (positive voltmeter probe on Red, negative on Blue)? If you read -12V (i.e. negative 12 volts), than you have a big problem because that's why the condenser exploded.

The condenser is shown on the "AUDIO SYSTEM 1" parts diagram sheet, P/N 1NL-81965-01-00. Its purpose is to keep voltage variations away from the audio system (the radio, more precisely) so that the music remains clear no matter the engine revs or what other loads come on and off. Same goes for the noise filter connected to the radiator fan (and also physically located behind the lower left cowling cover). The behavior you describe (crackle, pop and spew its guts out) is what a condenser does if it's connected backwards (i.e. + to - and - to +) across a power supply. Unless you deliberately connected the battery the other way around, I cannot explain how you would get things to reverse on their way to the condenser (save for the very improbable situation in which you've got exactly the right amount of shorted wires in exactly the right places). It is also possible (though just as unlikely) that both the R/R and the Condenser got damaged at the same time and both failed short. The R/R is designed to handle a lot more current, so while it was connected, it was blowing the main fuse. When disconnected, it was the Condenser's turn to act as a short and since it was now the weakest link, it blew up. Nice story, but even I don't believe it :-) Unfortunately, there is no (easy) way to test the R/R outside of the bike and even Yamaha does testing by elimination. I don't know how much time (or patience) you have, but if I were you I'd try to a step by step approach, as follows: 1) Find out if I have any cooked/welded together wires: 1a) Remove backup fuse (i.e. the fuse protecting the un-switched power), disconnect alarm (if any), disconnect R/R, disconnect Condenser (so that there's nobody left on the un-switched power line) 1b) With the battery disconnected, use an ohmmeter or continuity tester and check continuity between battery + and - leads -- there should be none. If there is, there's a short somewhere 2) Find out if the problem is on the un-switched (backup) circuit: 2a) Check/Install main fuse, check/install other fuses (except the backup one), ignition off, connect positive battery lead first and put the rubber boot on it 2b) Use an insulated screwdriver to very briefly touch the negative lead to the battery's negative contact. Nothing should happen -- if there's sparks, there's a short somewhere. Note that blowing a 30A fuse should happen with a considerable amount of sparking, even if the fuse blows fast enough so that nothing catches fire. 2c) Connect one of the things disconnected at 1a) (except the backup fuse) above and repeat the spark test. When the alarm has been added, very minor sparking may occur (visible if in a dark room) but all fuses should survive nevertheless. If (large) sparking occurs, then the last component added is faulty. 2d) Replace (install) the backup fuse and repeat the spark test. Large sparking will cause the backup fuse to blow and that means either the CB radio or the speedometer have a short inside. 3) Find out if the problem is on the switched circuit: 3a) Make sure all lights are off, turn the engine switch to "STOP", make sure nothing is connected to the DC outlet 3b) Turn ignition to ACC and repeat the sparking test. Large sparking will cause the Audio or DC outlet fuses to blow and that means either the Audio Amplifier is at fault of there's something shorting the DC outlet connectors. 3c) Permanently connect the negative battery lead. 3d) Turn ignition to ON and check for blown fuses, which indicate the circuit at fault. 3e) Turn the engine switch to "RUN" and check for blown fuses, which again indicate the circuit at fault. 4) If we got to here, we either found the short or everything works well :-) Hope it helps.

JerryK> I can confirm same behaviour on my bike, especially when it's really cold outside The Virago XV535 I had before tended to do same in cold weather (start on one, then run in two after a few seconds). Smilerider> The carburettor float chamber drain nipples/hoses and valves (screw that closes the drain hole) are located in the space between the carbs. Depending on how small your fingers are, you may be able to reach them with or without taking a lot of things off the bike to get to them Yamaha tried to make it easy and made the float chamber covers at an angle so that, at least in theory, you should be able to slide a long allen wrench in from the right/left of the bike and loosen the valve bolt until fuel starts dripping through the drain hose. Whether that will work for you (given how crammed that space is), remains to be seen. Good luck!