Beau-Kat

Haven't gotten back to it yet. I do have a 1998 Vmax. Does anyone know if maybe I could swap that one to the Royale to test? Or is that a totally different TCI?

I wish. But I just moved here a couple of months ago and don't know any resources yet. Jim (Blue Mountain) lives pretty close, but he doesn't have a 1st gen.

All the connectors are ok. I'm gonna pull the TCI out and see if it may be wet or corroded inside. Probably one or the other. This bike has always been inside and in really good condition. But I do ride my bikes, rain or shine, so stuff gets wet. If I finish my rides at home, I wipe them down, and if the rain was particularly heavy, put a fan on them before I put them up for the night. Note: After I serviced the carbs, adjusted the valves, and replaced the valve cover gaskets, I used 409 and garden hose pressure to wash all of the old drippy and filmy oil off the engine and chassis. Might have gotten into the TCI. Didn't know of all these TCI woes (especially that water could intrude into them) before I had this problem. Learn a lot on the internet these days.

I now know it is a stock TCI. I didn't know what the Ingitech looked like, but did research on that unit last night.

Thanks. Already addressed that. I believe all that is good. Have narrowed it down to weak spark issues for sure.

I guess it's stock. Can't see any markings on it. But I haven't removed it, so I can't see all around it. I did disconnect and check the two cables connecting to it. Ends and pins were very clean. Reconnected them, and now have very weak spark on #2 plug also. Seems it's all going downhill now.

Yes, solid wires. I disconnected the spark plug wire from the coil and read mine through the spark plug wire and spark plug cap. Showed 4.8K ohm Secondary at the coil is 13K ohm.

Only had enough time to install the new slide diaphragm on #4 slide today. I'll get the rest on tomorrow. But, finally something is happening (or failing) that gives me some direction. Now, I'm getting weak spark on 4 AND on 3. So, that's what I'm looking into now. Tomorrow, I'm gonna check spark again on 1 and 2. All primary sides of ignition coils ohms are reading 3.2. Couldn't get my probes in there to check the secondary sides. Will get to that tomorrow. All pick-up coils tested good at 115-120 ohms at all test points. I bought these new NGK caps already installed on the new wires. The caps don't seem to wanna be unscrewed so I can test them. Don't wanna screw them up by using to much twisting force. What should be a good ohm reading for a good plug cap? Anybody had this issue and discovered a bad stator? Also, if the TCI fails, wouldn't it just not spark at all on some of the plugs? Probably wouldn't get weak spark with a failed TCI, I would think.

Checked/cleaned all electrical connections having to do with engine running. I just did the valve clearance inspection and serviced the carbs. Only the exhaust valves for #3 needed adjustment. Carbs really looked clean inside. Disassembled and checked all float levels, jets, and ports. Checked all carb boots, hoses, synch port caps, etc. All look good. Sprayed WD-40 around them with engine idling. No engine operation changes perceived. Unless I got something screwed up in the #4 carb, I don't know. I do have our two five year old boys coming and going from the garage, so can get distracted and possibly missed something. Diaphragms should be here in two days.

I'll check the boost sensor. But that should affect overall advance to all cylinders. Only getting soot on #4 plug.

I have also checked the operation of all cables, butterflies, and the enrichment plungers. Open and close operation is smooth and normal. The bike is really gassy smelling at idle. Not raw gas, but partially burnt, chokey smelling. I don't see any "well it's flooded" kinda smokey stuff coming from the exhaust. But you can really smell it. No exhaust leaks. The exhaust system is perfect, including the collector box.

I bought these plug wires with the caps already installed. I pulled the cap while idling and it definitely dropped the cylinder. So that cylinder is definitely firing, at least at idle. Maybe it drops out later in the revs.

Good idea. Haven't tried that yet, since it only bogs while riding and in any gear. Pull in the clutch and it will rev freely. Kinda weird.

OK. Tested yesterday. Bike still just stumbles, craps out, bogs, dies, whatever you wanna call it about 5 grand in gear. Looking at the way the slide dances on #4 carb, pretty much convinced it is a problem with #4 . Pulled all plugs. Checked spark. Good spark on all plugs. #4 was the only one that was very sooty. Changed it to new hotter (NGK DPR7EA-9) plug. Ran about 30 miles, letting it bog like it has been doing. Pulled all plugs again. 1,2,3 look perfect. #4 sooty again. Drained carbs and left the drains open. Received the same amount of gas from each carb. Disconnected the fuel line from the fuel pump and blew air through it, through the carbs, and watched it spit through the drain tubes. No fuel restriction indicated. With fuel line discharge disconnected from pump, turned on key. Pump works well. Although, I have no idea about pump pressure other than just listening to clicks after pump starts. Blew back through the fuel filter. All clear. Hooked up all lines, closed carb drains. Turned on key. Fuel pump clicked for several seconds as bowls filled again. Comparing to work I have done on my Vmax and Millenium carbs, clicked about the same amount after I had drained those bowls. Pretty normal to me. Note: I have seen no fuel come from the overflow from any of the carbs. So, that, and the fact that all drained bowls rendered the same amount of fuel, I pretty much am ruling out a stuck float. Tried to do a compression test. I think I have a problem with my old gauge set-up. Got only 30 psi on #4 cylinder. So, I tried #3 cylinder. Same results. It's such a pain to get the adapter down into the #3 spark plug hole, I haven't tried #1 or #2 yet. Anyway, since this in an old bike, I have ordered all 4 new carb slide diaphragms from Sirius. Should be here next week. Whether that's the problem or not, I was gonna replace them anyway. Probably won't fool with it until next week. Really appreciate your comments. Sooner or later, we'll get this sorted out.

O.K. Thanks for your responses. This is what I've done so far. First off, got the bike from Indiana in 2009 with nearly 16,000 on it. Had supposedly been properly stored inside for many years. Previous owner kept good service records. Only major thing I saw was that he had installed a new fuel tank. The Yamaha dealer where I got it had gone through it and it ran fine when I got it. The bike only has about 23,000 miles on it now. So, before all this started, I installed new NGK plugs and wires with new NGK caps. Bike ran well. Since I posted last, I have: First, drained the carbs. All looked ok. Each dispensed the same amount of fuel. Operation of the fuel pump seemed fine. Removed and checked all diaphragms. Had a slight itty bitty tear near the outside edge in one. Replaced that diaphragm with good one from a 535 Virago I had once (same part #). Pushed the slides and got good even response from each one. All seemed normal. Bike seemed a little better, but revved to about 4800 before loading up, dying, whatever. Would quickly run up to that 4800 in any gear, then just quit. Back off a bit and it would pick up again, but not past about 4800. While riding, I would pull in the clutch and rev it quickly to nearly redline. No problem. Back to the garage. Loosened the carb rack clamps and made sure they were really seated well on the boots. Removed the airbox and made sure everything went back snug. Re-synched the carbs. Were already nearly perfect. Then it got too late to test ride last night. Today, raining here. So, I warmed it up on the center stand. Gave it the throttle. It quickly revved to nearly redline and cut the throttle. WooHoo! Returns to good idle. Still on the center stand, leaning way forward, front brake squeezed, dropped it into first gear and revved it to nearly redline. Seemed to have perfect response to throttle. Gonna cross my fingers and try to test it on the road tomorrow. Didn't do the cool pipe test today. But when I do that, I run it for about 60 to 90 seconds, then feel the individual pipes close to the head. No cool pipes. If still runs crappy, will do a compression test.

Still have the problem. Haven't been able to put a lot of time into fiddling with it. Did find this in a google search: http://www.justanswer.com/motorcycle/75wth-yamaha-venture-royale-working-1987-yamaha-xvz1300-venture.html# In the last statement by the mechanic, he stated the Ventures would "twist the slides". Haven't heard of that before. Anyone know what he is talking about?

Thanks for your responses. I'm gonna go out and look the diaphragms over now.

Filter is new. Air filter is new. I was thinking this over this morning. I finally remembered the bike stumbling and not reving BEFORE I did the carb and valve maintenance. I thought it was probably bad gas. But then, it seemed to not do it again. Or maybe I'm old and don't remember... Anyway, it's doing it again now. Probably gonna replace all four diaphragms anyway as a precaution.

Hey guys. First off, I have been working on engines over 45 years, but realize I can still be looking in the wrong direction for problems. So, I wanna pick your brains on this one. On my '88, a couple of months back, I went through my carbs (they actually were really clean and no real gunk), drilled out the caps and adjusted my screws out to 2 1/4 turns. Also did the valve adjustment then (@ only 22,000 miles, but valve covers were leaking badly). Then I did my carb synch. Synchs ok, but still idles a little rough. I do run fuel stabilizer on my bikes. Sometimes, Sea foam. Sometimes, Techron. Sometimes, Startron. Haven't seen any real difference among them. Anyway, I did not take the diaphragms out during the carb service because they seemed to be working ok (looking through the throats and watching the "bounce" when operating the throttle) before I removed the carbs. All looked to be moving well. I also didn't want to pull those old rubbers and have trouble getting them back in place. Wondering if any liquid got into the vacuum ports. But thought it would have evaporated by now. I have been moving to our new home upstate and haven't had an opportunity to test it out since the service. So, I took the bike on a 475 mile trip yesterday. As soon as I was on the road, I discovered it wouldn't rev past about 4600 or so. After that, it just flat bogs out. Tried easing it up there. Nope. I tried holding it wot for several seconds. Nope. It just wouldn't rev. Under 4600, it runs kinda ok on the highway. Can run 80 mph, but gas mileage is falling off some. Seems to be running on 3 cylinders. But I did the cool pipe test after the service. All seemed to be getting hot evenly. Searched this forum and found some airbox mods or bad diaphragms could cause these issues. I had a Virago that had the problem and it was a diaphragm. Also, I recently did the same service on my Millenium. It runs great. Anyway, any thoughts, personal experiences like this with a first or second gen? Where can we get diaphragms for the first gens? I found this info on the cx500 site. Worked on one of those bikes years ago, but for different issues. http://cx500forum.com/forum/technical-help-forum/13657-won-t-rev-past-4500-a.html

I think he lives in Lugoff.

Great to know anyone in the area, no matter what they ride.

Soon. Already moved my pin on the members map.

Cool, Joe! I have a nice place to park your rides. Got a 30x80 slab. The first 30x40 is carport. Then the 30x40 garage starts from there.

Moving to the upstate here in SC soon. Just outside of Liberty. Didn't see any members on the members map close to there. Wondering if I'll have some Venturerider friends in that area. Rusty

Yup! I agree Skid. My wife and I got ours. Renewing them in May.