LilBeaver

He is rather active on the F6_B forum...

Also, starting on page 8-73 of the service manual, there are instructions for using the "self-diagnosis mode" of the cruise control system. I used this when troubleshooting my system as I was able to cycle the pump and measure the pressure drawn, etc etc.

Huh -- now that is interesting. On my bike when I turn my cruise on I fully press the toggle to the left and it immediately goes to the center position (with the 3 lights illuminating for a second or two, then leaving only the BLUE ON light on until I set the cruise). I have never had my 'cruise' toggle switch stay in the ON position (fully pressed to the left). If I leave it in the 'center' position, I have to push it to the 'on' position again for the cruise to turn on after my bike is power cycled. I believe mine functions as described in the owners manual. +1 to the cleaning your switches and connection on the handlebar as well as the toggle switch on the dash (if it really stays in the 'on' position the way you describe).

+1 to cleaning your connections inside the fairing. The version of the bike for the UK and other countries that do not allow CBs simply do not have the CB button on the controller, at all, or the CB under the trunk (obviously).

I do not recall having to enlarge the holes to install my utopia backrest. Do not that I am the second owner of my bike and I do not know if the previous owner had one installed or not. There was no evidence to suggest that the holes were drilled out, but, that is still inconclusive.

Ugh -- I am quite jealous. I lived up there for a few years... a few years ago and have been itching to get back ever since... I have attempted to plan 3 separate trips on my RSV up there but other things got in the way. I used to do a lot of camping up in that area... well... lots of places around the U.P. actually. Anyway, glad you had a good trip and experience a part of the country that not many people get to! :thumbsup2:

Okay -- I understand where you are coming from and your phraseology there.

Curious about your perspective: How do you figure that 'proves' anything? The position of the center of gravity is one of MANY variables that are not even close to being independent... From a scientific standpoint, from what they showed in the video there is hardly enough data for anything to be considered conclusive other than this stuff happens and that the effects of increased weight and rider position are clear but the actual source and mechanism(s) responsible are far from being explained...

Major bummer about the wind ending things early but looks like you had some good weather at least (based on a few of those pictures). So how did the new Vic do for that long haul?

So there are some bolts that hold the rear coil mounting bracket in place or is there some other magic way of accessing the rear coils? I got under my bike last night to try to troubleshoot some running issues I have been having and see the nightmare of getting anything but a trained squirrel up there... ---- ### UPDATE: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showpost.php?p=775080&postcount=8 Found the post 'Southbound' referred to. Thanks.

If you figure something out, please share the working solution. Please NO pictures...

Good info, thanks! I know my patch cables need to be replaced after 1-2 months. Irritates the bageebers out of me because they are $40.00/each. Well, the J&M warranty covers my replacements until the warranty period runs out and I have to buy another set. Still, it would be nice if my cables would last longer than they do. I have not investigated the cables on the bikes in a while though but thanks to your post here, I will go ahead and do that next time I have my tank off.

First place I would check is the 30A Main fuse which is located behind the plastic cover that resides next to where the passenger's left ankle would be if they had their feet on the floorboards. While you are in there, check the wiring to that main relay. That is at least where I would start since you say your battery is fully charged.

Not true at all. There should be no 'clicking' AT ALL. Mine did that until I pulled the tank off and looked to see how my cables were run. One of the ignition coil wires was near my intercom wire; once I moved that and had them routed like they were supposed to be, I have no ticking at all -- even with my IC turned all the way up to 20. Clean the radio/IC connections (the ones inside the fairing AND under the passenger seat). Check and re-route your audio cables AWAY from the ignition coil wires and you should be in good shape. As for the poor audio, have you tried switching your cables with the passenger cable -- maybe the low audio is a patch cable issue Also, make sure you note the volume control on the passenger arm rest -- that give the passenger a secondary way to turn down the volume. Now that my cables are run properly and the connectors are clean, I routinely run with the IC somewhere between 10-12 with NO TICKING at all and I can hear the passenger loud and clear.

Note that there are only TWO over flow hoses for the carbs -- one for each bank and the float bowels on the front/back [left/right depending on how you have them oriented] are paired off, so you only really need two. The only time you should have fuel coming out of those is if you have a float stuck or maybe if something is really clogged. I imagine SOMEWHERE on this site, there are some pictures of where these hoses are supposed to be and routed to. I will look to see if I can find some of mine when I had it apart, but I think I only have pictures of my carbs off the bike. I too wish there were some good diagrams available somewhere - but, I guess this is all we have. If you have a leaky drain, it could be as simple as back the drain screw out a little bit and re tighten it as maybe some crap got built up and the screw vibrated loose or something. Anyway - I hope it is something simple, quick and inexpensive to figure out.

Ha - Lucky you having a panel INSIDE the house. I thin it is the silliest thing to have the panel outside for safety during electrical issues AND home/homeowner safety... but that is a different thing all together. You are absolutely right in that a direct hit (especially with the positive lightning we have here on the higher-altitudes plains opposed to the standard negative lighting that occurs most other places) anything in the way is beyond a 'crispy critter'. No amount of butter will save that toast. What I was referring to about unplugging things has more to do with minimizing damage due to power surges, brown outs, flickers etc from fluctuations in the grid caused by the nearby electrical storm. Since many modern devices are still 'powered up' when in 'standby', those are the ones that I would say are best to unplug since turning them 'off' is not physically disconnecting the power. For the things like furnace, I flip that off [sometimes] since it automatically cycles when regaining power -- to minimize the number of times it cycles and to hopefully avoid any issues by rapid power-cycling. I do not usually flip the breaker to my refrigerator/freezer but I do have it plugged into a high quality single surge protector that would hopefully help prevent some of those minor fluctuations from killing it (again, rapid power cycling due to rapid loss and regaining of power will not be saved by a surge protector but physically disconnecting the power will keep it from cycling). If I am actually home and there are more than two power flickers, I do usually unplug the fridge until the storm passes to avoid any unnecessary power cycling of the unit itself. Last summer, we had a really bad storm that killed some computers in my lab [the only ones that were not plugged into an UPS] and our building was not hit directly, but the fluctuations in the grid reek havoc on the electronics. Very low probability but rather high impact... especially with a lab full of high dollar electronics or a house with a few thousand worth of appliances and devices... Cheap security if you ask me. If my house gets a direct hit, I have a lot more to worry about than my fridge and some electronics... such as putting out the fire and structural damage.

You have not really given us much to work with here in helping you. If you really have NOTHING -- meaning, lights, dash lights, horn, starter, radio, radio lights, etc etc the absolute first thing to check is the main 30A fuse [which is NOT in either of the other two fuse boxes]. Clean the battery terminals and check your cable connections. Trace the positive wire lead to the main 30A fuse and starter relay, check and clean those connections. Get a multi meter and check for power at one of the accessory plugs to see if your bike is getting power there. If the engine cut off (kill) switch is toggled into the 'stop' position, you will get everything except power to the starter when the starter button is pressed and power to the fuel pump. The "typical" mode of failure for the ignition switch is that the contacts fail when in the 'on' position, meaning that your radio lights will still function when the key is in the ACC position. Now, there are other ways for the ignition switch to fail (such as the connections under the tank) but if I would suspect a bad connection, bad battery or blown fuse main fuse before the ignition switch at this point. Checking to see if you get power by jumping the battery is a good check as well. (I know you said 'battery good' but what does that mean? How did you test the battery?) Again, a little more information in your posts should help us help YOU

Good advice! --- As an aside: Just curious - what are you having done with your seats and about how much is it running you? My driver seat is in need of a re-work and some of my estimates are between $150 and $200. I know NOTHING about upholstery other than I am not qualified to even attempt it...

If you post a picture of what you are looking at, it may help us identify to what exactly you are referring. To me it sounds like you might be talking about the float bowl drain hole and maybe the overflow that is missing a hose... Looking at the parts fiche, I see ALL of the carb parts available as separate pieces or the assembly as a whole. I use part$hark.c0m for quick reference. Often their prices are better than any where else as well. --- Some more information may be helpful in order for us to help you; such as... Have you had the carbs apart for a good inspection and cleaning? How many miles are on your bike? How often is it ridden? How long have you had it? Has it sat for a long time? Does it leak all the time? Only when hot? only when cold? only when running? etc...

Well - Not all places are cool like Texas and put the fuse boxes OUTSIDE the residence... Although during big storms, if there is any hint of a power surge, I do usually make sure things like the furnace/AC, refrigerator, computers, etc are switched off and/or unplugged BUT that does not do you any good if you are not home for the zap fest.

Wow -- so how much do you make off of this side business of yours? You know, selling a free product :stickpoke:

Or have roto-rooter on speed dial....

As all have recommended, checking the connections is improtant. In addition to "csdexter" question - when it fades in and out does it do it on ALL of the stations or just one. Is it ONLY FM or is it AM as well? Note there is a connection under the passenger seat for the FM antenna to the main radio amp.

This information is backwards. The wavelength of an FM wave (in the middle of the FM band) is on the order of 10 feet -- so an optimal FM antenna will be an integer multiple of quarter of the wavelength in order to induce the most electrical signal in the metal rod (dipole antenna via resonance). So a quarter-wave length antennas are used which puts the length right around 2.5 feet. (note there are plenty of ways around having a straight antenna -- for example some do use a coil near the bottom of the antenna to add some "length" to the rod without actually extending the antenna height itself) The average wavelength for the AM band is nearly two orders of magnitude larger at ~980 ft (for 1000 kHz). Obviously a dipole antenna is COMPLETELY impractical for the dipole (straight rod) arrangement and therefore a coil antenna is used and generates the current in the antenna by inducing the current in a loop of wire instead of inducing resonances in a rod. Note the following: Frequency and wavelength are related by the speed in which they travel. For radio waves (EM radiation), they travel at the speed of light. So with 'air' as the medium (electrical permittivity of air ~1) we have the following: speed of wave=wavelength x frequency Speed of light = wavelength x frequency --> wavelength = C/frequency Furthermore: AM frequency is ~600 to 1600 kHz (0.6 MHz to 1.6 MHz) and FM is ~88 to 108 MHz Speed of light in 'air' is 2.99 x 10^8 m/s (9.81 x 10^8 ft/sec) AM Wavelength at 1.0 MHz is: (2.99x10^8 [m/s])/(1.0x10^6 [s^(-1)])= 299 [m] ~ 980 [ft] FM Wavelength at 98 MHz is: (2.99x10^8 [m/s])/(98x10^6 [s^(-1)])= 3.1 [m] ~ 10.0 [ft]

Remember that the fuel pump does not ALWAYS cycle when you turn the key on. If the float bowls are full the pump won't cycle at all. So just because you do not hear it when you turn the key on does not really mean it is not working... You say your bike sat for two weeks and you tried to start it without the choke and hit had a hard time. In my opinion, that is highly inconclusive... You can test your fuel pump by opening one of the carb drains or simply disconnecting the fuel line from the carbs and run it into a jug to see if it pumps or not. Granted this is not 100% conclusive either as if it pumps that does not rule out an intermittent problem but it would be a place to start.