frankd

The temperature gauge sender is on the right side and as I remember a little above the junction of the bottom of the right fairing half and the lower. You probably still have a working fan though.....it's controlled by a separate switch near the temperature sender.

I think it depends on how rich or lean you have your idle mixture screws set and how warm it is that determines if you need your choke (enrichner) to start. My 83 will start fine if it's above 80F without the choke. Below that no go. My 89 needed the choke unless it was 90 degrees F. outside when I had the idle mixture screws set on the lean side. It also had a lean bog in it if I turned the choke off before I moved the bike. The last time I adjusted the carbs, I set them a bit richer and now it starts great and responds properly to throttle input. The moral of the story, if you're having trouble getting your bike to fire and you can't turn on the chokes, it will help if you turn all 4 idle mixture screws counter clockwise about a turn or so.

On my 83, it always was a bit hard to start when it got rained on unless it had relatively fresh spark plugs. It also was a bear to start when it got down to 35 degrees or so. It was also hard to start if the battery was a bit less than perfect. When I bought my 89, I trailered it home and it was about 25 degrees out when I got home. I was all set to push it into the garage, but I turned the choke on, hit the starter, and it started immediately. When the battery was getting real weak, the bike still fired right up even if it was barely turning over. My brother's been riding the 83 for a while now, and the TCI took a dump. We replaced it with one from a later Venture (and re-did the vacuum advance source) and now my brother says it starts up immediately no matter what.

Yeah, plugs could do that. If there is unburned fuel sitting on the piston, when the motor fires and the RPM rises, it would throw the fuel onto the plugs and drown them. Then they'd dry out and you could restart it and it would foul itself again. Pull the plugs and take an air hose and blow out the cylinders. Frank

Kevin, Barb and I send our prayers for you, Chris, and your Mom. Hopefully next year we'll see you two enjoying the bike again. Frank

I've used the same method that 'Puc' mentioned, and it works great. On my 83, after a Chicago winter's snooze, my 83 lost compression in all 4 cylinders and wouldn't start. Well actually when I went to start it for the first time one spring, it almost started, and then died. I went to crank it again, and it spun real fast and you could hear that the compression was low. I made up a spark plug adapter and pressurized each cylinder and fond that all 4 had at least one valve leaking bad--some exhausts, some intakes. Now this bike had about 80,000 miles on it, but when I stored it in the fall, it ran great. I pulled one of the valve covers and measured the valve clearance---on some of the valves it was way more than expected. The only way that the clearance could increase that I thought of was to have some debris between the valve and the seat causing the valve not to close completely, and leak. I applied full compressor air pressure to each cylinder and cranked the engine over, hoping to blow the junk out. My compression increased a bit, so I decided to put the plugs back in and give it a try. It tried to start now, but couldn't quite get going. The more I tried though, the more it tried. Sometimes it would pop out of the intake or exhaust valves. Finally I got it started, but it ran poorly. I left it running and belching and went into the house to tell Barb that I'd finally got it running, and when I came back out, it was running a little better. In fact it slowly kept on getting better and better until it was running great. I put it all back together and rode it to work the next day. It ran great. To a lessor degree, the bike did the same thing again every time I let it sit for a month or so, but usually only on one cylinder so I could get it started OK, and by the time it was out of the garage it was running fine. When I first bought the bike, I used leaded gas in it so I figured that it was pieces of lead deposits coming loose and fouling a valve. I brought the up to my dealer and he suggested running a dose of "Ring Free" through. I did and the bike never lost compression again. Now it's got about 140,000 miles on it and the heads have never been off. Two more things.....did you have the throttle open when you measured the compression? If not, you problem could be as easy as needing to sync. the carbs. Another way you can find leaking valves is to pull the heads and remove the camshafts. Prop the heads so that they're are level with the chambers looking up. Fill each cylinder with gasoline and see if the chambers stay full or if a valve leaks. Frank

Here is a place where you can look up the tow ratings of trucks http://www.trailerlife.com/trailer-towing-guides/ Barb and I are also looking for a camping rig that'll let us take the Venture with us. We looked at some toy haulers, but some do have the bike sleeping with you, and the thought of gas fumes in the trailer have just about talked us out of a toy hauler. Most of them have pretty basic living quarters also. I'd have to have one with an air tight door between the compartments. Anybody seen one? We're also looking at diesel pickups, but the newer ones with all the air pollution equipment on them have a lot of expensive parts that need frequent replacement (egr coolers, oil coolers particle screens, DPF pumps and sensors). I wish a gas engine would be strong enough because I have a low mileage E-350 with a V-10. It's rated for 10,000# and that won't be enough. Charles---OK on your 07 stick shift 6.0. These make great tow rigs, except they have a couple of flaws that need to be addressed. By 07 they solved some of the injection issues, but the head gaskets still cause problems. I guess it stems from not having enough head bolts per cylinder to keep the heads from moving around. Here's a web site that I found that talks about all the PowerStrokes. http://powerstrokehelp.com/ This guy seems to know a lot about PowerStrokes.

No gaskets yet....decided to paint the 'spare' bedroom and of course I had to Spackle a few places on the walls and ceiling. That means that now I'm waiting for 'mud' to dry also!

When I read this topic, I thought I'd be way too busy to tell what I've been doing, but...... I went to put a new stator in my 89, and when I reached into my parts drawer for a new gasket, what I thought was a spare is actually for the other side (clutch), so now I'm waiting for the new gaskets to arrive. For the next few days I'll be wasting time and join right in.

If you end up on I-40 just west of Amarillo, TX, there are some half buried Cadillacs on the north side frontage road. It's free to see and might be a good place to stretch your legs. Of course, the western half of Colorado is great to see. Santa Fe NM has a lot to see---if you go there make sure you walk through the church with the staircase that's near the town square. Old Town Albuquerque is good to see--it's just north of Rte. 66. Remember there have been fires out there and things are a little smoky.

First Generation Ventures (which is what yours is) use 5 throttle cables-- two to open the throttle, two to close the throttle, and one for the cruise control. You need to find out which one is broken before you start taking too much apart. Pull the tank cover and the left side cover, and probably also the left side fairing lower. On the left side you will see where all 5 cables join together. Rotate the throttle and you will be able to determine which cable is broke. If you find the cable between the junction point and the carburetors, you won't have to disassemble much to replace it. Like Cimmer said, download the manual so you will see how things are laid out and how to adjust the cables when you get the new one installed. Let us know where yours broke so we can inspect ours!!!! Frank D.

cowpuc, Yes, the test for current draw that you suggested will work in the negative battery lead also. In fact, that's a safer place to do the test. FrankD

I'd leave it at 40# cold. The tire's manufacturer has measure how much the pressure will rise when they suggested the cold pressure. If you lower the pressure, the tire will get hotter, and that's not good.

The 1N400* parts are diodes, not transisitors or resistors. The asterisk refers to a group diodes that are identical except for their peak inverse (backwards) voltage rating. Any of them would be fine to replace the glass diodes in your TCI. You may want to use 1N4002 for example if you can find them easily. If you found a 1N4005, that'd be fine also, but it'd probably cost a few pennies more. I think that most of the diodes that corrode were in the first years (83, 84 etc) and by the time they got the ones in the 1989's there was no more problem with these. Now that doesn't mean that the later TCI's didn't go bad, just that it isn't caused by corroded diodes. When the TCI in my 83 went out, the diodes were fine. As for the Ignitech, you can buy them direct from Ignitech, but you'll have to make up your adapter cables yourself. I've got the latest version of Dingy's software so if you buy one, let me know and I'll send it to you. The nice thing about Dingy's kits were that they contained everything you need to install the units. You will also need a new MAP sensor, but Dingy does talk about which one to use in his posts about the Ignitech. It is comforting to know that you have a 'spare' when you're far away from home. .

When I was putting my 89 back together (had to change the middle gear unit seal) when it came time to put the rubber boot that goes between the middle gear and the swing arm in, it didn't want to go back onto the middle gear, especially the inner (towards the center of the bike). The spring seemed to not want to stretch far enough, but I couldn't really get my hands on the inside portion. I decided to try it the 'other way', so I pulled the swing arm and put the boot on the middle gear. Then I put the swing arm back in and slid the rear of the boot over it. It wasn't easy, but it did go on. I've done this several times between replacing the 89's u-joint and fixing 2nd gear and changing the frame on the 83, and I think I previously had the boot on the swing arm and then put it on the middle gear. How do you get this on without using nasty words to scare it into submission?

My seal arrived last Wednesday. I guess they found one over here and I didn't have to wait quite as long.....no complaints. I pulled the middle gear and replaced the seal. After that was together, I flushed the brake and clutch fluid and on Friday afternoon the guy doing my seats and arm rests finished them. The new covering looks good and the lady that re=did the foam in the seat knew what she was doing. Both my seat and Barb's are very comfortable. Between Saturday and Monday we've put about 270 miles on it, and everything looks dry......no oil leak. I didn't install the new Avon on the front. The old one probably has a good 4,000 miles left on it so I can wait a little while. I hope that this new seal lasts longer than 3 years and 20,000 miles. I wish I could have found a reason for the quicker than expected failure, but everything looked great. The yoke that goes into the seal was replaced when I did the u-joint 3 years ago. In cas it had a sharp spot thatI couldn't feel I polished the surface with 600 grit paper.

I had the same problem with mine and ended up going back to the old halogen lamp. I installed the LED lamp when I lived in an area that had a lot of strong radio stations and didn't notice the problem until I moved half way between Nashville and Chattanooga. The noise isn't being introduced into the radio via the bike wiring. I ran my LED light on an external power supply and the interference was still there. I 'was gonna' try shielding the control module for the LED lamp, but haven't gotten to it yet. BTW, my LED driving lights do not interfere at all.

Something you can do to make the job a little easier is to put a 3/4" or 1" piece of wood under the left pad of the center stand. This will tilt the bike to the right and even without draining the oil, you don't make a big mess when you pull the cover.

Barb and I were down in Mississippi and as I was passing a logging truck on the Interstate, he had a back tire on the tractor explode. I saw shrapnel fly by on both sides of my head, and I was certain that a big chunk of rubber had hit Barb. I was sure glad to hear that it had missed her. Puckerrrrrrrrrrr.

Steve, I don't have too much oil in it, and the crankcase vent is not plugged. Friday I pulled the rear valve cover and checked the valves and when the mail man came by the house Friday afternoon, he had a package that have the valve cover gasket in it (also the O ring for the middle gear output assy.) so Saturday I installed the valve cover. Today I flushed and changed the brake fluid for the clutch and both brakes. When the mail came today, there was an envelope that had the seal that I've been waiting for in it. Tomorrow, I'll pull the output assy. and install the new seal. My seats should be ready in a day or two, so I should be riding soon. I'm also thinking that because I've got all the Tupperware off the sides that it'd be a good time to check the carb. synchronization, especially if I'm waiting on the seat. I haven't checked that for several years and it feels like it needs a touch up.

Well, it's been a while since I've worked on mine, but....The air line that goes down the right side of the bike goes to the rear shock, and the front suspension air line goes down the left side. Yes, you need to fill up the front first because when you pump up the rear you need much higher pressure, so the there is so much pressure on the compressor side of the front solenoid (air manifold) that when you hit the button to raise the front pressure, it jumps up as soon as the solenoid opens. I think there are 3 solenoids, one connects the front to the air manifold, another to connect the rear suspension to the manifold. Only one is picked up at a time and when you have the key in the ACC position and push the front or rear buttons, you can tell which is which. The 3rd solenoid bleeds pressure off of the air manifold when it is picked up. When it's dropped out, it closes the vent route. When the compressor runs, it raises the pressure in the air manifold. This pressure goes to which ever system you have selected. If you open up the CLASS system, dry out the desicant in your microwave. It'll change colors (to blue I think) when it's dry. You'll probably see that it's pink when you look the first time, or it's absorbed all the moisture that it can. I just read the problem you're having with the front changing air pressure when you select the rear. Follow the line that goes down the left side of the bike (to forks), and see which solenoid it connects to. There are two ways for it to be connected to the rear air hose when you have the rear selected on the operating panel. 1) The operating panel is picking up both the front and the rear solenoids when you select the rear. You can measure and see if you have voltage across the coil when the rear is selected, or disconnect the wiring to the coil (I don't remember if the solenoids have connectors that can be unplugged) or put you hand on it and have somebody else push the Front and Rear buttons. When it picks up (and opens the air path) you should be able to feel it. If it's not being energized when the rear is selected you probably have problem 2)The air valve doesn't seal when the solenoid is not picked up. I've never taken one of these solenoids apart, so I don't know if they can be repaired or not. If it can't, you probably have another class system that you can you can pull the front solenoid and install it on this one. You could install Progressive fork springs, and disconnect and plug the air line to the front forks. Then you would only use the class for the rear suspension.

I received an email from the place I ordered the parts from that said that the seal was on back order and had an ETA or 6/3. Sounds like there are none here and it has to come from Japan.

My oil leak is coming from the middle gear unit, right from the output shaft. This seal is only 3 years and 20,000 miles old. My universal joint fell apart 3 years ago, and when I replaced it I also replaced both yokes and the seal. I've got the new seal and O ring ordered, so when they come, I'll take the output shaft unit off the bike and tear it down. I'll inspect the yoke for any defects that'd effect the seal. Yesterday I got my new rear Avon mounted on the wheel and to keep me busy until the parts come in I'll check the rear cyclinder's valves clearance (I recently check the front cyclinders' valve clearance) and also replace the brake fluid in the clutch and brakes. Bill, Rotella shouldn't leak any faster than gas engine oil, in fact it should leak slightly less because it hold's it's viscosity better. The smell should be about the same also. If you have a burnt oil smell, it's probably hitting the exhaust system somewhere, either from the valve covers, or from somewhere under the middle gear cover which could leak onto the exhaust chamber. Frank

One other advantage to having headsets plugged into the bike is that you can hear the radio better at highway speeds using the headphones. I don't use my CB very often, but when you're travelling with others that also have a CB, it's great to have bike to bike communications as long as you''re within about 2-3 miles of each other.

Saturday Barb and I went for a 50 mile ride and when we got home I had a couple of drips on the paper under the bike, and also fresh oil on the frame rail, but everything under the middle gear cover appears dry. So I took another look into the shaft drive boot, and on the very bottom it appears to be wet with fresh oil. I also see a small puddle of fresh oil sitting on a frame support underneath the boot. I intended to install a new rear tire while my upholstery was being renewed, so I'll also pull the swing arm and get a better look at the shaft that supports the universal joint. It looks like there is a good chance that I'll find that the seal is leaking. I had to replace my u-joint 3 years and 22,000 miles ago, and I replaced the seal then. I thought it would last longer than this so if it is the seal, I'll have to inspect everything carefully.