yamtom

Hi, Ive used that very same brake fluid, I used mine in the brake system, but dont know why it would be a problem for the clutch use also. It seems to work just fine.

I saw your statement about recumbent bike and was hoping someone knows about recumbent motorcycles. I ve ridden recum bicycles for twenty years now off and on. I have a bit of a collection of them now. The bicycle is good for slowly excercising your knee, but,, and this is a big but,, no pun intended,, recumbent pedalling tends to be harder on the knees than regular upright cycling. The seat back, tends to allow overpowering the knee when climbing hills. Since you appear to be talking about an excercise bike, you prolly wont be doing much of that. Take it easy on the knees, and good luck with the surgery. I had one knee replaced myself, and prolly wouldnt do it again unless absolutely necessary. I never had to take so many meds prior to surgery , as you described though. My replaced knee, seriously hurt for two yrs , more than it did before replacement. Probable nerve damage during replacement. If anyone knows about a recumbent motorcycle, lets all hear about it, and I am not talking chopper at all, I mean something similar to the Dan Gurney bike, but with a multicylinder engine.

Mine started whining bad about the first fifty degree ride here, I think I will try Scotts thing first, then maybe go with the grease zerk if Scotts doesnt work for mine. Maybe pull the inner cable til I can get Scotts tried, since I dont want to do damage.

Congratulations on your weight loss and wow, no pain at all, I sure hope that keeps up. Ive struggled with my weight too, I had a milder form of the surgery, I assume that yours was the bypass. Mine didnt work so hot, I am pretty much at my original weight, but have lost a bit in the last year since I became diabetic.

Hi, Georgefix on ebay has astronomical ebay feedback but I dont see any full zoot actual carb kits in his catalog, but there are auctions for , po boy carb kits, needles and seats, diaphragms and slides and carb boots. I have used him before a few times, for xs11 parts, and zuki 11 carb parts, and he is good, and he mails stuff right away, and is available on the phone, although, I dont have his number any more.

Hi All, My buddy has an 84 venture, he traded for it and it had squeaky rear brake so he put new pads in. He tried and tried to get the brakes bled. I personally read every first gen brake bleeding problem here and on the other list trying to help him. It turns out, that he thinks the problem was, , GET THIS, the brake pedal had little to no free play in it, the footpegs were put on the most forward location, once he moved the pegs and brake pedal back one notch, the brakes bled just fine thank you. He finally had noticed that the brake adjuster was at the very end of its travel so , having everything else fail, he moved it back and tried bleeding it. He is theorizing ,sp, that the master cyl was pulled past its proper travel, therefore stopping any actual brake bleeding. This is the first time that I have heard of this on this and the other list, so I will be posting this as a theoretical possibility so others may know what happened. I would appreciate comments from anyone else who has had this problem as well as anyone who knows for absolute sure that this ,,theoretical assumption is a possibility.

Very sorry to hear this happened, my condolences and prayers for the family.

My granddaughter just had the same problem with her Chevy, and the engine was blown, a head gasket was blown, fix it quick before there is more damage eh?? Hate to see you lose the engine on that. Her car is now scrap due to the fact that there are no 3.1 engines available in scrapyards in Michigan. It seems the cash for clunkers used up all the scrapyard gems around here.

haha, laffs on me, I guess I will check the dates here on

All of the above suggestions are good ones, check them all out, and let us know what you find. Its easiest in the long run to check one thing at a time, then test to see if that cures the problem. Here are three more things to check along with all the above. I have heard that bowl gaskets can sometimes be a little bit too big , and the float can get caught on them. I personally, trim the bowl gasket back to a minimum, very judiciously and check the float to see any possible marks where it could be rubbing. I have also heard that casting flash on the sides of floats can interfere so if you have plastic floats and they have casting flash on them, use sandpaper or whatever to clean them up and get them smooth. Also, floats can have pinholes and actually end up with gas inside of them , causing them to sink and allow a high level of gas, take the float out, drop it in a pan of boiling water and see if the high heat causes the thing to offgas any air bubbles, if it does, replace that float if its plastic, or solder it shut after you get all the fluid drained out if its metal. When taking the float out, be extremely careful not to put excess pressure on the posts of the float of the carb when removing the pin since that pin can break if you put a lot of pressue on it and the pins tend to hang up, use a sidecutters to grasp the head of the pin, and gently hammer the sidecutters to remove the pin. Be very careful not to put excess pressure on the post. There are homebuilt tool s that can be made to also eliminate any side pressure on posts, these are on the order theoretically of bicycle chain tools where one part of the tool holds the post steady while a movable pin is turned to push the pin out . Also, I have trimmed those pins down once out with sandpaper to smooth them out thus making them a few thousandths smaller making them slip out easier for next time. Other than what the other guys say, this is all I can think of at the moment.

Hi Bk, I will try the grounding wire test for the oil wire n sending unit tomorrow. I knew about the level state for the oil level, I have it level and its between the hash marks perfectly, almost perfectly filling half the site glass. Ive already cleaned out the air box, it had just a bit of oil in it, my pcv is vented to atmosphere so there wont be pressure buildup . I would love to go with synthetics, Ive looked at the rotella t6 and actually have some t5 in stock here, but am not going to use it. I am a bit paranoid about synthetics being reported to increase oil leaks, not being appropo for older engines, reports of slipping starter clutches, and also slipping clutches in drivetrain. Amsoil claims that the drivetrain clutches are safe with amsoil, and I like the idea of the amsoil being better at preventing rust with our long layups up here and my short trip riding. Fifteen mins at a time is a longer ride for me, and can take two or three of those a day in summer. If I can be sure that the starter clutches as well as the drivetrain clutch will be ok with amsoil, I am sure that it will be a bit thinner and that would enhance drain back too. Brake lite, I have checked both reservoirs, and the rear one may have started off a little low but I topped it off. Indeed, that fill plug is quite a bear, and I didnt like all the muscle I had to put into loosening it. I didnt use antisieze on it, but if its safe to do so , I will get the plug off and do that now so it s not a problem in the future. I will do the wire check too, on the brake cyls to see which one is misbehaving. That should be easy enuff thats for sure. Is it likely that a fluid change outright, by bleeding new fluid in would correct the float thing from sticking? I will do that in any case when I get to it, just curious. So I think you are warning me that the left front brake will be a problem to bleed, if there is no air in the system now, that banjo up top should not need to be disturbed, ok, correct? I do intend to go to progressive springs, and am curious , as to whether the anti dive needs to be taken off, or maybe it doesnt, in any case, its worthless on my bike now. Does it have to be removed when going to progressives or can it just sit there doing nothing as it is now. I am also interested perhaps in separating the brake system out to normalize it, that is front controls both fronts and rear just the rear. I have a lot of riding experience and am sure I can handle both fronts together with no lockup problem. How much changing needs to be done, I know the front master will have to be changed and all the front lines too. I do have an xs750 master cylinder around here, and I think that will work since it controls both fronts on the 750. Can the rear mc line to the front just be blocked off, or does the proportioning valve need to be changed somehow? Karl, I will be sure to inspect the wiring before I worry too much about oil return. Thanks TomSmith bkuhr View Public Profile Send a private message to bkuhr Send email to bkuhr Find all posts by bkuhr Add bkuhr to Your Contacts Add bkuhr to Your Ignore List #3 Yesterday, 07:03 PM MiCarl 1989 Venture Royale Supporting Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: [ame="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Livonia%20%28Metro%20Detroit%29"][/ame] Livonia (Metro Detroit) There are great big wide open passages from the crankcase to the top of the heads for the cam chains to pass through. Very unlikely you're ending up with all your oil on top. More likely a flaky switch a worn wire that is grounding intermittently. __________________ 1989 Venture Royale 1982 XJ650 (Sold)

Hi, Ive searched for this problem but didnt find any specific info. I have an 83, with twenty thousand miles. My oil light comes on, even though my oil level is correct. Ive done the cc vent to atmosphere, and that cured the burping thing that was going on. The oil light starts out, off at a cold idle, but will usually come on, after a few minutes riding, then will go off again usually after about twenty mins or less of riding. It will also tend to come on, if I corner and lean a lot. I dont ride it hard , so heavy acceleration isnt turning it on. I think, perhaps there is a cause and its thus, while cold idling, the bike has lots of oil in the sump, so the lite if off, after thirty seconds or so, some of that oil is up in the engine and since its cold, doesnt drain back to the sump correctly. After the twenty or so minutes, the oil is so hot that it drains back quickly thus curing the oil lite. If this is true, then I would benefit from putting in a lighter oil, but it appers that there is general agreement that 15 forty diesel oil is about what I would want. Would there be any benefit to running a cleaner of some kind in the oil, just prior to changing it, I dont even know if this exists, but am asking and if you know a brand name lets hear it. I have also, read about re soldering the cmu, since I dont know about that,are there any instruction on line on how to do that. I actually also have the brake lite coming on rarely. I know there is plenty of brake fluid in it so I assume that is a re solder item also. I also have read something about checking the sending unit and wiring for the oil level light. If someone can tell me how to use the MM to check it I would very much appreciate it , or better yet send me to the url to check it is. Thanks in advance guys, I am pretty hep on how to work on the xs11 bikes, but this venture is quite new to me.

I cant believe the ability of you guys to know how to fix these things, even stuff thats off list. After reading all your posts, if that thing isnt found by doing all those things, then do the gas cap rebuild is what I say.

Keep the power of prayer going everyone, I will pray for David and his family also. Its nice to have the updates , thanks Squidly.

It turns out that my bike has the rear shroud already removed by PO, I didnt even know that existed.

Hi, The shroud sits directly over the valve covers in the front, it is heavier black plastic, maybe three steenths inch thick, ten inches front to back, it has a triangular look when looking at it from the sides, a coolant hose large, runs thru it and its split along the length of it so it can be put in from the right side of the bike and fitted around the large coolant hose. Its prolly fifteen inches long , and just sits loosly sp atop the front valve cover bolts. If you want a pic, I will try to get you one tonight, will need your email addy since I dont know how to put a pic on this site. Send it to private message.

Hey Gary, Is that a complete vmax engine or did you bolt some trim on it and paint the rest. I am gonna leave the shroud on the bench for now, prolly will regret it when the temps hit ninetys again next year. Ive been stymied on the compression test since my tester doesnt have the right adaptor. When I get the adaptor, at least I wont make all the mistakes I made today when doing the job, sheeeesh. It turns out PO had put one champion plug in, and the rest were ngks, little ole me didnt know about the need for diff size wrenches, until I realized that I had a mixed bastage set of plugs. Basically wasted a day running around before my kuzz fortuitously came over and saw what the problem was. I put it back together and am going to find an adaptor now. I made one for honda plugs back in the old days, but cant find it now. Is it possible to take apart an old plug, and use the base of it , put some threads in where the porcelain was and use that for an adaptor like I did in my Honda days? That thing worked quite well for being a hacked plug.

Hi All, Thanks Dingy, what does that shroud deflect air around and is it important to have it there if your lowers are kept off and its in the way of seeing a lot of things in there. I saw that it sat on the valve cover bolts. I did lift it up, but had a lot of trouble with my sockets, not realizing that I had to use the special yamaha plug socket or honda socket or thinwall whatever socket to remove the front left plug. I read about that after I spent an hour overheating my hands trying to get the last plug out so I could take the comp with the engine hot, so much for that concept. Not to make this a whine or anything, but I have four sockets that fit fine on the rest of the plugs, but that one, no way. I like things simple, very simple, I may have the wrong bike here kuzz plastic shrouds dont offer me much of the motorcycle look. Does it deflect incoming moisture from rain off the plug wires or something?? Anyone else?? I have another question about that little box, that sits just aft of the shroud, and below the battery box. It appears to have four vac lines going into it. My manual shows it as some kind of a collector, is that part of the so called yics system or some kind of gas vapor collector or what. Also, there is a tube that was folded up, just aft of that little box, it came down, and to the front of the engine, and has a small rounded yet oblong case between pieces of the tube, I assume that it is a gas overflow tube since it seemed to smell a bit of gasoline, but maybe its a battery overflow tube. If you can fill me in, and on the importance of any of this stuff being kept on the bike it would be helpful.

Hi, I am taking a compression test, and have removed a plastic shroud, that sits above the front cylinders. Its about a foot long, and has a large diameter hose running thru it allowed by a slit in it. The shroud sits on top of the valve cover bolts, this is an 83 model. Is this shroud necessary to replace or what. It sure complicates taking the left front plug out. I realize that maybe its there to help direct air thru the radiator or whatever, if you can let me know what its purpose is, and if it can be left out, it would be appreciated. My bike has the fairing lowers and side covers left off the bike if that matters.

Last year we had one in my home town. About one am, for whatever reason a local twenty year old went into town way over one hundred, on a sport bike, and slammed into the back of a womans car that had lawfully pulled out of a side street. He was beheaded. Its a town of only about five thousand, with three stop lights total and he ended it all at the center one. I can recall as a young man, hearing about some fool that ran thru town in the middle of the night at top speed, well here was one of those that didnt make it. As it happened, I was in town that week, and some wags thought it could have been me, NOT QUITE !!!!!!

Hi, Since I am a new Venture rider also, I wont offer any venture specific advice. Most of what I know about carb synch was learned on the xs11 list. Ive set up four bikes in the last year doing it in this manner, I am a little shy on starting on the venture. Thank goodness its running fine right now as I bought it. A single gauge can be rigged to synch multiple carb setups or so I have read. I personally tried this method and found it didnt work so hot for me, but that could have been my lack of experience with rigging tubings in complicated configs., and the fact that I gave up before I glued the tubings in place. In any case, fish tank tubing can be bought and rigged in such a way that individual carbs vaccum can be turned on and off, thereby allowing one vac gauge to be used in sequence, to do all the carbs. To further elaborate on this, I went to a pet store and bought small tubings , elbows, shutoffs , and what I will call manifolds that multiple tubes can be connected to. I think I paid about ten bux for the works. With imagination, the tubings are rigged such that the shutoffs isolate one carb to be set at a time , allowing the synch to take place in rotation, using one gauge. I personally didnt have much luck with this, I think due to vac leaks within the system. I would reccomend , gluing the tubings to the elbows and shutoffs and manifolds connections to stop leaks from interfering. Ive found seal all to be handy for jobs like that, found at most auto parts stores and hardwares. Also, since you didnt mention it, a bench synch could be done to more accurately set your carbs . The guys on the xs11 list use a small wire found on bread bags to seal them as an appropriately sized wire for that purpose. The slides are adjusted such that the tiny wire can be barely removed from under the slide, you just adjust all the carbs to the same ,,,,wire slipping capability,,,,,, and you have a reasonably well running bench synch. I think that wire size is about one mm, but I think you could use other sizes, just adjust your overall idle screw setting to accomodate it. Since I dont think you mentioned it, is your idle speed screw on the carb set , can it be adjusted to lower the idle. Is it possible that your choke is in fact on, but not hooked to the cable or something?? Is it possible that your throttle cables are out of position and pulling inappropriately on the inner wire?? Is it possible that the forks are turned such that the throttle cable is putting tension on the inner wire?? If you were close by, I would have you bring it over and we could puzzle it all out together but VB is long honking way from midMichigan.

This was an easy one, I found that the oil was overfilled, it occupied the entire window. I drained two filters worth of oil out, it was midwindow at that point, buttoned it up and took it for a ride. No hiccups at all , a bit of a difference from the last few rides. I did however, have problem with the oil warning area flashing on and off. I will add four ounces back to the oil level and see if that helps with that. Thanks guys.

I think they call that little hole the spooge hole over at xs11 s channel 11. It is easily overlooked but the eleven guys say its vital to be cleaned.

Hi, I think it goes for everyone that dealers that pull this sXXt ought to be gone. I had a dealer in Green Bay Wisconsin pull similar skullduggery on me , TEAM, is their namo. I bought a bike, an 07 in 09 as new with zero miles. I bought the extra four years warranty, later on the warranty people sent me a paper saying the warranty started in March of 09, when I bought the bike July 3,09. Here again, this bike was supposedly bought out from a bankrupt dealer and Zuki required them to start the warranty in March contingent on getting these low cost blowout bikes. If I would have been told all this , pre purchase, I would have accepted it, but no, they had to let this go and hope that I wouldnt notice or would simply accept their bs as being ok. After catching people lying at the dealership and hearing every possible excuse, and using the Michigan AG as a reference a couple of times, they extended my warranty another year at their expense. They do sell Yammies, even though I bought a Boulevard. We really would like to know this dealers name, even though, I am sure he isnt in my area, others may be saved a big hassle, perhaps even with this dealer by telling him they are onto him from this sorry episode.

I dont think you said what the leakdown numbers are on the other cyls, but if they are ok, only one cyl needs the work. This is info that Ive heard over the years, that a complete valve job may just hasten the end for the engine due to much improved compression causing blowby to start on engines with already significant wear. Just the one cyl should have its valves done is my opinion, maybe that can get the costs down a bit. Lets hear it from you all, what say ye?