V7Goose

In direct response to your two questions - you almost certainly do have to remove the tank. But trust me, it is REALLY easy to do. When my bike was new and I knew nothing about it, I did successfully fish a power wire from the battery up through the left side of the tank and out the point at the steering neck where the main wire bundle exits without removing the tank, But quite frankly, I am still completely amazed that I was able to do that! Now that I know what is under there, I certainly would not risk even a nickle bet that it could be done. Goose

Look kids, I really don't want to get into a pissing contest with y'all, as it does not provide any value for all the other members of this site. But if you want to play the game, at least put some effort into it. The OP specifically said "the fuse box itself is not mentioned in the official Yamaha manual." So by his own words, he was actually looking at some documentation from Yamaha. Both the owner's manual and the shop manual do provide the information he claimed was not there. As to the "three" locations, you are correct in that the manual clearly identifies all three. HOWEVER, there are not three fuse boxes, just two. The OP specifically asked about the location of the "fuse box", and more importantly, he referenced a specific circuit that is in one of the boxes. Since there are only two fuse boxes, that is significant to the response he asked for. The third location is simply the single master fuse, so bringing that up just confuses the issue even more for someone who already cannot find the information about the location of the two fuse boxes. But it does provide complete information about the stock fuse locations on a 2nd gen, so I thank you for that. Enjoy your evening, Goose

That's sweet that you agree with the obvious, even if you want to be snide about it. Saying the information is not there is not helpful to anyone simply because it is wrong. Correcting wrong information is always helpful. In addition, telling them it is there is helpful because it tells them to RTFM, and anyone who WANTS to be helped (instead of simply hoping to be spoon fed) will find the information and learn - like being taught to fish.

No, not possible, IMHO. The only thing that can cause pulsing in brakes is the rotor/pads causing more pressure in part of the revolution, meaning the rotor must be warped or mounted wrong. I do not know what he did to clean things, but extra slippiness between the pads and the rotor can cause them to slide more and mask the pulsing. The normal use of the brakes would eventually wear off whatever was causing the extra slippiness and the pulse would return. Goose

Actually it is. Most people wear out a motorcycle tire (front or rear) from spending way too much time in a straight line (or not being skilled enough to actually lean it much in the corners). If you are doing lots of curves and hitting them hard enough to kill the chicken stripes, then you are using up the rubber on the sides of the tread instead of just the the center - this will give you anywhere between 25% to 75% MORE life in a tire, not less. I repeat my earlier assertion - if you cannot get more than 10,000 miles from a front tire on this bike, you have huge problems with the bike that need to be fixed. Goose

The owner's manual clearly identifies BOTH fuse box locations, both with descriptions and pictures. Goose

This is NOT a common problem, but it is absolutely possible to damage a rotor (fairly easily) during a tire change. Also very possible to not get a rotor mounted properly if it was removed. Just for reference, I always remove the front rotors for a tire change, but never the rear rotor - that is simply because my tire machine lets me mount the rear wheel with the rotor in place and down, but not the front wheel. I remove the front rotors simply to remove any possibility of damaging them during the tire change. To properly diagnose this, you should have a runout gauge so you can check for warp or poorly mounted rotors without having to re-mount the wheel. If the gauge shows any warp while spinning the wheel on the axle, remove the rotor and turn it one bolt hole, then try again. If the runout is the same amount, you can pretty much bet the rotor is warped. If the amount of runout changed, then continue trying to move the rotor one bole hole at a time and check for runout - you may find a position where it is within spec and all will be fine. When you get all done with this, remember to locktite the rotor bolts. And ALWAYS use a torque wrench every time you put the rotor on - the spec is only 17 ft lbs, and that is VERY light - once you over-torque any bolt, you ruin it and risk a future broken bolt! I will repeat this for clarity - if you ever even THINK you have over-torqued a bolt, it MUST be replaced - the damage is already done. You cannot simply loosen the bolt and torque it correctly. I use an air ratchet to remove and replace the rotors simply because there are so may bolts, but an air ratchet will instantly over-torque those bolts unless it is held very loosely, so be CAREFUL! Do not overlook the fact that brakes are life support systems - it does not pay to cut corners!!!! Goose

More air in the tire always reduces rolling resistance, but on a lightly loaded tire, the difference is minimal. The harder the tire, the easier it is to roll, but the rougher the ride. With your trailer fully loaded, inflate the tires just enough that you see only very minimal or no tire flex as you lift up a bit on the side of the trailer, then make sure both tires are at the same pressure. No matter how low that pressure is, you will be just fine. Goose

I wouldn't bother to pull the plugs again unless you are going to do a hot-read by killing the engine during the problem and pulling the plugs right there on the side of the road. If your problem is intermittent, the plugs will almost never show it unless it was happening exactly when the engine was shut off. I'm assuming you did a fingertip test on cold start long ago to verify that all jugs are hitting at idle, but that doesn't tell you anything about how well the spark is working under load and when hot - that is why I suggested the 3-cylinder runs to see if killing each cylinder in turn has the identical impact on the bike's performance. And you could still have a blocked passage in one of the carbs that is affecting how well it works - this is ESPECIALLY true with CV carbs which rely on differential air pressure on each side of the diaphragm to function. You did make sure the little o-ring is in place under the diaphragm cap on each carb, right? You can also get some idea if the diaphragms are workging properly by pulling off the air plenums on top of the carbs and reving the engine while watching the slides - not an exact test, of course, but if one slide is dogging it bad, it should be real obvious. It will be a lot easier to find the real problem if you can determine it is only affecting one cylinder than just the engine in general. How about your carb vent hoses - are they routed properly and not kinked or blocked? A CV carb cannot raise the slides if the vent is blocked. I have seen an occasional suggestion to rout the vent/overflow hoses down under the engine, and that is a very BAD idea - any change in air pressure or wind around the vent hoses will have dramatic effects on how a CV carb works. Do you have any problem exceeding 85 MPH? These bikes tend to run amazingly well on just three cylinders, and often a rider can't even tell, but they usually won't go much over 85 unless you have all four. The last thing I'll suggest is that you find a different Venture to test as a comparison. If you don't have any other members close enough to you that will help out, look for one on sale or find one at a dealer that you can test ride. This will give you a way to determine if your bike is really the dog you think it is. Goose

You still sound like you are only running on thee cylinders, at least at times. What have you done to verify they are all pulling hard? Have you inspected the diaphragms? When you changed the plugs, did they all look identical? Have you done anything with you pilot mixture screws? Have you checked compression and done a leak down test? Here is a relatively simple test that could help you pinpoint a problem cylinder, no matter what is causing it. Find a stretch of road about 5 miles long that is relatively straight and level so you can get similar results running both ways. Choose a specific gear and speed/throttle combination where you seem to find the worst problem, such as 4th/60/hard roll-on. Now make a couple of runs to concentrate on exactly how it feels and just exactly how you will conduct the test, such as exactly where and what speed you will start it, how long you will hold the throttle open, how many times you will repeat it in one run, etc. Once you are confident you can repeat the test and know what exactly to expect, stop at one end of your test track and pull one plug wire, then immediately repeat the test and concentrate on how it compares with the original runs on all four. Repeat this with each cylinder, looking for one that doesn't seem to hurt the test results quite as bad as the other three did. If you do find a particular jug that isn't pulling as strong as the others, we can start talking about what can cause it. Goose

Did you also have the CB on? There is a bug in the design that sometimes causes this behavior if you have both the Audio and CB on when you start the bike. If that is what is happening you can tell quckly by trying to adjust the volume of the radio (not the CB) - when you turn the volume knob, if you see a "c" in front of the volume number on the display and the volume of the radio does not actually change (the "c" means it is changing the CB volume even though you do not have the CB selected), that is the design bug. The fix is simply to turn off either the radio or the CB, then turn it back on. That problem does not happen every time you start the bike, and since both the radio and CB work, you would never even know it was happening unless you actually tried to change one of the settings. The other common cause of strange problems with the radio control head is bad pin contact in the plug inside the fairing. This is regularly discussed in threads on this site. The solution is to split the fairing and re-seat the round plugs on the right side of the radio (your left as you face the front of the bike). Unplugging and replugging them a couple of times will scrape the pin contacts and clear up the problem, and a light coating of dielectric grease on the contacts will prevent it from coming back. I think the control head plug is the red one, but if you are going to do this, best to do all of them. Goose

Unlike removing the strip (which can be troublesome), there is virtually never any problem with putting it back on. Do not hold it by the ends; just put it near the windshield and move it straight down into place. Don't know what else to tell you, since I have never seen a problem getting it in place... Goose

What you describe is absolutely not normal for this bike. Speeds do not make any difference - I can ride without hands at an actual 80 MPH (indicated 90) with no problems at all! D404 tires are not great, but not all that bad either, so they cannot be blamed unless one is defective or not beaded up right. There are a number of other things that can cause the problem, and steering head bearings are right up there - I find most new Royal Stars do have loose steering bearings before 10,000 miles. Other major causes are over inflated tires, uneven pressure in the forks, and not enough air in the rear shock. Bring the bike over and we'll check it out and talk about all you need to know with a Venture. Just bring some beer with ya! Absolutely not normal on a Venture. Goose

Just got home - ugly traffic in Dallas - 20 MPH and 105 degrees made the tail end of the ride real nasty! Other than that, it was a very productive day - 300 mile round trip with about 6 hours of bike work in the middle. It was great to meet you, and I'm glad you are happy with our results. Just blows my mind that Arlington Motorsports charged $800 freakin bucks to do nothing more than scrape the inside of the float bowls with a screwdriver! I hope everyone in the DFW area sees this and stays the hell away from those crooks! Hope to see you out on the road sometime, Goose

You do not pull anything off the inside except the screws. You pull off the outside of the fairing. We call it splitting the fairing. Start by removing the eight Allen-head screws behind the fairing (four on each side). Now you need to remove the chrome strip under the windshield, and this can be a little tricky until you learn the procedure - most people break some of the tabs inside the chrome strip trying to get it off. To avoid that, you need to understand that there is a wide tab with a lip on it that faces BACKWARDS right in the center of the bottom edge, so you cannot get that lip to disengage easily. The trick is to lift straight up on the outside ends of the strip while gently flexing the strip by pushing the ends slightly towards the center. This causes the center bottom to spring slightly forward and the strip comes right off with an UP movement, not by pulling it forward. Next, remove the screws securing the windshield. And if your passing light bar is still in place (and does not use a fat aluminum mounting bracket to move it down and forward), you will need to remove it before you can split the fairing (you need about 1" free space between the back of the passing lights and the fairing to get it off). If it is mounted with the stock bolts, you will need a ball-end Allen wrench to get them out. Finally, you need to remove the single Allen-head bolt directly below the headlight lens. At this point, the outside of the fairing will just come off by pulling it straight forward. Goose

Your passing lights are on their own in-line fuse inside the fairing (if they are done like Yamahaha specifies in the instructions). They absolutely are not connected to either of the accessory fuses in the lower cowling. But you still need to know how to remove those cowlings. You must first remove the REAR screw, about in the middle and towards the outside of the plastic cover below the air filter. You take that one out first so there is no risk of breaking the mounting point after everything else is loose. Next, take out the plastic quick-rivet under the center of the two cowlings. This looks like a Philips head screw, but you only turn it 1/4 turn and then pull it part way out with your fingernails or a little screwdriver, then the whole things comes out. Now remove the two Allen-head screws from the front of the cowling. Finally, grasp the bottom center near where that plastic quick-rivet was and pull straight forward to dislodge the lug from the rubber grommet holding it in place. The fuse box is behind the right cowling, but if you want to remove the left cowling for any reason, you must remove the right one first. Goose

You do not say how strong the pull to the left is. As others have already said, this is pretty common, but the pull to the left should be very slight, and you should be able to make the bike pull back to the right just by shifting your weight. If it is worse on some roads than others, that strongly indicates a response to the road crown. If the pull is stronger than that, it could mean damaged forks, uneven fork pressure, overly worn front tire, or frame misalignment. Goose

Your fuel filter needs to be changed. Goose

The 2nd gen bikes do NOT have linked brakes - both front calipers are tied together and are operated from the handlebar lever. Goose

Well hell, I haven't shaken out the fly line for at least 15 years - you're giving me the itch again. Not fair. Quit being so ugly! Goose

There is an absolute minimum of two hours work to do this (if you are experienced and work heads-down with no interruptions), probably three or four hours in most situations. Even more with bench racing and teaching thrown in. The work will include pulling the carbs, cleaning and fixing the problem, float level set, carb sync, and mixture adjustment. Any shop that has ever worked on a 2nd gen and knows what it takes to get the carbs out will charge at least $200 for the job (probably twice that for all I listed) - I'll do it with you for $150 + beer to drink and the cost of a cheap hotel if I need to stay over. No costs for travel - I just like to ride. We don't need to take the bike inside, but a big fan is always nice! Give me a call or PM me with your phone number so we can work out a date. If anyone else wants to meet in Tyler and see the work, we can have a party! Provided, of course, that you want to open up the invitation to others; not everyone can deal with multiple bikes converging on their house. Goose

This problem is absolutely a stuck float - there is no loose hose. You won't be able to tell which overflow hose is routed to the left air intake until you remove the tank AND remove at least one of the air plenum boxes above the carbs. The overflow vent hose connects to a T between the two carbs on the top outside of the carbs near the edge of the diaphragm covers. These two hoses (one from left two carbs, and one from right two carbs, are routed forward through a rectangular cutout in the carb frame and up to just hang in a little square bracket just in front of the air intake. What you are looking for is to see if they cross each other as they go through that bracket, and there is no way to see that without removing some of that crap above the carbs. Very creative use of an inspection mirror and a little flashlight might let you see that from below or in front, but I doubt it. The good news is that taking the tank and the air plenums off is very easy (but getting the air plenums back ON without buckling the rubber lips is very hard for some people - make sure the clamps are very loose). The bad news is that even after you know which SIDE the leaking carb is on, you still won't know which specific carb it is. And even if you did, there is still not much you can do to fix it short of pulling the carb rack and putting it on the bench to open them up. As for removing the carbs, that is really very simple once everything else is off. Since the carbs are all taken off as a single unit (the entire carb rack), the only things needed to remove them after the air intake system is off is: Remove the two throttle cables (note here that it is actually easier to wait to remove the throttle cables until the rack is slightly pulled out to the left so you have a bit more room to get the cable end loose). Unplug the TPS and carb heater plugs. Disconnect the fuel line and two vent hoses. Loosen the hose clamp under each carb and then just pull up on each side (one side at a time) until the carbs "pop" loose from the intake joint. Then the whole rack comes right out the left side. Once the rack is out, just flip it over on the bench (after draining, of course) and take off the bowl covers. See my article in the tech library on setting floats so you can check to see that yours ore correct - Certainly this is the time to get those float levels set correctly if that has not already been done. I would also say that you really should go ahead and pull the jets for cleaning with some spray carb cleaner - at least the pilot jets. If they all look good and clean, then don't bother with the mains. Note that all four pilot jets are the same, so you can pull them together, but do NOT pull all four main jets at the the same time - there are three different sizes of jets, so you don't want to mix them up! Finally, note that pulling the carbs and even resetting the float levels and taking out jets to clean them will have NO impact on your carb sync - I have never had it change from pulling the carbs and doing this work. of course, it does not hurt to check it anyway, that is pretty standard procedure, but don't worry about it if you do not have the sync tool. But now I want to add one caution - while all of this work is really quite easy on most bikes, you could have a bigger mess on your hands if your problem was caused by someone using a bad brand of spray carb cleaner and they destroyed the o-rings under the needle jets. Only two of the floats can be easily removed while the carbs are all mounted together in the rack, and you really do not want to try and disassemble the rack under most situations. I'll offer you two ways I can help - I'm on the road today, but if you want to call me anytime later I'll be happy to walk you through just about anything on the phone. Secondly, you are in one of the few areas of the state where I do not think we have a bunch of other members who can jump in and help you. If you can wait until later in the week or next weekend, I'll ride out there and help you put it all right. You can find my phone number in my profile. Goose

The wind resistance kills the fuel mileage on these bikes very fast. If you keep it to 60 or less, you will probably see at least 40, and maybe 45 or more MPG. If you spend a lot of time at an indicated 80 or higher, you should not expect to see anything above 35, and often less, depending on the exact conditions. BTW - your speedo is actually about 9% fast, so an indicated 80 is actually no more than 72 MPH. I generally just round it off to an even 10% to make the mental check easier, so if the limit is 45, you are safe at an indicated 50, if the limit is 65, you are safe at an indicated 72. Welcome to the site, Goose

You can download the service manual from the tech library on this site for free. Where are you in Texas? Goose

You need to knock on the bottom of the float bowl of ALL the carbs - there is no way for you to know which one is stuck. The two left carbs share a vent hose, as do the two right ones. From the factory, the RIGHT carb vent is routed to the LEFT front air intake, but since you said the carbs had been out, you cannot trust that. Many of us think it is really stupid for Yamahaha to cross those vent hoses, so when the carbs are out we reconnect them so the left carbs vent to the left air intake and right carbs to the right intake. That way you know if you see gas on the left side, it is one of the left carbs (which is what most people assume anyway). So start by knocking fairly good on the bottom of each float bowl with that screwdriver handle; you need to hit it hard enough to get some vibration to hopefully unstick the float or needle valve. Then turn the key on and see if the problem has been fixed. If not, turn off the gas and run it until the carbs are empty, then rap on them again. In this case, you are hoping that the empty float bowls will allow the stuck float to fall down further and then start moving properly when you turn the gas back on. If neither of those fixes it, the carbs are gonna need to be pulled to take off the float bowls and fix it manually. Goose