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V7Goose

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  1. V7Goose
    We ain't riding here today either - 75 degrees two days ago, 19 degrees this morning with a couple inches of snow and solid ice base. Ain't gonna get above freezing until Friday, so I think I'll just hunker down and wait it out. Four days is a long winter for us down here! Goose
  2. V7Goose
    Although it is possible to change the rear pads with the caliper in place, don't try to do it. There is too much risk you can damage the rotor while trying to get the pistons retracted. The caliper is only held on by two bolts, so just remove it to make the work easy. But do not remove the brake line. As Sylvester already said, the fluid will just get pushed back into the master cylinder (that is why you should never add fluid between pad changes - unless there is a leak it will never be too low, and if you do add it, you will overflow the master when you change pads). The cap is vented and there is a flexible rubber boot on top of the fluid, so that is why you do not need to take the cap off. If you haven't changed the brake fluid in the past two years, this is a good time to do that too, but just make sure to put the new pads in and pump the brake up to pressure once before you change the fluid so you will get the right level. If you do it right, there won't even be any need to bleed the brakes since no air will be introduced during the process. Just do not loosen any of the brake line connections, and do not even take to cap off the master cylinder unless you are changing the fluid. Goose
  3. V7Goose
    Suggesting that you can or should just ignore service items, as someone did above, is just REALLY bad advice. Everything on the service schedule is there for a reason and will contribute in some way to the longevity of the vehicle or the safety to you and others. But it is true that they are not all of equal importance, so it does make sense to prioritize them to make sure the most critical ones are done first if you cannot work through them all at the same time or when scheduled. A 10 year old machine with only 35,000 miles has done a lot of sitting and rotting over the years, and this is really hard on a machine. Brakes are one of the most important safety systems, but I do not believe the pads suffer in any way from age, so just inspect them and make sure they are not worn too much - no reason to replace them prematurely. However, it is critical to replace the fluids in the bike, ALL of them, especially the brake and clutch fluids. If you do need to replace brake pads, do this BEFORE you replace the fluid so that you do not risk overfilling the master cylinder when you retract the pistons. Rubber brake lines do deteriorate with age, and this usually makes the brakes feel more spongy than normal. It certainly would be good to replace them on a ten year old machine, but probably not critical. The RSV rear brake is a bit touchy anyway, so a little sponginess from old lines probably won't be noticed. But if the brakes feel anything but EXCELLENT after you replace the fluid (and you are sure they are bled correctly), then you should replace all the rubber seals in the master and slave cylinders (the schedule for that is every two years, so they are way overdue anyway). Repacking the steering and swingarm bearings are big jobs, but they are usually not considered critical, so if there is no indication of a problem with either, you can probably wait until you can find someone to help you with those. However, you must check the steering bearings for proper adjustment. This is very easy to do and is shown in the owner's manual. If they are loose, the adjustment is covered in the tech library and many older threads on this forum. These wheel bearings do not need to be repacked - if they turn smoothly, they are fine, else replace. An oil pressure test is always an excellent idea, especially on a vehicle that is new to you. It is very simple to do if you have a gauge, but you will have to make an adapter for the huge plug in the oil gallery. This is simple and is covered in the gauges article in the tech library; it does not require anything special except a drill and a 1/4" NPT tap. The test does require the engine to be fully up to temperature, and you will need a tach. Just about everything else in the scheduled maintenance is pretty simple, so there shouldn't be any problem working through them. If you have any questions about specific tasks, just ask in the forum or feel free to give me a call - we'll get you through it! Goose
  4. V7Goose
    In most cases you should not need any "repair kit" for the calipers. But be aware it is quite easy to cock the piston in the bore and bind it up. If you keep pushing on it in that state, you can damage the bore. For that reason I am reluctant to use c-clamps on these brakes. I find that almost always I can retract the pistons by steady pressure with both thumbs - one on each side of the piston. But if it really won't move, you can use a c-clamp IF you put one of the old pads back in on top of the pistons and make sure the clamp is centered on the pad. This will generally keep them straight. But if you see one piston going back a bit and the other one not moving, you will have to carefully look at it to try and detect which way it is cocked, then gently use the clamp in the right places to get it to pop back straight. Goose
  5. V7Goose
    Now you see, that's just stoopid, everybody knows that both orange and green antifreeze function just peachy with a heal/toe shifter. On the other hand, the use of YELLOW antifreeze absolutely requires a heel-only shifter!
  6. V7Goose
    First of all, I personally will not accept a touring bike without floorboards, and that is key to my response. A toe-only shifter is fine (and probably preferable) on a bike with pegs. When your foot is on a peg, it tends to angle down in the front, and pulling up with the toe is simply a matter of pivoting the ankle on the peg - this requires no leg motion at all. But floorboards change the entire geometry. Instead of your toes pointing down, they are flat, and unless you are a midget with legs spread way forward to sit on the floorboards, it is much more difficult to just raise the toes without lifting the entire leg. This is especially true for me since I have old injuries that affect my leg and ankle joints. So up-shifting with the toes from a flat position on a floorboard is awkward, slow, and very unnatural for me. On the other hand, there is absolutely no effort for me to simply raise my heel off the floor when I am sitting down - this doesn't even require the noticeable use of my leg muscles. So upshifting with floorboards is simple and quick by just slightly raising my heel and sliding my toes back about 1" on the floorboard. In fact, upshifting with my heel is considerably more easy than downshifting with my toes (which requires me to pick up my entire foot and rest my heel on the shifter pivot point to make the downward twist of the ankle easy). Goose
  7. V7Goose
    This quote from Tom's earlier post: "The below images and video's are what I found. Water coming out of my left tail pipe and the same smoke. It looks like condensation but the right side does not do this at all hot or cold. The left side does this both hot and cold." almost guarantees that it is a bad head gasket. "Smoke" when cold is condensation and normal, but if it continues to "smoke" after the engine is completely up to temperature, it either has a very bad problem with oil burning or coolant is getting into the cylinder. Goose
  8. V7Goose
    Sir, you seem to have taken some sort of exception to my response to your post. I am sorry if I have upset you in some way - I was actually trying to help you (and you did specifically ask for that help). You did not specify what kind of tach you were using. All automotive tachs do NOT have setting for 4-cylinders. Many automotive tachs these days are designed for electronic ignitions with dedicated tach connections or for the fairly common multi-coil engines. In addition, many tachs use alternator pules or magnetic pickups. And lets not forget those tachs that are designed to use a simple inductive pickup like Koso. The days when everything was designed for a single coil and distributor are long gone. Furthermore, the OP said he used the "12PALT" setting on his tach, and that cannot work properly on this engine when triggered from one coil. So on the chance you were using the same tach, I did not want you to make the same mistake. And just for clarity, the information you just quoted from "Doug" is quite wrong, even though he did connect his tach correctly. Here is the quote you used: "I'm not familiar with autometer tachs but I did install an automotive tach on my 96 Royal Star by setting the tach on the 4 cylinder setting and connecting to two coils. To do this you have to build a simple adapter to read the pulses from the two coils. Because the coil fires twice per engine revolution, by hooking to two coils you get four pulses which should give you the proper readings on your tach set for a 4 cylinder. I can't guarantee that this will work with all brands of tachs but it worked well for me. Good luck Doug" I have highlighted three things that are quite wrong in that quote. First, the coils on this bike fire once for every revolution, not twice, thus you get two pulses per revolution if you connect two of them together through an isolation diode. And a four cylinder, four cycle engine will fire two times on every revolution, so two pulses is the correct number for a 4 cylinder tach. BTW - Smely's post in that other thread was much more useful (but only if you know the correct number of pulses per revolution you get on this bike), whereas the response from Autometer that Sideoftheroad posted just showed that they did not understand motorcycles. I wish you the best of luck in setting you your new tach, Goose
  9. V7Goose
    That information is meaningless without specifying both the tach to be used and the exact vehicle ignition system to which it will be connected. As it applies to an RSV/RSTD, it is ONLY correct if you have a tach for a four cylinder, single coil ignition. Tachs are made in lots of different configurations, so it is a little difficult to try and give connection details for just a generic tach and expect it will work for all bikes and all tachs. But here is a basic overview (again): Our bikes have four coils, but each fires one time in every revolution of the engine (just like a stock HD with dual-fire ignition). So any tach that will work on a stock HD motorcycle will work fine for us when connected to just one coil. A tach that is for a standard 4-cylinder engine with a single coil and distributor will only work on our bike if it is connected to two coils with a single-fire adaptor. A tach with a setting for "12 pole alternator" (or something similar) is intended primarily for outboard motors or diesel engines where the signal is an AC feed from the alternator; it needs six pulses per revolution and will not work properly on this engine in that setting. One last comment for DarrinGT - I note that you have a 97 Royal Star, not a post '99 RSV or RSTD. I personally have no idea how many coils your engine uses, or what type of ignitor it may have, so you should make sure to understand that before you hook it up like we say for the current 2nd gen engines. Goose
  10. V7Goose

    #3 coil

    V7Goose replied to gunboat's topic in Watering Hole

    IMHO it is VERY unlikely that you have two bad coils. When I spoke to Ponch it sounded to me like he said you guys had switched the wires on the two rear coils and the problem did not change. Since you say that you could not find any problem with the ohmmeter (remember, the secondary winding cannot be measured to ground, only to the common terminal of the primary winding - the R/B wire), swapping BOTH wires on the two rear coils is the only test that I would trust, so if you did not swap both of them, try that next. With the wires swapped, the results should be straight forward: If #1 now fails to fire, but #3 works, then the problem is either the ignitor or one of the wires. But if nothing changes (#1 still works and #3 still does not), then the coil or lead to the plug must be bad. Goose
  11. V7Goose
    I do not know what tach you have, so I can only tell you about the engine. A coil on the RSV or RSTD fires one time for each revolution (this is the same as a two-cylinder engine with only one coil). For a tach to register the correct RPM, it must be made for a twin cylinder engine or have a 2 cylinder setting. If you have a tach that can only be set to four or more cylinders, then you will need a "single fire adapter" that will allow you to connect it to two coils at the same time for it to work correctly in the 4-cyl position. Goose
  12. V7Goose
    I have no idea how old your bike is or how many miles are on it, but the problems you describe are VERY significant. There should never be any coolant smell, no way will this engine ever overheat while the bike is moving, in any weather, no possible excuse for the compression to be low, and smoke from the engine is really bad. Get that thing to the dealer and make them fix it! Do not touch it yourself. Goose
  13. V7Goose
    That is a blanket statement with which I cannot agree. While there are some things that are not (and should not be) covered by the warranty, and those would not be the fault of the service group, the dealer has almost 100% control over what IS actually covered. This bike has a 5-year unlimited mile warranty that covers virtually everything, and it all rests on what the dealer tells the manufacturer. It is sad to say that there have been plenty of dishonest dealers, reported here by various owners, who have blatantly lied about what is covered, apparently in an effort to steal lots of money from their customers for retail repair rates on a covered machine. Of course any mechanic should be paid for their diagnostic time if the repair is actually not covered, but IMHO, no honest dealer will ask for that money up front. As long as they properly advise the customer of the risk, all states have established laws for a mechanic to place a lien on a vehicle if the customer declines to pay for work performed. The only possible excuse for an up-front payment is if the customer asks for work that will cost more than the estimated value of the vehicle. Goose
  14. V7Goose
    What speed memory does your system take? I have a couple of 512MB PC333 sticks you can have. I also have an ATI 9700 All-in-Wonder video card - this was a very high-end card back when your system was new. You can have that too, if it will help. Goose
  15. V7Goose
    I have not heard of any of the stock engine plugs leaking like that, but it is certainly possible. Those plugs ARE cemented in place and can be very difficult to remove. But I have not yet done any damage taking one out. Just eat some Wheaties and use a 1/2" drive ratchet on it to get some grunt - it'll come loose. Goose
  16. V7Goose
    Advanced System Care They have both a free and advanced version, but the free version seems to do everything of value. They also have other free utilities, such as an excellent defragger, that are better integrated with the pay version, but totally acceptable with the free one. Goose
  17. V7Goose
    I'm glad you didn't have any trouble getting them to fix it for ya, and this is usually the case, but it is all dependent on a good dealer. There are many great dealers out that that take care of us and deserve our business, but we all know that there are also some really bad ones - both ignorant and dishonest. Many owners have been told that lots of things, from radios, plastic parts, even wheel bearings, are not covered by the warranty. We all hope that those blatantly wrong statements are simply the ignorant dealers. But there are some who are so dishonest that they actively look for reasons to deny warranty in hopes of forcing the screwed owner to pay huge bucks at retail rates for the repairs. Our main point in some of the advice to Dave was simply to be prepared in advance so he could protect his rights just in case his dealer wasn't one of the best ones. Goose
  18. V7Goose
    As far as I am concerned, if the warranty is still in effect, this should be covered without much question. Just don't give them anything to use to try and blame you. Just focus on a normal 90 mile run until suddenly it committed suicide. And DO make sure you go in with proof of the regular services as required in the manual! But "proof" is a relative term, and US law is on your side. Obviously, if the dealer has done it all, then no worries. But if you do your own service, then any reasonable evidence is sufficient. Receipts for oil and parts and annotated dates of service on the service schedule are absolutely sufficient, but if you do not keep those, then do as suggested above - sit down NOW and start putting together such a record in a small notebook. If you use a credit card for all your purchases, then your statements or year-end summary can be used to identify dates and merchants for maintenance purchases. Goose
  19. V7Goose
    Looks like it is nicely chromed. Just buy a standard receiver hitch and bolt that hitch to the stinger in place of the ball. To remove the trailer, just pull the clevis pin on the stinger and slide it out of the receiver. Goose
  20. V7Goose
    AFAIK, there has never been a head casting problem with any Royal Star. Early production 2007 models did have an issue with improperly torqued head bolts. If fixed before they started leaking, then nothing more than proper torquing should have been necessary, but if they started leaking coolant, then the minimum repair would have included new head gaskets. If coolant got in the oil, then it is just a crap shoot on guessing if more insideous damage was done. On the positive side, I have not yet heard of other engine damage happening on any of those bikes caused by leaking head gaskets, so maybe all of the leaks were external. Goose
  21. V7Goose
    I do not think that just screwing the metal bracket to the new brace will produce much improvement. It would prevent any up and down movement of the end of the windshield mounting bracket, but it doesn't really move in that direction anyway. Even with the bracket attached to a very stiff brace, it will still flex easily front to back unless it is attached to the fairing. The new brace does not attach directly to the broken tab - it just lays on the face of the rubber grommet so that screw tightly squeezes the remaining top piece of the tab between the metal bracket and the top of the rubber grommet. If you make sure to cut the new brace long enough to slightly push up on the top lip of the inner fairing, it will prevent the windshield bracket from flexing down and off the remaining part of the broken plastic tab. Just as a little extra insurance, I slightly bend the very top edge of the new brace in towards the broken tab so it can apply an extra amount of grip when the screw is tightened. Goose
  22. V7Goose
    Me too!
  23. V7Goose
    The wires are an integral part of the coils and not intended to be changed. To change them without replacing the coils, you need to cut them off about 1" out and use a splicing device to attach the new wire. IMHO it is not worth even considering unless your bike is over 10 years old, and even then, I would do a corona test to verify signs of insulation leakage before I did it. Do, however, remove the caps and check them for high resistance - they should all measure about 10K ohms. Goose
  24. V7Goose
    With only a couple of very minor exceptions, all model years for the Royal Star Ventures are the same - no reason to avoid any particular year. These bikes are VERY reliable and do not suffer from any major problem except the failure-prone rear shock. There is no way to predict if you will have to replace the shock, but I would expect it and make sure I planned for the $500 repair (minimum). My only real concern with that bike (after making sure it did NOT have a bad engine whine) is that a 2004 with only 12,000 miles has done a LOT of sitting and rotting over the years. Sitting and rotting is much harder on a machine that high mileage. If you do buy it, there are a number of things you should do immediately to reduce the chance of future problems related to that abuse. Goose
  25. V7Goose
    The stock RSV with Yamahaha accessory driving lights is close to max capacity with everything else on the stock bike being powered (including carb heaters). So if you do not use the driving lights, you can safely plan on 60 watts for other accessories, such as heated clothing. The carb heaters use 60 watts too, and some people either disconnect them or add a switch to cut them off when needed. It is a little hard to tell when the carb heaters will be on, but a general guideline is that the will NOT be on very much if the outside temperature is above 40 F (you cannot go by the spec for when the carb heater thermo switch is triggered because the heat from the rear exhaust header shuts them off pretty quick unless it is extra cold out). So the bottom line is to know what wattage your accessories draw. If it is not more than 60 watts, you will always be fine as long as you do not run the driving lights. If it is between 60 and 120 watts, you will be fine if the outside temperatures are above 45 F (and you are still not using the driving lights). Goose
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