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V7Goose

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  1. V7Goose
    Read your owner's manual. All Royal Stars from 2004 on have a 4,000 mile change interval. That chart you keep posting is from an earlier manual. Certain tech documents, such as the shop manual, were produced once with the original 1999 version and never updated since then. But the owner's manual has changed several times and is produced for each model year. Goose
  2. V7Goose
    I neither know what document you downloaded, nor from where it might have come, but methinks you goofed. The RSVs from 2000 - 3003 had an 8,000 mile oil change interval specification, but your owner's manual for a 2007 specified 4,000 miles. Goose
  3. V7Goose
    In my experience, the factory sets ALL floats an ALL Royal Stars WAY higher than the specification. Setting the floats properly generally improves fuel economy by about 10%. It could have something to do with the magic smoke. Goose
  4. V7Goose
    I haven't encountered this problem with an RSV, but the problems you describe are classic symptoms of either a damaged linkage, or worse, bent shifter forks in the tranny. Hope you find it. Goose
  5. V7Goose
    I'm sure sorry about what happened, but you got the same suggestions a year ago when this started. You have to make up your own mind about what to do, and it is no bother to anyone if you don't like the suggestions. But why do you blame Yamaha for not giving you something they do not owe? They had nothing to do with your problem. You might as well call Honda and General Motors too; they have the same level of responsibility, so maybe they will give you something? Again, I do sympathize with you, but it seems that your chosen course of action is just calculated to produce zero results. I hope you eventually get it resolved one way or the other. Goose
  6. V7Goose

    Coolant leak

    V7Goose replied to Art708's topic in Watering Hole

    There was a recall for early 07 motors for that exact problem. Take it in. Goose
  7. V7Goose
    An NO (normally open) relay CAN fail in the closed position; the points just weld together and never open up again. But . . . nothing will make a NO relay magically jump closed while just siting there minding its own business with no power applied to the coil. If they could do that, the parts bin at the electronics store would sound like popcorn going off while they all just magically opened and closed at random. So if those lights were not on when you walked away, the problem is not the relay. Good luck, Goose
  8. V7Goose
    The heat on a Venture is a very different thing than your HD - very little heat actually radiates off the engine and the pipes. The problem here with the Venture is that the fairing just provides such complete coverage that there is no air flow in there at all to move the heat out that percolates up from the radiator. The great thing about that fairing is that you will stay pretty dry in just about any type of rain as long as you are doing at least 60 mph, but that doesn't help much when it is dry, hot, and you are in traffic moving slow! ANY kind of vent in the windshield will break that dead air pocket and greatly improve the heat issue. I like the round pop vents because they are less than $20 and can be installed in about 15 minutes. A Wing-type vent is nice too, as it can be set to direct the air flow onto your face or chest as long as you don't mind the sliced and diced bugs. But the most important thing is to NOT ride that bike like a V-twin. If you do, you will think it is a real dog. Keep the revs up. Do not grab a big handful of throttle in 5th gear unless you are above 3,000 RPM (about 70 mph). You can comfortably ride in traffic or country roads in 5th gear at anything above 40, accelerating at about the normal rate of the caged traffic around you. But if you try to accelerate too fast with the RPMs too low, it will shake and pound while it struggles to get out of its own way! If you are cruising behind a number of cars and trucks around 65 and see a chance to squirt around if you are quick, you want to kick that puppy down to 3rd and twist it hard - that will take you up to 96 darned quick before you feel the rev limiter cause the engine to falter a bit, and if you still want more, 4th will bury the speedo above 120 just as fast. Hope you find what you like! Goose
  9. V7Goose
    Unfortunately I am not going to be able to make the ride this week. Was gone all last week on vacation, and with bad weather rolling through here now I just have a bunch of things I can't leave on my wife to deal with if I pull out for another week on the road. Hope y'all have a good time up there - sorry I'm gonna miss it. Goose
  10. V7Goose
    Raising the rear of the bike changes the rake and trail, and it GREATLY improves slow speed handling, making the bike feel much lighter at parking lot speeds. The DiamondR Leveling Links raise the rear exactly 1" (less at the saddle). Lowering the rear makes it handle worse. Goose
  11. V7Goose
    The Yamahaha installation instructions specifically shows these options: On at all times: tap the Red w/Yellow stripe lead (in Natural nylon multi-connector) On with High Beam only: tap the Yellow lead to headlight (in Blue multi-connector) On with Low Beam only: tap the Green lead to headlight (in Blue multi-connector) Goose
  12. V7Goose
    If there is any truth in the statement that the 2010 California Venture will be out in Feb, 2010, there is absolutley ZERO chance that the Venture is going to be discontinued after 2010. Think about it - what fool would spend the bucks required to make design changes to a 10 year old bike just to meet the new California emission standards so that they can sell maybe 9 of them in that state during the last half of the model year? If they DO introduce a 2010 California version, it will be the basis of the Venture in the rest of the country for at least three more years. I do not know if it will be like our current RSV or not, but it just is not possible they will introduce a modified version for California with the plans already in place to then drop it within six months. That is even more bone-headed than the cassette deck! Goose
  13. V7Goose
    That front tire is a Dunlop D404 in stock size - not a great tire, but not terrible either. At least the front forks won't try to slam all the way to full lock when you try to turn in first gear! I have absolutely no idea what that rear tire is. From everything I can see, that bike is absolutely in great shape. If I didn't find any surprises, I'd snap it up in a second! Goose
  14. V7Goose
    Gorgeous bike; that is my favorite color scheme! I'd love to find an 03 with such low miles (my 05 has over 70K). Do a good test ride, all speeds, all gears. Get it on the road at your normal cruising speed. Listen for an annoying whine. Not all of these bikes have the whine problem, but a few have it bad. Only you can tell if the bike you are about to buy has any noise that you would find objectionable. Realize this is an over-square small-block engine that needs to rev. If you ride it like a lot of other machines (especially any V-twin), you will think it is a dog. The bike has a rev limiter that hits at 6,500 RPM, so there is no way you can hurt the engine by honking on it - make sure you take the bike all the way to the rev limiter in 2nd gear on an on ramp or highway to know what that baby can do. You can try that in 3rd gear too, but you won't feel it falter until you hit 96 MPH! Before you test ride it, check the air in the forks and rear shock (forks max 7 lbs, shock max 57 lbs). If the owner does not have a Progressive pump with dial gauge and zero-loss chuck, there is absolutely no way to check the front forks, so just let all the air out of both. It is imperative both forks be EXACTLY equal, and zero lbs is just fine. Don't try to check them with a normal tire gauge - without a zero-loss chuck just touching them with a gauge will release too much air. Rear shock can be checked like normal - anything between 25 and 45 lbs will be just peachy for a test ride. Final comment (I think) - look at the bottom of the rear shock, where the support struts connect. Make CERTAIN there is NO SIGN of oil on the bottom of that shock. The shock is a known weak point of this bike, and it is expensive. Since the bike is out of warranty, you don't want to get stuck buying it with a shock that is already bad! Good luck! Goose Another comment - I cannot really tell from the picture, but that front tire looks like an Avon Venom - if so, GREAT. But if either tire on the bike is a Brickstone POS, all bets are off on the handling - it will be terrible compared to how it will feel as soon as you put good rubber on it. I'm just saying to not be overly concerned if the bike feels really heavy and nasty at parking lot speeds if it has stock Brickstone crap on it.
  15. V7Goose
    Yes, your saw was set on too high a speed. When cutting plastic, use a hollow ground blade (plywood), and set the saw just fast enough to prevent vibration. Goose
  16. V7Goose
    Sorry for the delay in the response - spent the last week on a houseboat in the middle of a big lake - no computer. The weightand speed rating are right on the sidewall with the tire size - either 74V or 80H. The lower weight rating will also have a lower max tire pressure, also printed right on the sidewall. Goose
  17. V7Goose
    The factory shop manual works, but it is FULL of errors - not for the faint of heart or inexperienced mechanic. You have to have enough experience to recognize when something doesn't seem right and dig deeper to find the errors. And for the types of things you said you want to do, I don't think it will actually provide any value at all. But it is a free download here, so you should probably have it available anyway. It does have a full schematic, but it, too, has errors, and it is very difficult to read due to lack of proper information. Goose
  18. V7Goose
    I have over 70,000 miles on my 05, and I use either the Pure One PL14612, or standard Purolator L14612. The "12" is just a bit shorter than the "10" Goose
  19. V7Goose
    The shop manual specification shows the bypass valve to be 11.15 - 16.72 psi. Goose
  20. V7Goose
    If your rear tire was an H rated tire (80H), which it should have been, then 48 is not over inflated - the max pressure for those tires is 50 psi. If you had the V rated tire with a lower load rating (74V), then the max pressure for that tire is 42. The V rated tires will wear out MUCH faster than the H rated tires. If you were into the cord with good tread on other places on the same tire, then it was probably grossly out of balance. Glad you didn't get hurt. Goose
  21. V7Goose
    Your bike has a specified 4,000 oil change interval, and earlier RSVs had an 8,000 mile change interval. So I wouldn't even give a second thought to it, even if the bike had standard oil in it. Goose
  22. V7Goose
    Don, your experiences are different than what I have seen on my 2005 and my 2007 - not a lot, but still different. First, I disagree that the fake fins provide any significant cooling at all. They do not even touch the water jackets except at the three screw points, and even one of those is on a rubber plug. They just cannot pick up any amount of heat from the engine. But that is not really an important point here. Your thermostat seems to be operating just a bit different than the one in my 2005 or 2007, perhaps it is the age? Nothing really alarming about the numbers you report, just that they are different than either of my bikes. I can assure you that many RSVs actually run a bit warmer at 70 degrees ambient temperature than they do at 100. On a final note, the fan does a great job of keeping this engine from overheating at idle in even the hottest temperatures, but you are right that it will not keep the temps down at the normal range. The fan does not even come on until the water temp gets up around 220 or so, but it generally will hold it at around 230. If you are seeing the temps get all the way up to 245, that might just be a variation in the calibration of your temp gauge vs. mine, and no big deal. On the other hand, when I consider the difference in how your bike reads at various temperatures, I suspect that old thermostat is behaving a bit different. Nothing particularly bad, just different. I wouldn't tear into it just for that, but I'd keep an eye on the gauge, and next time I had the tank off to check valves or something, I'd probably change the thermostat too. The main point of this reply is to just clue in anyone who has a temp gauge on their bike to not over react if their readings do not exactly match either yours or mine. Some variation is normal. Goose
  23. V7Goose
    Well, you are right, but we are actually talking about two different things, and the person you quoted was wrong in the terms he used even if his understanding might have been correct. Your bike does have carbs, not fuel injection, but the subject being discussed is the pollution control system called an Air INDUCTION System (not injection). On our bikes, this is a passive system that allows fresh air to be inducted (or sucked) into the exhaust header to reduce unburned hydrocarbons. Many engines use an active injection pump for this purpose, but our engine does not. Many people seem to think that disabling the AIS makes the engine run better, but that is very wrong. It is analogous to thinking that killing the person who sweeps up the road apples behind the parade will make the horse run faster! The AIS has absolutely NO effect on how the engine runs, but it CAN tell you when the engine is not running correctly (kinda like someone seeing that the road apples don't look right). Goose
  24. V7Goose
    I spoke with a new owner of an old RSV at Vogel a few weeks ago who had just gotten a free trunk from Yamaha. Obviously a 99 is WAY out of warranty, but the difference here is that the early bikes actually had a recall, and that recall remains good until it is performed for any specific serial number. He didn't even know about it, but his dealer was a good one who actually spotted the problem and checked the computer. When it was determined that the recall had not been performed, they fixed it for free. And they even let him keep the old trunk as a backup. So if you have one of these old bikes with a cracked trunk base, maybe go ask. Goose
  25. V7Goose
    I honestly cannot answer that with anything but a WAG. I strongly doubt that the internal temperature of the gears is any different. It seems much more likely that the outside temperature is affecting the transmission of the sound waves. But as I have seen with my own motor, internal temperature DOES vary with outside temp - usually in an inverse pattern, but it still changes. All I have really noticed is the difference with HUGE temperature swings, but it is certainly possible there is a minor internal change that is causing what you describe. Sorry I can't do any better than that. But on an unrelated note, as I alluded to in the other thread, consider working with someone else to test that old basket of yours. What was a screamer on yours might be perfect on a different bike that was not helped by an I basket! I would love to put together a collection of old baskets to help people swap them around as a test, but I really do not know where I might get them. Goose
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