saddlebum

From the picture it looks like rust mud. Has this bike been run with straight water in it by chance. In any case before tearing the engine down, I would do a thorough flush. A bit of automatic no suds dish washer powder soap and water for the first run and run engine up to temp about 15 to 20 minutes allow to cool drain and fill with clean water and run up again. Continue until relatively clean water drains out. Then fill with clean aluminum compatible antifreeze (STAY AWAY FROM GM DEXCOOL). Don'the forget to was out the overflow tank. Ride the bike and keep an eye on it. You can also do a cylinder leak down test and/or combustion gases test. You need a special tool with test fluid for this most auto parts stores carry them as does amazon. The later will tell you if the head gasket is leaking by detecting combustion gases in the rad.

Very sad situation. I hope and pray all continues to improve.

I have used the ones from JBM several times and have no issues with them as well. The only thing is once you use them you can no longer go back to the OEM style. You will see why when you go to their link. delivery service by them is excellent BTW. http://jbmindustries.com/Yamaha650.html

I have used them several times and they work great. But the stainless metal piece still have to be secure in the plastic slider even with JBM's diaphragms. Here is a note from JBM's web site with regards to the sliders: Yamaha Venture Notes: The 73 mm Mikuni Diaphragm fits the Venture models even with plastic slides. Remove the short metal tube from the plastic slide if loose, and remove the rings. Place the JBM Industries diaphragm on the metal tube, and then push tube into the plastic slide. Use Super Glue on metal tube. If metal insert tube is not loose, just cut the rings off plastic slide with side cutters as shown.

Check all your redundant switches. clutch lever front and rear brake switches for secure contact. These switches are meant to switch off cruise control anytime you activate your clutch or brake pedal and can kick off your cruise control if out of adjustment or if the pivots on your control levers are sloppy. Make sure the speed sensor switch is working properly (it is also used to cancel your turn signal and is built into the speedometer housing). Check all your controls and related wiring connections and wiring for corrosion.

If memory serves me right 1154 is a 6 volt bulb.

That is my Idea of a road trip as well,,. Glad you had great time even if I am a little green with envy right now, since I am currently grounded and cause I love northern Ontario. Hope to still squeeze in a few rides before summers end though. Great pics by the way.

I have heard of some have some success with crazy or super glue but for the most part my experience has followed along the same lines as what Marcarl mentions.

Commonly in a dual filament bulb when one filament sometimes detaches at one end it shifts around and touches some where else in the bulb. This can cause anything from erratic light behavior to actually blowing fuses, leading one to believe they have a wiring short, when there actually isn't one. I would try another bulb and see what happens. Also check the rear signal bulb if it is burnt out it can cause the front signal bulb to flash faster than normal due to the nature of the signal flasher design.

I found some are unsure as to were to go to renew their subscription. I have had to talk a couple members through the steps. After I finally figured it out myself.

I updated my previous post and added a PDF as well to assist checking your ignition system. Check it out.

Coil pack failures are less common then you may think as are TCI's. Ninety percent of the time the issue can be traced back to faulty or corroded wires and/or connectors. Having said that my favorite means of diagnosing is to start out by keeping things simple , rather than trying to get overly sophisticated (which can be overwhelming for some). Pull the plug wire If you do not have a spark tester (which are cheaply purchased at most any auto parts sources) insert a small screwdriver that will stay in place and than holding the shaft of the screw driver about 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch away from the engine block crank the engine a good spark should jump from the shaft of the screwdriver to the engine block. If not go to step 2 Remove the plug caps from the plug wire and check resistance through the cap. Place one probe of the ohmmeter into the wire end and one into the plug end. You should get a reading of about 10k ohms. If not replace. Remove and inspect all the connectors involved with the ignition system, specially the ones going to the TCI.. Even barely noticeable corrosion can be a source of electrical issue. Heavy green corrosion is easily noticed but if you look closely at the terminals you may notice what looks like a thin white or light green powder like coating on the terminals (this is known as fretting ) which believe it or not can interfere with good electric conductivity. Clean this terminals up as best you can (thin slivers of sandpaper wrapped over the end of a tiny screw driver or other very thin and tiny metal object combined with a good electrical cleaner are most effective here. To prevent further corrosion spray with something like ACF50 (my personal favorite available through some bike shops and amazon) or thin coating of dielectric grease. If you still don't have spark than you need to get into checking voltages and coil resistance. Check the red black wire at each coil. With ign switch on you should have 12 volts follow the checks in the attached PDF ign system chk 96 -2001.pdf

getting back to your opening question Stay in bed don't get up

Rear end grinding noises can come be from several causes. Brakes worn to the metal can make one heck of a grinding noise failing u-joints in the drive tube failing bearings anywhere in the drive line Middle drive gear cam drive assembly in the middle drive gear section Try putting the bike on the center stand and while someone is manually rotating the the rear wheel try listening for the source. Keeping in mind that driveline noises can telegraph along the driveline make it sound like the source is coming from a different location than it actually is.

That is correct

Your are correct . though the wire threads into the plug boot it only pushes straight in to the coil and then held in place with the rubber grommet and nut. I also mentioned earlier about inspecting the removable parts of the plug boot. here is a pic of all pulled apart.

Just apply mine towards my membership fees.

I have seen times when we finally figured out a way to work around a nasty piece of engineering only to have them redesign it and toss in a new stumbling block......I swear they do this on purpose and then sit back and snicker at us.

So very true. Many times he would make the trip himself and deliver the parts in person. First time I met Bob in person was when my bike got run off the road in 2007. He PM'd me to see what parts I needed. Next thing I know he shows up at the truck shop I work at with some of the needed parts for my bike and refused to even take gas money for running them up. Bongo Bob was one of a kind and I am sure a special place was made for him when he left us behind RIP Brother we sure do miss you.

I have always been of the opinion that I would like to shake their hand. To screw up some of the things as bad as what I have seen over the years had to take some serious planning. No way could some of these screw ups happen by accident.

Looking good so far

I have the same regarding distance plus customs. It was great when I could place an order with him and then either meet him at a rally or arrange a chain of hand offs with other mmembers. The one incident that curbed my cross border orders was when thanks to our greedy Canadian Government plus shipping a $250.00 windshield cost me $460.00 . So even though I am not in the best position to always purchse from @skydoc_17. I will always vouch for him to those who are able to.

As long as the bike cranks over well, hot or cold, I would not be too concerned as to which starter it has. However if you do have a hot cranking issue than it would be a good idea to look into it and upgrade to a 4 brush if needed.

Glad to hear things are improving for you however slow it may be.

Something to keep in mind here, the reason passing lights (also referred to as road lights ) are wired to come on only with the high beams, is because in some States and Provinces, it is illegal to run passing/road lights during times when it is required to run low beams only. This is why in most cases it is required by law that these lights automatically switch off when switching to low beams. They also go so far in some States and Provinces to state it is illegal to run passing/road lights and/or fog lights by themselves without the appropriate low or high beam being on at the same time, another reason why they are wired the way they are. On vehicles that run both fog lights and road lights you will find that the fog lights come on when switching to low beam and switch over to passing/road lights when switching to high beams