dozer520

okay fellas, 94 vmax starter on its way with 1700 miles on it. and i bought all the 4 gauge cables to do the job. hopefully i'll be up and going by end of the week. do you have to remove the thermostat housing to get the starter out? or can it be wiggled out with simply removing the hoses?

got it. thanks again. i have my eyes on one... i think too if i'm gonna drain the coolant and remove a bunch of stuff, i'll go with the better starter. is it necessary to add addition grounding to the new starter? is it necessary to upgrade the wires with the newer starter?? or probally just a good idea to cover as many issues that cause weak starting while you're in there. the ground wire goes to the engine on the bike, would it help to add a second wire to the frame? or is it best to have the grounding to the engine since that is where the starter is bolted???

anybody know about the vmax starters?? are they 4 brush setups? what year vmax?

2nd gen starter, as in xvz1300 starters? what years are 2nd generation? what years on the vmax starters?

okay thanks for the heads up. i'll get on it tomorrow morning and try to tackle the starter grounding mod and report back.. thanks

went over some of the starting issues today... i noticed a stack of small washers on the ground terminal that was aiding in giving a poor connection. i removed the washers. got the leads and terminals all cleaned up and bolted it all up. it seemed to help. i could get the bike started without a jump and let it idle 5 min and it sould restart which it would never do..but the starter seems to crank very slowly... also it seemed like i was reading 13.2 ish volts at 3000rpm where now i was at 14 volts at 3000 rpm which i think is good... so took it out for a 25 mile test ride and when i got back the bike would not start on its own again. i removed the battery and hook my f250 battery up to it and it would barely crank it as well. i basically had to reinstal bike battery and give it a jump with the truck battery to get it going but it seems very labored in its cranking... i'm wondering if its a grounding issue??? so will the ground wire mod to the starter that you guys posted help this starter to crank with authority?? or do i have a bad starter? it seems the charging system is working and there's no way its normal that a truck battery couldn't turn this puppy over... let me know what direction to head. hopefully i can try this grounding trick and fix it.. again, sincerely, thanks to you all and is there something up with the "blue"???

what's AGM stand for? assuming glass mat? you guys are great! what's the condor brace? heavier brace than the oem one above the fender? i see a sticker on the forks that says "progressive suspension" so i think that has been done.. http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu148/DOZER520_photos/DSCN3471.jpg

wells guys just bought my first venture. been a bike fan since i was a kid and my first boss had one of these. thought it was awesome then and still do. i been getting acclimated to the site. there's lots of info on here and have to say i'm real impressed to see a group of people so willing to help each other out! thanks for letting me be a part of this. i guess i'm ready to test some of my wrenching skills to get this thing safely ready for the road.. it's got 30,000 miles on it and the paint was redone 2 years ago. visually its looking pretty good but i have a few of the gremlins that are common. i've been gleaning off the threads but i thought i'd start my own and maybe list the things i've noticed and we could work together on getting them reslolved. i was told the 2nd gear issue was resolved at the dealer already and i haven't noticed any issues. FIXED - 1. starting issues, especially when the bike is warm. gonna check out battery and charging FIXED -2. front end suspension seems off. saw oil on the brake caliper. feels uneasy in turns. it takes the bumps really hard up front, but feels okay on a smooth road FIXED - 3. the air suspension monitor seems to not be functioning. i only see "psi" on right side FIXED - 4. seems to idle a little rough, you have to choke it slightly to get it to idle at 1000-1200rpms. then idles okay part in the mail - 5. the pipe stubs on the front side of the exhaust crossover are broke on both sides. makes it pretty loud FIXED - 6. rear trunk has the small cracks around the front holding tabs, making it a little wobbly FIXED - 7. felt like the clutch was slipping when i took it out to open it up at high rpms. may have felt like an engageing issue, not sure its the fibers, maybe master cylinder? FIXED - 8. seemed like neutral was a little hard to find when the bike was hot i'm hoping to get the starting / running issues resolved and then keep working on the list. here's a pic to give you a vision http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu148/DOZER520_photos/DSCN3465.jpg http://i642.photobucket.com/albums/uu148/DOZER520_photos/DSCN3468.jpg

thanks for the help... i'll get the battery tested as a starting point, i have one of those "smart" chargers, seems like something isn't right. one second its at 70% charge and seems to be stuck there, then all the sudden it reads 100% charged and yet it seems to crank pretty slow, not with authority, draws down to 8.4ish volts according to charger. granted its not as accurate as volt meter, i got one coming this evening to recheck it.

hey guys, i just joined the site as i bought an 83 venture royale last nite. it was in storage and he said he started it every month but i have a list of issues to sort out. i'm tempted to return the bike but i do love it and it is really comfortable. i'm dealing with the same starting problem. it appears that the charging system is working according to the volt meter on the dash but i'll look into it more and go through the steps described. seller said he bought a new battery in june so i thought i strange that its not holding the charge, but he didn't ride it much at all and has been in storage so maybe it killed the battery somehow. i charged the battery last nite and it seemed that helped. the bike started when it was cold, but after a short ride and the engine was warm it really stuggles to turn the starter, doesn't have enough to make it crank. i bump started it, got it home and after it cooled it did manage to start on its own with the battery but barely. not trying to hijack thread but i think we have have similar problems. so any help is appreciated, thanks