Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'bike'.
-
After a great weekend with putting at least 500 miles on the bike and it running great, I dropped a cylinder at lower RPM's today. As I was slowing down to pull into City Hall to pay speeding ticket I got in my wife's Maxima, there was a loud "pop" and a cylinder went dead. It did not sound like an exhaust pop. After I came out and was riding home, I had a definite miss up to about 2,500 RPM's and then it seems like all four are pulling good. After getting off work tonight, I went out in the garage and started the bike and let it run for about 30 seconds at a little above idle. I then cut it off and felt of each exhaust. The right rear was still cold. I put another spark plug on the wire and restarted the bike. It had very good fire. I then pulled the diaphragm and it looked good. I kind of sounds like the pilot jet may be clogged on that carb, but I don't know where the pop came from unless it was thru one of the carbs. I am going to take a look at that plug and may pull the carbs to look at that one. I am open for suggestions if anyone has any. Thanks, RandyA
-
84 venture running rough
lizard62 posted a topic in Venture and Venture Royale Tech Talk ('83 - '93)
Hello fellow riders, hope everyone doing fine. Just wondering if anyone could help me out. This is the problem took bike to work one day and I had to stay overnite, during that evening there was a heavy rain storm. So the next morning got bike started and drove off. then the problem started. First I noticed that the tach does not register until I really goose the gas, it seemed when I slowed down the bike would run rough and almost stall. Ran fine when it reached 55mph or better. If anyone could guide me so I can get riding again thank. -
I rode my bike through one heck of a thunderstorm Tuesday night. I got home--put my bike in the shed and shut everything down. I rode it several times today and all appeared fine till I jumped on it tonight to return home from our county fair in the dark and found out I had no headlights--upper or lower beams--and I didn't have any instrument lights either. Everything else appears ok-I have my 4 ways and all tail lights and running lights and turn signals. Is there a fuse that could have gotten wet or something simple that may be causing the problems? Thanks for any and all help.
-
Bought a used '87 Venture couple months back with 45K miles on it, very nice condition. Worked great for almost 200 miles. On the second day, coming back home from some local shopping (and the wife's first ride on it) the engine died out on the freeway like it lost electrical or no fuel. After 10 minutes was able to start it, and it ran for 100 yards and died again. 10 more minutes goes by and it started again, was able to run with low RPM the remaining 2 miles home. Felt like a "no fuel" issue, perhaps a clogged line/filter or fuel pump failure. Bike is 20 years old, found rust chips in the filter, not enough to clog the filter. Pump working fine. Maybe the line itself at the tank (running in reserve position full time as previous owner always did). Went through electrical, pickup coils OK, ignition coils OK, wires/caps/plugs OK but replaced them anyway. Engine seems to be running long term now, but backfiring through carbs, hard to keep running without choke on, running rough. Symptoms seemed to keep changing along the way. Cleaned all connectors, swapped out TCI no change. In place cleaning carbs, I spray carb leaner in ports and pour down some SeaFoam, no better. Did run better when carb spray shot down throat of 2 left carbs though (#1 and #2). Feels like a fuel issue still at play - maybe reason for misfire? Can make bettrer or worse with carb adjustments. Maybe carbs need severe cleaning. Compression all about 190# - great numbers for a 20 year old bike! Replaced all diaphragms. I have one good used spare if someone needs just one. 3 others have a small pinhole or about to develop one to three pinholes so might work for a short while if some is desparate. Got a Morgan Carbtune Pro and it sync'd up OK despite the constant misfire. Nice unit by the way. Sync'ed my 2007 Venture also really easy. Backfire through the carbs seemed to go away but still have misfire through exhaust. After much fiddling with carbs, including removing them for cleaning (but not tearing them open) and using some carb cleaner and light scraping to remove the heavy carbon buildup on the intake valves. No leaks that I can find in the intake manifold boots or vacuum hoses or caps. Still get misfire. Float bowl fuel level was OK. I did find in reinstalling the carbs the engine would run for a while and quit. Now I definately have a fuel problem. Pumped fuel and rust chips out of tank. The thick braided fuel line from the fuel pump passes through a spring clip at the top rear of the carbs. It squeezed the hose shut when in the clip (softened up over the years). I think early in the process I pulled the hose out of the clip I never put it all the way back in until now since it was hard to reach and that silently cured the fuel flow issue. Thinking back I suspect this is the orignal reason the bike died on the freeway. It gets just enough through to fill the bowls at idle speed or engine off. Still have misfire though. Seems like cylinders 3 and 4 are the main culprits now, but #1 and #2 react the most with carb cleaner down the throat. Really stumped at this point, read practically every related post on this forum for months now, found some similar threads, lots of good tips for certain things, but none a perfect match to my issues. Took it to the shop. Valves OK. Carbs tore apart, new rubber plugs and gaskets were needed, evidence of some leakage between sections, gaskets dried out, rubber plugs dried out. Now all system checked OK, new oil, coolant, lube, valve alignment. Still same problem. Constant misfire through the whole RPM range, especially under load. An intermittent in the pickup coils was a guess, but could not confirm. #3 and #4 seem to be affected. This is a long post reflecting the long journey and many hours in the garage and shop chasing and diagnosing and such. Problem is getting old by this point. Yesterday brought bike back home from shop. Now convinced all systems are working as designed, today I took a deeper look at the intermittant pickup coil theory. I wanted to somehow verify this before spending a load of money on this. Myself and shop ohmed them out to be in spec (about 116 ohms) except shop thought one was half value at one point. I am experienced in electronics design and repair (have tools and know how to use them ) so I put my dual trace oscilliscope on the pickup coil connector and compared them all with engine idling at 2K RPM. You get about 12 to 15 volt spikes - 1 positive pulse followed immediately by one negative pulse for each pass of the magnet. Engine still misfiring regularly, never saw a missed pulse though, and all stayed at the same voltage peaks. The pickup coils are declared good. Yesterday reading through some more postings here I picked up some more good tidbits. One person mentioned that these engines run very well on 3 cyclinders and other than lack of performance and low fuel mileage, it can be hard to tell if (only) one cyclinder stops working (bad plug wire for example). This would be key advice later on. I pull the #3 plug cap, misfire goes away, but runs about the same, rough. Install #3 and pull #4 and misfire is back but runs rough as before. Like the shop said, #3 and #4 do not seem to be pulling their weight. But why only #3 causing misfire? A mystery. With all systems verified to be working, but the bike not working right, I figure it was time try something new. I connected #3 input to the ignition coil to the input of #4 coil, left #3 coil disconnected. Engine now runs smooth but at 1000 RPM higher. Revs up clean. This verifies pulse train from pickup coils to TCI to #3 ignition coil input verified OK even though it was the misfire cylinder. You might now suspect the #3 ignition coil, wires, cap, or plug, except they all check out with test gear. Now that it is running nice on 3 cylinders I connect input to #4 ignition coil to the #3 ignition coil. Stays running nice. The suggestion that it should run smooth on 3 good cylinders rings true enough. RPM is 2000+ at idle through all of this to keep it running before. Short test ride is great. Then sync the carbs and set proper idle and all is as it should be now. Test ride is sweet. So the faults: 1. Squeezed fuel hose at clip near top rear of carbs (found very late in the process, unknowingly resolved early on) 2. In cleaning all connectors while chasing the original problem, symptoms changed to misfire and unknowingly had swapped the #3 and #4 ignition coils after testing them. Leads are not labeled and the longer connector from the wire harness actually goes to the rear ignition coil. 3. The coil input wire swap happened before the fuel line pinch was unknowingly resolved so there was never a period when the engine ran "right". Symptoms changed over time, but with the carb adjustments now thoroughly fiddled with, was hard to tell why or when. The good part of the story: 1. With my work and the shop visit the bike has a documented clean bill of health through all systems (except the shocks that leak air). 2. Visiting the Yamaha shop with my wife to get parts 1 week after this all started she sees the 2007 Venture and declares it ours, and directs that I sell the other one that left her stranded on the side of the freeway. (she is a Project Manager, makes decisions fast, especially when it means the possibility of her helping push the bike along the street far from home:cool10:). 3. Given #2 above the '87 bike being out of commision all summer did not prevent us from doing about 6 one- and two-day road trips since May 28th to July 9th. I now have a commute bike that seems like a lighter weight sport bike compared to the '07 Venture. There is definately more passenger space on the '07 though. I am 6'1" and find the '07 to have better leg/foot space for me and the passenger. The '87 passenger toes practically hit my calf and do often at stops manuevering into the footpeg slot behind the fairing. I like the louvers closing off the heat, and look forward to opening them during the winter commutes. Commuting is 1-up only so the passenger issues are not applicable. I added a backrest to teh '07 and the handle bars seem like a long reach still, despite my long arms, so several hours into a ride I feel it. Not sure how much longer I will keep the '87, but I enjoyed working on the bike, getting to know the '07 better via the similarity to the '87, and experiencing a bike I had wanted for many years in the 1980's but could not afford back then. I rode a XS1100 then. I added a full fairing and lowers, air shocks, double buckets, luggage racks, detachable side cases, engine guards, hiway pegs, and sliding back rest. Toured New England for 3 years with the wife before kids came along and moving to Washington (Seattle area) in 1985. Had a XS750 Special in Hawaii for 3 years before that 1100. Sold the 1100 in 1991 and after 18 years of carpooling kids in a cage, I (we actually) am back into big bikes again now. Great forum here, hope this post helps someone in the future. Happy trails, Mike -
I just put a nice set of Samson Shogun turn out slip on mufflers on my bike and I need help getting the carbs adjusted. The dealer says they can't do it because it has after market exhaust on it and the new California EPA law does not allow them to adjust or re-jet my bike. Anyone have a Tech Session going on in Southern California near San Bernardino?
-
Anyone have some extra headset cables they would be willing to part with? I need the lower cable that hooks into the bike and this upper one. http://www.twowheelsound.com/id55.html. Thanks, Jay -
Check out my bike lift!Works good,but it cost a little more than a Sears one!Also check out the reason for the lift,that being an Avon rear tire with about 16000 miles on it!This was too close for comfort,we had just been on a trip out west a couple weeks before.So it's maintainance time for me this week.
-
:detective:Well took the old gal in for her 8K service, and decided to replace the OEM tires, back one was getting that flat look and the tread was almost down to the wear indicators. It was like a last minute thought while i was there, and had to take what they had if i wanted to ride, this past weekend. Well i got the M880and will se for my self what happens. Anyway, i get home and park the bike, the 40 mile ride was really great bike handled a whol lot better. We after an Earlie morning No A/C service call I go around back to clean baby up for a ride and just happened to look at the front tire, to see what date code was on it, no biggie 2107 pretty new there, so im happy, then i take notice of a rotation arrow on the Rim, its pointing up, and the tire rotation is pointing down.... wheels turning in my head, like ok what isnt right here.... well the rim was put back on backwards... Needless to say i came unglued, and called the dealers service dept. . Now my feeling is Yamaha didnt go through the casting trouble for nothing, so it should be installed the right way with the arrow going in the forward direction of the bike. ... I was told it was ok, and that it was on there for speedo reasons, because that rim is used on other bikes. and that it was ok to ride like that. He couldnt change it because no mechanic was there to do that til tuesday. I was still leary and said there goes my weekend, or something like that, He then said hold on a second and it was like seconds and he was talking to some one, and when he came back he told me to bring the bike right up and they would change it. Now is there any concern with the rim? while in the show room i did go check out another Royal star, it was the Tour delux and the rim marking was in the right direction. Any thoughts.......
-
This seems to be the year of the breakdown for me, so far I have replace the stator and rear wheel bearings on my 89. A couple days ago the bike would not start. Hit the starter and hear the relay pick but the bike does not turn over. Replaced the battery and the same thing. Put the bike in gear, give it a small push, and try it again. Works fine, bike turns over like a champ. Any thoughts on what might be wrong?
-
I usually run Shell gasoline in my bike (91 octane by choice only) and the bike runs just fine. Occasionally I will fuel up elswhere but there seems to be a great deal of shell stations around here. However, the last long trip I took (about 800 miles) I used my Mobil credit card and filled up there exclusively the whole trip. I noticed that the further into my trip the more the bike started running rough. I thought it needed new plugs or maybe a tune-up but after running just two tanks of Shell gasoline through it, the bike seems to be running just fine. Has anyone else experienced this or am I all alone? This doesn't happen it my truck or my wife's minivan. Is Mobil fuel of a lower quality?
-
I have the Harbour Freight 40x48 trailer. I put the ground in the spot that they said to (right after the hitch). I still don't have lights. I have correct power all the way to the 4-way from the bike. Still no lights. All I can figure is that th ground is not grounding. Is there a better way to ground?
-
Entering Missouri and just after getting fuel on the way back to East Tennessee from Sturgis my '88 VR I experienced a noticeable loss of power and more noise coming from the engine, almost as it there were an exhaust leak at one of the front cylinders. I thought it was bad gas and would get better with the next tank. With the next fill up I added HEET gas treatment to dissipate any water that may have been in the fuel, but with no noticeable improvement. We were pulling a trailer and riding two up. The bike has a loss of power and takes much longer to get up to speed, but cruises fine at 75 - 80 mph. The bike sounds much louder from the drivers seat upon starting off from a stop and the problem feels as if the engine is "bogging down". The loss of power is noticed more upon moving from a dead stop or upon encountering a steep grade. However, it does start and idle fine. Where would be the best place to start to diagnose and remedy this problem? Up until this time the bike had ran great with excellent power, and it has only 59,500 miles on the clock... Thanks! Don
-
Ok, This may be a dumb question, but after doing a full tune up this spring, plugs, wires, boots, carb sycn the bike is running pretty good although I may be a bit rich as i do not need the choke to start, but that is a different issue. My question is what does it take to water proof these bikes? If i get caught in the rain I am usually fine for 20 miles or so before the bike starts running rough. If the bike is sitting at work and it rains the bike will be hard starting and run very rough the whole way home. I know that it has to be water getting into something as it will pop and spit until it is up to crusing speed and then it will seem to settle down until you come to the first stop. could it be hairline cracks in the coil packs doing this if they get spashed with water? Any Ideas would be helpful Venturing the wetlands
-
Hi, I'm a new Venture owner. I've been reading some of the articles and have had the VR long enough to have the sidestand switch screw me in rush hour traffic. Guys on the tech / tip list gave me a great tip that worked like a champ. I've got a couple of questions about the bike's operation. Having now put about 1500 miles on it I've found there are a couple of quirky things about it's handling. First let me say, for as big as it is, I'm quite amazed it handles in the curves as well as it does. I'm pleasantly surprised. I discovered recently though that it doesn't handle worth a damn in even light gravel. Suddenly the positive control goes right out the window and the bike just hunts and hops all over the place. It's terrible. I've experimented a bit and find nothing I've thought of seems to help. Slow down and waddle it through. It's so bad someone dropped some gravel on an otherwise beautiful stretch of pavement. I was crusing along and saw the gravel but it was nothing so I didn't worry about it. Immediate hunt for disaster. It's hard for me to understand how a bike that handles as well as this does in so many situations including rain-flooded streets could turn to crap over fine gravel... The other handling issue I've run across is what I'll call the rubber-band handling effect. At very low speeds (good pavement - no gravel ) moving the handlebars feels like the front wheel isn't responding to the movement of the bars. Get the bike moving 10 mph or more, or put some throttle on and the steering feels solid. The bike has what appears to be a good solid fork brace, the forks seem to be in good condition and the fluid has been changed and filled to specs. The anti-dive technology is new to me but it seems to be working and I've tried some hard stops and was pleased with the machine's tracking and stopping distances. So, anyone ever experienced either of these phenomena before? Any advice or best guesses would be appreciated. BTW, I've got a '91 VR with about 140k on it. It's pretty clean considering the mileage and like I said, runs and handles under most circumstances wonderfully! Oh, and the tires (Metzler 880) are in very good shape, not new but only minimal wear from all appearances. I'm not certain they're the standard sized tires (particularly the front). I uploaded some pictures so you can see what shape it's in, details I might not realize are important, etc http://www.venturerider.org/forum/vbpicgallery.php?do=view&g=1136 thanks! indy
-
Damn I hate that. Haven't ridden the RSV for 4 weeks as it's either been to cold or too wet - or I've been too busy. Saturday did a 350kms round trip in the Subie to pick my son up from where he delivered his motorhome to the new owners. Sunday my wife and I drove 200kms in the other direction to deliver him to his fiancee, then we drove 200kms back home. Arrived around 2:30pm and the boss (wife) says, "Well, I'm going to do some more painting on the house, what are you going to do?" WHAT A QUESTION! I already had my jeans on and I was looking at my new bike boots in the corner. Quick as a flash I pulled the boots on, pulled on my vest and my jacket, went out to my bike shed and put on my helmet and gloves, put the key in the ignition of the RSV, turned her on - lights on and a brrrrrrrrrrrrrr of the fuel pump etc. Choke out, hit starter button. Cranked 3 or 4 times, THEN DIED. Ran out of crank, oomph and all the other things it needed to start. Been sitting too long. Off with the seat, off with the negative cable, on with the charger - and 4 hours later lots of power. But- it's now dark and too damned cold to do anything. So, I put it back together, went inside and had a couple of beers. Oh well, some other day maybe? Damn I hate that!
-
I'm a pretty large guy (6'3", 305lbs) and my wife is a big girl and with us loaded for a weekend trip I know we are pretty well over the "max weight" of the bike as stated in the owners manuel. What damage am I doing to the bike, and is there something that could break because of this that could potentialy cause an accident from mechanical failure. And, is there anything I could do to strengthen the bike so I get as many problem free miles out of it as possible. (BTW, I had over 55,000 miles on my Nomad, half of which were 2 up, with no (known) problems)
-
Well, I finally got all the bugs out of the starter clutch problem that I was having. Thanks for everyone's input on the problem to help me diagnose it and make the repairs, especially GeorgeS (he was a really big help and couldn't have done it without his telephone assistance). Now I have another wierd problem that reared it's ugly head for only the second time since I have owned this Venture (19 months so far). I needed to give my throtle hand a rest when riding today and decided to set the cruise. I hit the power button on the cruise module, all the lights indicated proper functioning and the pressed the "set" control on the handlebar. The bike immediately lost all electrical function and died. After coasting to the side of the road, I turned the ignition off and then back to the run position. The bike started right up. I made it home, but was afraid to try the cruise again for fear of the same results. In case you are wondering if this may be somehow tied to my starter clutch repairs... I don't think so. The cruise did this exact same thing once before back last fall. After that incident it has worked flawlessly untill today. Any ideas? -
Can you jump a dead bike battery with a car battery?
-
This week I replaced the original Dunlop D404's that came on the 06 RSV. I got 10,500 miles from the originals with no problems...and they still had some useful tread at both ends. The front tire had worn as evenly as any front tire I've ever had on a bike. The rear was mostly worn in the center, but that reflects the unfortunate manner of most of my rides; much more straight up than heeled over. Having read all the tire posts I could find on this great site, I was really leaning toward some of the Avons or Michelins that many here have raved about, but the 404's have performed well for me and the difference in price was enough to send me back to them. This morning I took the bike out for a ride to scuff in the new rubber and was just amazed at how well the bike was handling and how light the low speed steering was. I thought to myself, "This is exactly what the guys have been saying about their new (insert brand) tires when they make the change." Had I made the change to one of the other brands, and they felt just like these new 404's, I would have been thrilled with how good they felt. Since I didn't make a change, I'm merely comparing a new set of tires to a set nearing the end of their road. New tires feel great and I will not spend much time in the future wondering how many more miles I might squeeze out of an existing set.
-
Hi, I am fairly new to the Venture Rider Org.. Last week I purchased a 1989 Venture Royale. But before I did, I had a post on this site asking for advice on what to look for in a Venture. I cannot believe the help I had received. I really appreciate it. I purchased the bike from Allan, who has kept the bike in really nice shape. He has added alot of nice accessories to it. Besides the oil change I have just done. The bike is just ready to ride. I am finally starting to get used to the weight of the bike, after a couple of tanks of gas. Thanks again and I'm sure I'll have alot of questions as I am new to the Yamaha Venture. Steve:cool10: -
Just refilled my old 83 with gas and upon returning home to garage discovered gas leak. It is a 'pressure' gas leak that goes away when bike is turned off. The bike starts up and runs great but once started gas leaks out below just forward of fuel pump. I checked the pump and hoses and it appears to be coming from up in the upper area of bike around gas tank and carb area. I sure hope the plastic gas tank hasn't cracked, (or) it could be a hose problem. I can't figure out how to check where the output of the fuel pump joins the engine. Anyone else ever have this problem? Just a bit too unsafe to ride to shop, if I can't resolve it, may have to call for a tow..gas hitting those hot mufflers is too risky. Thanks James
-
I just purchased a 2000 RSV last week. This is my first "tour" style bike and I can't tell how excited I am! I absolutley love this bike but I'm full of questions. One thing I want to do is get helmets with headsets so I can communicate with the little lady and listen to the radio.... Can anyone recomend a decent brand/model? I've seen J&M and Chatterbox products on the net but there are so many models to choose from. I don't want buy two sets only to find out that the sound quality/volume is poor or they won't work with the Venture. Any input is welcome and appreciated. Thanks, Jay
-
Ok, so put a new Dunlop D404 on the rear (16,900+ miles on the first one). While at it, I had the Yamaha dealer install the Diamond R level links. Once I got it home, added 3.9 Lbs of air to the front forks, and 32.4 lbs to the rear. Amazing difference in handling at all speeds, last year at 10,800 miles I had already put on the 130 front tire. This bike rocks now. Great handling at all speeds. Notices a huge difference in parking lots and is not following grooves in the road at all. No squirreliness (is that a word?) at all! However it is steep angle on the kickstand and a monstrous lift off when the bike is parked. Not that I am willing to change it back - no sirree! But must admit is a bit of a heft up off the stand? Any one ever done a kick stand mod? Added a pad to to bottom of the kickstand. I mean the cheapo is to carry a hockey puck on a string, but was thinking of something more (dare I say) elegant? Thoughts? Stu
-
Hello All, Iam getting my carbs in shape on my '87. In the process of cleaning, testing etc., I wanted to make sure the floats and needles seem to be working right so I took each carb, put it in a shallow tub and hooked it up to the fuel pump on the bike, with the float bowl cover off, to see that the float would, in fact, float an shut fuel off. OK, I assumed the the fuel pump would just pump, and pump until the float shut the fuel off. Is there any reason why I would have to turn the key off, and then turn it on again to get the pump to pump a little more. It will pump for about 5 seconds and then turn off, until I turn the key off and then turn it on again. If this is a normal function, maybe a safety feature since the bike is not running or something than all and well, but if there is a problem with the fuel pump, or something, I just wan to know. Thanks a bunch D
-
I put the commanders on the bike, Is this my bike what a difference. I got some foam grips off Ebay one is missing the Venture logo end cap dose any one have one from and old pair they changed out, let me know she would look better with both chrome end caps. I put engine Gard's on the bike to she is slowly coming back to life. Thanks, Dale
