Not willing to give up

Hello everyone" First of all i would like to say that you have a great site. So much information , a lot of great people. I have never posted anything online before so please bare with me i will get better at this. I h ave been a member on this sight for some time i just have not posted this because i didn't want to seem like i joined this sight just to benefit from other members knowledge. Last spring i purchased a 88 venture royale which i enjoyed all summer long putting a total of 7500 miles on. when purchased it had only 19,820 however there were quite a few small issues as the po did not take very good care of her. I live in janesville wi. and this winter we have had record snow fall and cold weather. So i have had plenty of time to adress many of these issues, I replaced tires metzler marathons, all gaskets for side covers, thermostat, gel battery, cleaned and inspected carbs, greased rear wheel to include hub, new rad hoses, plugs, wires cleaned all electrical connections and greased also spent a ton of money on cleaners and buffing wheels, to make engine cases look like chrome then cleared. Finally the reason for post. not havin another venture to compare i feel it runs well going down the road. When i first start the bike it appears to be starving for fuel. also it sounds like it is hitting on half the cyliders until good and warm if i leave the choke on for more than a minute it fouls the right front plug. while the others appear to be starving. i tried to sync and adjust carbs yet this appears to be fuel related. Also while idling warm or cold with light steady throttle the exhaust makes a pop pop pop sound. i have tried everything i know to correct this and it is getting the best of me. I have spent countless hours in the garage please help. also i have a fairly loud knoking sound coming from the clutch side when it is released and nothing while it is pulled in. clutch action is good i have replaced fluid and bled at the same time as new brakes and fluid change. thanks in advance sorry for long post and clutter. I will get some pics up soon once i learn how. she really is starting to look like a beautiful white venture. almost forgot i just got my new travelcade and set of rivco air horns!

Well first thing i would do is make sure the idle isnt set to low, If the idle is set to low you will get a knocking noise from the clutch from the gear lash of the clutch basket to drive gear. I think these engines have kind of a long stroke, So rpms have to be higher to make up for the long dead spot between firing cyliders. I run mine around 950 to 1000 rpm base idle. Other things to check for are vacume leaks and pin holes in the carb diaframs for the slides. Dont know how you were sinking carbs but you need a good carb tuner that reads all four at once. Living where you are at im sure we have a member around there that can help you with sinking the carbs. Sorry about the bad spelling but i am a mechanic and we are not know as great spellers.:rotf:

Thanks for the fast reply. I also run my idle between 950 and 1000 rpm. As far as the type of carb tune i used home made:rotf:I hooked up to the vacume ports, in the beginning the fluid was very erattic eventually i got all fout to calm down. i realize this was not the best method, used what i had. when i had my diaphrams out i held them by the edges and worked my way around tugging firmly to see if i could spot any holes or tears and found none. Iam much more familiar with two strokes and single cylinder four strokes as i raced moto-x for 30 years starting at age 7 working on my own machines with my grand dad early on. That would be great if there was a member in my area that has knowlege with these beasts, i have all but stretched my mechanical ability on this old girl. other posts that i have resd state that just by having carbs out of sync or valves not adjusted properly could cause the noise i am hearing. i am just not sure about the popping exhaust.

Hang in there until everyone gets home from work for more replies! I am sure there will be someone to help ya out some more.

Have you changed the spark plug wires and caps. All so run some sea-foam in the gas for awhile. Sounds like dirty carbs to me. The sea-foam is a very good quick fix without tearing the carbs apart. Fill up the bike but leave enough room for a whole can of it. The gas nowadays is crap if left to sit for very long.

That would be anouther thing to check, maybe the valves were never adjusted is very possible, tight valves would give ya some real idle problems. you could do a cylinder leak down test. I took mine to a dealer and had them adjust the valves and sink the carbs.it did idle alot better

after it was done, but i think it was the carb sink that really fix the problem with mine.If you check back in here around 8 pm tonight im sure you will have all kinds of things to check out.These guys are pretty sharp on this v-4 stuff

i just work on diesels.

Kurt,

These bikes will foul plugs if the choke is on too long, I'd recommend replacing the plug wires and ends and plugs. It made a huge difference in mine. The popping could be related to an exhaust leak or intake leak. These engines don't like to run without the air box cover on so check that and make sure your gas is fresh. The valves are probably OK with the low mileage on your bike, My 84 has 60,000miles and the valves are still in spec. We also like pictures so show off your hard labour.

Rick

wow i can not believe all the response! I have replaced plug wires and caps, also ran sea foam about 1half can is all. the first time i replaced plug wires i bought high dollar accels which made no diffrents so i went back to cheap 7mm copper core wires with ngk boots still have same issues. as i said in earlier post i toar carbs apart replaced gaskets seals and cleaned everything very well including all jets, thats not to say my carbs are not the issue i am just trying to give everyone here an accurate list of whats been done to the best of my ability. i really appreciate all of the help folks:322:i would really likt to hear from someone in my area with or without mechanical knowlege, i have not noticed anyone on here from this neck of the woods also i would love to post some pics just not sure how:rotf: i have a didgital camera. again thanks so much

I almost forgot i put a new k&n filter in just about a month ago before that it had a new paper filter right after the carb cleaning. also replaced fuel lines and filters.

After doing all you have done I would VENTURE to say it just might be your electronic box.

Mine started doing what yours is doing and I about replaced everything on my 1st GEN (carb rebuild too!!) and it came down to that electronic box.

It regulates the carbs and fires your cylinders and if its got a problem the bike responds in all the same manner as your speaking.

Not choking,misfireing,ruff idle,flooding 1 or 2 cylinders others dry,not enough power.

Anyway that is where I would check now because you have taken care of everything else.

Hopefully one of the members with the year you have can help you out.

I know when I replaced my box with a new one my 1st GEN ran like a striped ape. You will really need to hold on to the handle bars......Ron

You can go to the first gen tech library section. The first two articles there are on how to test it. It is a read only area so you will have to come back here to ask any questions.

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=68

Well, Kurt, I'll jump in here. I can't help you with your problem, although someone mentioned that by opening up the screws under the brass plugs by 1/4 turn that would help with the popping, but that might be on the 2nd gen bikes.

I have an 86VR and an 05 RSTD and plan on popping off those brass caps and turning mine open by 1/4 turn before spring on the RSTD. I did put on a pair of HD, RK, drilled out slashcut mufflers on the RSTD. On my 86VR, I never noticed it popping.

BTW, I live in Sauk City and have a cousin and sister in Janesville. Well have to get together sometime this summer for sure.

Good Luck,

Steve

thanks kantornado i will have to check into that box and do as freebird suggested and check out the tech library. i guess that would make sence, as you said i prety much done everything elce. the only thing i am not real confident about is my carbtene vjob (home made) also when i had the carbs apart i had to replace one slide needle as it had a small gouge out of it. when i got the new one it was much more pointy at the end than the other three. i have no idea if this has any bearing on problem or not. i am sure it is exactly as you have explained or a combonation of things as i said i am not at all familiar with these things. however i am not afraid to get dirty and try:rotf::rotf:i guess just the fact that it runs now is quite an accomplishment. when i bought this bike in orlando florida it did not run at all as it had sat for quite some time. i paid $800 for the bike $600in gas to go get it and about $500 in misc parts and a ton of time which is ok as i enjoy most of it. could someone tell me how to post pics here as i would like to show everyone as i would not mind seeing your rides either.also could someone let me know if i am getting in to deep price wise.it is a very nice looking bike with a couple minor plastic issues

To post a picture, just type whatever message here that you want to...before hitting the submit button, scroll down a bit and you will see "manage attachments". Click on that and a window will open up where you can browse for and upload your pictures. They need to be no larger than 640 x 480 and under 200,000 bytes.

Here are pics you were asking for.

Yep....you got the best color combination ever offered on a first gen. Of course, that's just MY opinion.

i have to agree with don.

kurt, that is one of the prettiest 1st gen's i have ever seen!

i have an '86, that is plumb ugly compared to yours!

just keep "fiddeling" with it , 'till it runs like you want it to!

the 1 gen, gurus will be on here in a little while, then your troubles will be over.

just jt

Hi, there are some Things i'd like to mention...

First and easiest Part, the Noise from the Clutch .... just ignore it. When the Time to change the Clutch comes some Day, just replace the Bearing inside the Pressure Plate.

Next ... K&N Filters are leaning the Mixture. Even a good running Bike may get Issues when replacing the stock Filter with a K&N. As long as you are solving Problems, you'd better go back to a stock Filter.

You said, you replaced one Jet Needle and the new appeared different to the other three. This is NOT good. There are more than 6000 different Jet Needles just from Mikuni on the Market. Not counted the Factory Kits, Dynajet Kits and and and ... You better get four equal Needles. This is Part of the Problem.

I don't know about your homemade Vacuum Guage, but if you do not trust it, you'd better ensure that you have a accurate Set of Vacuum Guages. These V4 are sensitive in the balancing.

How did you adjust the Mixture Screws ? Preset, they should be on 2 and a quarter Turns out from the Bottom.

Now, as i read your main Question, i'd say, there are some Jets clogged or Vacuum Leaks on the Intake. Exhaust popping on Idle is mainly a very lean Mixture. If popping occurs mainly on Decelaration, there may be Leaks in the Exhaust, but not on constant RpM.

I'd take something burning like Brake Cleaner and spray it carefully around the Intake Boots when the Motor runs on Idle. If the Revs are going up, there's a Leak. Ig nothing changes. The Carbs should be the Culprit.

All that said, the CDI could give you similiar Problems, but i wouldn't bet much Money on that in your Case.

Hey Squeeze

That was a lot of great info. I will do my best to forget about the clutch knock, as i am prety anal about things such as this. When i have to replace clutch plates am i understanding you correctly that the bearing is accesable without splitting the case?

I will get rid of the K&n until everything elce is working as it should.

The needle that i replaced was an oem factory yamaha replacement, same number as the rest it just came to more of a point iam assuming due to the others being woarn. Perhaps you knew that is what i meant and not that they were actually diffrent, so i should go back in and replace all four? Oh well atleast it is still winter and we have 22 inches of fresh snow on the ground.

As far as the mixture screws go i do have them set at exactly 2 and a quarter turns out.

the bike does not pop on decel at all just when holding a steady throttle about 2500 rpm while in neutrel when i look at the plugs all appear black with a touch of white at the electrode tip, now if that doesn;t counterdict itself i do not know what does.

Again if there is anyone in a 100 mile radius who might beable to help with this i would gladly pay or build you a deck on your house or whatever. actually just help being guided thru this should be all i need. as it is more satisfying that way and i don;t want to be a quiter

Welcome Kurt and hang in there. Once it is running right you will love it.

BRad

Kurt,

Fine looking machine there !!

Hang in there you'll get it running right !!

Gary

Now what took you so long??????????? We're here to help and long posts give lots of info, soooo, you either tell us off the bat, or we'll have to type a lot to ask the questions you could have answered in the first place.

Tell us about your cync tool, and how it works and we might be able to help you there.

Don't depend on the looks of your plugs, if you have issues the first thing to do is to replace them, they can act bad without showing it.

Half a can of Seafoam is not enough in a full tank when she's been sitting for a while, rather use a full can in half a tank of gas and let it sit for a while in between runs so that it has time to soak.

Valves should not be an issue, so work around that, just leave them be until she gets older.

The colour is awesome, and for me, I would spend a lot more on her before I'd even think of starting to budget. The bike is a great machine and well worth loving a little bit, no matter what the 2nd genners like to say.

When you get new needles get all four at the same time, or you might still have an odd one. $17.88 ea at Flatout Motorcycle http://www.flatoutmotorcycles.com/fiche_section_detail.asp

Great looking bike! I wouldn't say your any farther in price than most of us 1st gen owners. Keep looking you'll figure it out. Keep us posted ,especially if you pinpoint the problem. Might save some of us a pile of perplexing if this starts to happen to our bikes.

You have a real sweet looking scoot and it looks new.

When a picture is taken and the paint reflects the floorboards on the body its new.

Would love to see it in the sunshine I bet its a beauty.

If you spend 4k on that bike you still got a bargain and with all the help you will get on this sight its like a "mechanic in a box" and there's nothin wrong with that..........................Ron

That is a great looking bike Kurt.

What you're describing about how the engine runs without a load at 2500 rpm's really sounds like a carb sync issue. I made up a sync tool out of tubing and transmission fluid. After trying to use it, I had the carbs so far out of sync that the engine was behaving in the same way you describe. I went down to the pet store and picked up adjustble air valves for a fish aquarium and put them in the lines of the sync tool. I then closed the valves down to a point where it makes the tool slow to respond to adjustments. This gives you much more time to adjust the carb sync screws without the oil fluctuating wildly. Mine runs really well now and I know the carbs are synced.

Good Luck;Rod.