speedometer

[curtis]

I have a couple more questions. 1988 venture

 

First my speedometer is off about 15 to 20 miles an hour anyone have any idea about why or how to fix. I also have a wine which I think is the speedometer. I heard a really loud squeal when i get up to a certain speed, goes away when i slow down. I have seen in this site how to grease the speedometer but I don't know if it is in the head or down at the wheel.

 

Second is there anyway to adjust the clutch on these bikes? When i let out on the clutch it goes almost all the way out before it starts to engage.

 

Third any ideals on why i have a hesitation when I first give it gas. It will do it at almost any speed. Is this what happens when the carbs are out of sync or is this maybe from the diaphragms leaking.

[Snaggletooth]

The squeal is the cable being dried out more that likely. Disconnect at the front hub and remove it, clean it and lube it. I use reguar cable lube but I do mine every year. As far as being off on the speed by that much, somebody else will have to help on that part.

 

The clutch is hydraulic. There is no adjsutment. Best thing to do it bleed the clutch master and lines and that should do it. They do run right out to the end though normally.

 

As to the hesitation, I had it when I got my bike. I've done so much work to the carbs I can't say what was the answer. But, the main air mix screws should set about 2 1/2 turns out from the bottom and a sync will help a bunch if it's off.

 

The diaphgrams should be checked by removing them and holding them up with a bright light behind them. ANY pinholes will affect the performance. Look closely. Sometime not all the obvious at first glance.

 

There is a thread here somewhere on replacing the diaphgrams and the source to buy them at a fair price. There is way to reseal them and see if there is a huge difference in performance. If there is.......they need replaced. PM me if you need to try that and I'll fill ya in.

 

Mike

[bongobobny]

For some unknown reason, all Venture speedometers seem to read about 5 mph high...

[MiCarl]

For some unknown reason, all Venture speedometers seem to read about 5 mph high...

Actually according to the GPS mine is spot on at 52mph.

[Freebird]

You are lucky. Though the first gens may be closer. I've never seen a RSV that wasn't off.

[curtis]

Is there anyway to fix it? 5 off would not bother me but 15 to 20 slow is a real pain it makes it hard to ride.

 

Is the gas gauge suppose to show bars or something to let you know how much gas you have? Mine does not show anything.

[curtis]

i have another question how do you get the map that shows where all you have rode?

[Snaggletooth]

Yep. The fuel indictor has bars that stack from the bottom up to and will cover the pump icon at the top when full and start dropping as you use fuel. When you get to the bottom bar the red warning light will flash and as you continue the warning light will stay on constantly as you get closer to empty.

 

Pull the seat and check the connections on the fuel sending unit and if needed you may need to remove the unit itself and check it for working properly. Not a big job. 4 bolts.

 

With the sending unit out of the tank you can plug it back and and move the float up and down and your will see the bars moving on the display if it is working properly. It might just be stuck, or at worst failed. Not had to find another one. On eBay all the time. And listed on Pinwalls site.

 

Good time to eyeball the inside of the tank for rust issues and the condition of the petcock filters.

 

 

Mike

[Freebird]

I have a speedohealer on my RSV that allows me to calibrate it. BUT...if you are off that far, you are WAY outside of the normal error range and there is something mechanical that needs to be repaired.

[Snaggletooth]

Here ya go. Takes a lil tinkering and a couple of tries to get it to show.

 

http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/index.html

[MiCarl]

Deleted

Edited April 19, 2010 by MiCarl
Incomplet duplicate of next post

[MiCarl]

Is there anyway to fix it? 5 off would not bother me but 15 to 20 slow is a real pain it makes it hard to ride.

 

If the error is fairly consistent it can be corrected. You'll need to disassemble the instrument cluster and remove the speedometer. This is an excellent time to lube the bushing where the drive cable connects.

 

When you look at the speedometer you'll see that it is an aluminum cup attached to one end of a shaft. On the other end is the pointer (needle). There is also a spring which pulls the assembly toward 0.

 

On the back of the pointer there is a brass sleeve. The sleeve is pressed on to the shaft to attach the pointer. If you hold the cup steady you can twist the pointer on the shaft. It's a tight fit, so twist the pointer by grasping the base rather than pushing on the end and possibly breaking it.

 

To precisely set the pointer:

 

You'll notice that behind the aluminum cup there is a bracket. Turn the pointer to 50mph and hold it steady. Using a very fine marker draw a line on the cup where it passes the bracket - it is helpful to extend the line onto the bracket. Now you have a mark that shows how far the cup is rotated when the speedometer reads 50 MPH.

 

Now you can hold the cup in place, keeping the lines matched, and rotate the pointer to the correct speed. So, if when the speedometer reads 50 when you're actually going 65 you rotate the pointer to 65. Now your speedometer will be exactly correct at that speed. It's tough to hold the cup steady - that's the reason for the marks. It'll likely take a couple tweaks to get it where you want it.

 

YOU NEED TO BE VERY CAREFUL THAT YOU ARE HOLDING THE CUP FROM TURNING - NOT PUSHING ON IT. The cup and shaft are fairly delicate and if you bend either the speedometer is junk.

[Venturous Randy]

I recalibrated my 83 many years ago and knew it was close. Last week with a friends GPS on my bike it was 70 indicated on the bike with the GPS going from 70 to 71, so I got it pretty close, or the GPS is off. I also did mine by moving my needle from a known point to how much it was off. I just pulled mine over the stop pin and marked where it was when it was relaxed and then moved the needle how much it was off, but mine was only about 5mph off to start with.

15 to 20 mph off it a lot.

The squeal is almost always from the bearing at the base of the speedometer being dry and will fail or break the cable if you keep riding it.

RandyA

[Condor]

For some unknown reason, all Venture speedometers seem to read about 5 mph high...

 

When I mounted a gps to the '83 I was surprised to find the speedo mph agreed with it... I always expected it to be a little off. Maybe I have one of the 'few'...

[curtis]

Can someone tell me if the gear in the wheel can be making the wining noise. Is there a bearing in the gear that can be bad? I changed the wheel bearing when I put back together. Don't sound like wheel bearing. The wine is heard when rolling and RPM has no affect on it. Is it possible that the wine is coming from the clutch and not the wheel.

[GigaWhiskey]

If it is a large howl that seems to come out of the entire fairing, it is the speedo. Just changed mine.

 

Take the cable out of the sleeve and it should be gone. Had to do that so I could ride.

[Condor]

Can someone tell me if the gear in the wheel can be making the wining noise. Is there a bearing in the gear that can be bad? I changed the wheel bearing when I put back together. Don't sound like wheel bearing. The wine is heard when rolling and RPM has no affect on it. Is it possible that the wine is coming from the clutch and not the wheel.

 

Just for the heck of it pull the speedo cable out and then ride it again. That should let you know if it's the speedo.

[curtis]

First of all I want ot say thank you to everyone for all your help so far. :clap2:

 

I took the speedometer cable out of the front wheel and rode it home. I still have the wine. :crying:

 

That is why I was asking if there was a bearing in the wheel part that I needed to grease.

 

Thanks to the help on here I was able to pull the dash apart and I changed my gauge and now according to my GPS my speedometer is now reading within a couple of miles per hour which is close enough for me. If anything now it is reading fast instead of slow. While I was in there I greased the bearing in the head and the cable. :thumbsup:

 

With that much done I moved on to the gas gauge. I took it out of the gas tank and hooked it back up turned on the key and no matter where i moved it the gauge on the dash did not work. Any help on this thanks again for all you have given me so far. :think:

[bkuhr]

Fuel float should read 30 ohms or less when full, and 300 ohms or more when empty.

 

Apply jumper wire from good ground or battery negative to green/white wire on float=(30 ohms or less-above), should indicate full fuel reading on CMS. Give the CMS gauge about 5sec/bar to move. Not sure sampling rate but it is slow

 

If no reading on CMS with jumper wire, likley broken solder joint internal CMS,

Before CMS removal try ground jumper wire trick above directly on back of CMS green/white wire

 

If float fails ohms test, bad float

 

If CMS good and float good but still no reading with everything hooked up normal, black ground wire on float doesn't have good ground-(or tank is really empty or floats leaks and sunk)

[CrazyHorse]

I recalibrated my 83 many years ago and knew it was close. Last week with a friends GPS on my bike it was 70 indicated on the bike with the GPS going from 70 to 71, so I got it pretty close, or the GPS is off. I also did mine by moving my needle from a known point to how much it was off. I just pulled mine over the stop pin and marked where it was when it was relaxed and then moved the needle how much it was off, but mine was only about 5mph off to start with.

15 to 20 mph off it a lot.

The squeal is almost always from the bearing at the base of the speedometer being dry and will fail or break the cable if you keep riding it.

RandyA

 

Yes Randy helped me with this and it worked pretty well mine was off about 6-10 now at speed its on at 25 its a couple off but Im never ride that speed.

[curtis]

All right I checked the g/w wire at the sending unit and it slowly went all the way up so I am guessing that my gauge works. Does this mean that I need a new sending unit or is there something inside the sending unit that could be the problem? If so does anyone have one for sale.

[Karl C.]

You had mentioned that the clutch "is almost all the way out before it engages" do you mean you let the handle all the way then the clutch engages? If so I thought that is how it is supposed to be so that it is faster to pull the clutch handle in to get it to disengage. In case of emergency etc.... I just put fluid in my venture and sabre and now both handles have to be relased pretty far to to engage it...

 

Now if I took it the wrong way and you have to pull the clutch in pretty far to disengage it then just check your fluid level, ill be it is low.. that is what hapened with mine and now I think I am going to just drain it and change it... for good maintenance..

 

Hope I didnt sound to stupid on this...lol

[bkuhr]

All right I checked the g/w wire at the sending unit and it slowly went all the way up so I am guessing that my gauge works. Does this mean that I need a new sending unit or is there something inside the sending unit that could be the problem? If so does anyone have one for sale.

 

Half way there. Either black wire on sending unit (ground wire) is bad or has a bad connection, or sending unit is bad. Clean the connection, check for good ground with ohm meter from black wire on sending unit to battery neg=~0ohms.

While there with meter check ohms from G/W to Black on sending unit with wires unplugged from mc. Should be 30-300ohms. If >300 sending unit coil open. Saw link somewhere here on repair, but recommend replace.

[curtis]

Half way there. Either black wire on sending unit (ground wire) is bad or has a bad connection, or sending unit is bad. Clean the connection, check for good ground with ohm meter from black wire on sending unit to battery neg=~0ohms.

While there with meter check ohms from G/W to Black on sending unit with wires unplugged from mc. Should be 30-300ohms. If >300 sending unit coil open. Saw link somewhere here on repair, but recommend replace.

 

Checked Ohms from black wire to ground 0.1

Checked Ohms g/w to black wire unhooked at plug with full tank of fuel started out at about 34 slooowly worked its way up to 40 and then went blank.

[curtis]

You had mentioned that the clutch "is almost all the way out before it engages" do you mean you let the handle all the way then the clutch engages? If so I thought that is how it is supposed to be so that it is faster to pull the clutch handle in to get it to disengage. In case of emergency etc.... I just put fluid in my venture and sabre and now both handles have to be relased pretty far to to engage it...

 

Now if I took it the wrong way and you have to pull the clutch in pretty far to disengage it then just check your fluid level, ill be it is low.. that is what hapened with mine and now I think I am going to just drain it and change it... for good maintenance..

 

Hope I didnt sound to stupid on this...lol

 

You don't sound stupid it is just on my HD I can adjust the clutch manually and I always run mine so when you let out on the lever just a little bit you start to move. I don't really like letting all the way out to start to move. Just personal preference. I was just checking to make sure that is normal for these bikes.