cold starting veture?

[beachbumtroy]

hey guys newbie here and first post, i read thru some of the previous posts but didnt find my solution so here goes,just got and 1st 1984 yamaha venture,41k miles,runs like a top,all the carbs were just cleaned and synced,has new plugs also,oh yea and the tank was cleaned while the carbs were off have reciepts for all this work,anyway after it warms up runs great,perfect idle no misses fires up 1st try everytime after warm,but i live in florida so no cold mornings here lol,but every morning i start it up even if im not going out and i have to turn it over a couple times (without choke) then just barely choke it to get it started everytime,and have to warm it up at least 5 minutes before i go,now this isnt the biggest deal in the world but was wondering is it normal? and if not what else is there to check? i mean it runs and idles perfect never a backfire or miss,so im assuming timings good and it just had all that other work,and i put new filter and plugs in myself,so any ideas or should i just live with it? and going to say hi in the welcome section after this but im a 1st time yamaha owner and i luv it,im in st.pete florida,thnx guys for any and all advise

[Snaggletooth]

Hi and welcome to the site. I ride an '84 also and in the summer months when I start it cold it may need a quick tap to 1/2 choke to fire up. Once the motor had been warmed up it starts fine without the choke. Mine falls into a nice cold idle at 2,000 rpms at half choke.

 

Now in the winter.......I mean temps down to 0 degrees, I set it for full choke and as it fires I drop back to half to let it idle at 2,000 until it warms up enough to keep running without it. Might take a mile or so before I can knock off the choke completely.

 

Now the thing I found with this bike is DO NOT even begin to turn the throttle until it fires up and idles. If crank the throttle even a bit it turns into a figit fest to get her started.

 

Mike

[bongobobny]

Tah! Nature of the beast and no 2 start cold the same way!

 

There are a couple of possible sources, and a lot of it depends on how good of a rebuild was done on your carbs. They may be syncronised for equal vacuum but were they syncronized for mixture jets?? Some guys do what's known as a color tune to balance the mixture jets and others do it with a CO "sniffer" to give equal exhaust emmisions. Also there are smaller diaphragms in the choke system that may or may not been replaced with the rebuild. There is also a certain amount of tweeking done to the choke linkages so that each carb is choked equally.

 

Hey, if it runs OK and you can live with the starting quirks, then ride on mister, ride on!!

[skydoc_17]

Hey Troy,

First things first, welcome to VR.ORG! You have the TWO best items to have in the world, my friend, A Yamaha Venture Royale, and decent weather! Now the next thing I want to mention is, You could be riding a VESPA Scooter for all we know, unless you post some pics!! For old guys like myself, good pics of your bike, (feel free to show a Palm Tree in at least ONE pic if possible) are like girlie pics!

Now, about your cold starting issue. With all of the great things you have done to your VR at the beginning of the riding season, you are WAY ahead of the curve Maint. wise, here are a few items I would address to scoot you closer to perfection.

Number one would be the fuel filter, located on the lower left side of your scoot, back by the passenger foot peg. If you don't know the condition of that filter, change it. Next, it sounds like the Idle Mixture Screws are set on the lean side. This circuit controls the low RPM of your VR, including idle. As Snaggletooth said, don't even think of touching the throttle, My procedure is to "Dry Start" the bike (no choke) then add choke until the bike revs to 2000 RPM's. After this holds for 30 seconds, you can mount the bike and head out. Once you are in fifth gear, turn the choke off and you will be good to go. Usually, no choke needed for the rest of the day.

Do a search for "Idle Mix Screws" or feel free to PM me, and we will get you pointed in the right direction.

Again, welcome to the site!

Earl

[Condor]

It seems like every 1stGen has a personality and for every one there's a different choke starting procedure. On my '83 the only way it'd fire is to go full choke and then reduce it until it fires. Then it's warp speed back up to full choke or it'll die. My '91 is full choke and it fires almost emediately and the choke needs to be reduced as it over revs in a heart beat. My '87 is a normal full choke with a gradual rise in rmpm. Some of the guys on the board never even need to use the choke. So rather than try to chase ghosts, and it runs great, I'd get to know it and ride....

[mbrood]

Although you have paperwork to support work done, there's an easy thing to check... pull the plugs. It speaks volumes. If they are light, light brown or even white, the idle mixture is probably set lean and needs opened a bit for "that plug". If they are balck and/or sooty you are set rich and the opposite should be applied. Normally 1/4 turn is enough to cause a change.