Hello and suggestions please

[Terrymiller1973]

I just bought a 1984 Yamaha Venture Royale. The bike is all original and send like it is in really good shape. Although it appears to be in good shape what are areas that I need to pay attention to and should upgrade quickly. The only problem I noticed is after about 20 minutes of riding the temp guage was redlined and kept climbing until I stopped and shut off the motor. I have read that these machines run hot but what should I look for or replace to get this to run cooler.

 

Thank you

Terry ok

Edited August 31, 2020 by Terrymiller1973
To add Pic

[Terrymiller1973]

Also could someone point me in the directing to find what all the blocks on the warning cluster mean

[skydoc_17]

Hey Terry,

Welcome to the Forum! What a beautiful Bike! Looks like you have a gem there. You didn't mention the mileage, but In the following order I would address the following things. Coolant, and quite frankly, ALL fluids Flush. Brake Fluid Bleed, Clutch Fluid Bleed, and Engine Coolant Flush. The next thing would be to check to see if the Radiator Fan is coming on. If not, then you will need to address this issue If this doesn't help, then I would look at replacing the thermostat, thermostat housing cover, (this cover is plastic and warps with time) and the O'Ring on the drain plug, as well as the radiator cap. I would also take a Very Close Look at the "Elbow" that goes from the thermostat housing to the water pump. Many times a bumping of the crash bar on the water pump side of the engine will cause the crash bar to cut a gash in the water pump elbow, (It's made out of PVC Plastic) look for that. If this doesn't cure your ills then it will be time to rebuild or replace the water pump. I personally like to do all of the fluids on ANY "New To Me" motorcycle, just because I have a baseline for future fluid changes. The rest of the above items are done on an "As Needed" basis. Good luck with your "New To You" scoot, and keep us posted on what you find out as you go through the above list.

And again, welcome to the Forum!

Earl

[Terrymiller1973]

Thank you very much for the information. I forgot to post the mileage but it is 42418. I am the third owner of the bike. The previous owner put about 14000 miles on it since 1993. I really think I stole this bike given the shape of the bike and the extremely low price so I feel comfortable putting money into the bike to make it right. I have always loved this style bike and have wanted to find one to restore. But with this one no restoration will be needed just some tlc.

[SpencerPJ]

Welcome to the Forum and great looking ride. My 83 will run up to the red line before the fan comes on, short trips, sitting at lights, warms it up. Never goes much higher than the initial red line, and comes back down once in motion again. As well as fluid changes, I would look at the date codes on the tires. If they are older than 7-8 years, I'd replace them.

 

I'm not sure trial member have access to all the manuals etc in the technical forum, but I promise you, $12 / year will be the best money you spend. There are geniuses around here that keep our old girls running. Here is the basic manual for the 83, should help with some questions you have.

 

https://www.venturerider.org/manuals/1983-owners.pdf

[cowpuc]

Thought I would real quick like copy/paste my response to Terry over on the new member welcome page over here to get this all in one thread.. Hope you dont mind Terry..

 

"""Hi Terrymiller1973,, I am Puc,, my friend and it is a pleasure to meet you!!

 

Gotta ask,, what is the significance of the "1973" in your screen name if you dont mind me asking? That is a really special year for both myself and my wife and I am just curious..

Concerning the questions about your scoot,, 1st of all THANK YOU for being another 1st Gen MK1 Venture owner/op and for doing your part in keeping these sweethearts on the road,, I too ride em! Even though they are getting up there in age,, IMHO,, they are still the best of the best touring bike known to man! I am biased, can you tell?

 

I am currently wearing out my 6th one of these MK1's and have to tell you, all of mine have normally ran at about 1 needles width out of the red zone on the OEM gauge when at full operating temp.. Running into the red zone is,, IMHO,, a sign of problems.. The 83/84 MK1's like you and I ride came right from Yamaha with a plastic impellar.. I have swapped out numerous impellars of my own to the updated aluminum impellars.. On a couple of mine the plastic OEM impellar had lost it blades so much due to being plastic that the impellar was no longer moving coolant,, the engine was only being cooled by covection as it were.. If I were you that is the first thing I would check.. I would also suggest that while swapping out the impellar that doing the bearings, seals and even impellar shaft would not be a bad idea.. I have, on more than one occasion, done this and never had another water pump issue in +250,000 additional miles..

How many miles on your scoot? Do you know if its second gear is solid with no slippage and whether or not the previous owner had the soft shim replaced in the tranny that causes all of them,, the MK1's, to lose 2nd? Just curious.

Wanna have some fun and set yourself up for getting miles ahead in the VR club fun? I suggest that you copy/paste your 1st post here into our Water Hole area.. Not many of these varmints visit this section and you will get a lot more action in the Hole,, in my opinion.. Worth a shot!!

Oh yeah,, you also might want to get ready to be asked for pictures of your bike.. I swear, a lot of these lop eared varmints cant read so they depend on pictures a lot.. Just an fyi..

Welcome and enjoy!!

Puc"""

 

and then might add,, WOWZY WOW WOW WOW TERRY,, SHE IS A DANDY!!!! BEAUTIFUL SCOOT MY FRIEND,, JUST BEAUTIFUL ,,, MAJOR !!

 

Would also like to add,, looking at the static stance of your scoots suspention,, it appears that it already has progressive springs up front as I dont see the normal sag going on that come stock with the Ink Pen springs Mom Yam ships em to us with.. On the other hand,, it is entirely possible that you have air in the front forks and that could be fooling me.. If it were mine I would empty the forks of air and check its stance,, if she shows sign of weakened springs I would be replacing those pronto if it were mine..

Also,, the stators on these 1st Gens were iffy at best.. They came originally with an undercooled stator oil bath and had an update (like the 2nd gear issue,, NOT a recall,, just an update) issued consisting of a splatter plate and an orfice in the crank bolt to squirt oil onto the splash plate.. Also, many of us MK1 riders have found it benificial to cut out the stator wire terminal behind the left side cover (hanging on the frame) and hard wire it as many of us have found that terminal to be problemactic and,, some of us (me included) have had that terminal fail causing the stator wires to short against each other causing instant stator failure = this is known to happen at the most inopportune times..

Another thing I would do if it were mine is I would pull the carb diaphrams that operate the slides and check them for condition.. If they are pin holed or torn I repair mine with E-6000 and currently have 3 of those in my 1st Gen with over 30000 miles on them and still going strong.. I used YamaBond 5 for this for years but E-6000 appears to be doing a better job..

After checking those diaphrams and with each oil change when home I would sync the carbs.. Pick up a cheap set of vacuum gauges and learn to use them.. Carb syncing is a 20 minute job on these once ya get the hang of it and the bikes LOVE to be in sync..

There,, combined with all the other suggestions,, that should give you something to ponder.. Hope this doesnt scare you cause I gotta repeat,, you done got your hands on one of,, if not THEE,, best touring bike ever made with REAL capabilities of taking you anywhere you wanna go with a highest potential of also bringing you home once you got it sorted out!!

IMHO of course

Puc

[Terrymiller1973]

Cowpuc thank you very much for all the info and suggestions. I am planning on an initial once over by a local shop that was highly recommended by a trusted friend just to make sure everything looks good then after that all me. Since winter is coming quick in Alaska should have plenty of time to tinker before riding season again.

[Prairiehammer]

Also could someone point me in the directing to find what all the blocks on the warning cluster mean

 

[Terrymiller1973]

Thank you very much

[Terrymiller1973]

Ok to answer the question about the fix for second gear. I don't think repair was completed. I road the bike this afternoon with the wife on the back with me. As I accelerated in second gear I could feel it slipping at the higher end of the acceleration range. So another question then is with it slipping can the repair be done or is it too late since it is already slipping

[Freebird]

Slipping is is a sign of a weak clutch spring, not the second gear issue. Easy to replace the clutch spring. The second gear issue causes it to pop out of second gear, not slip.

[Terrymiller1973]

Ok then maybe I am using the wrong term. What this is doing feels almost like when a rotary gear starts skipping a tooth. I am not 100% sure if it came out of gear. I don't remember it feeling like it went to neutral but I also immediately shifted when I heard and felt this. It only does this in second gear as you are accelerating somewhat heavily.

[skydoc_17]

Hey Terry,

Try these two links to solve your slipping clutch issue.

 

https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?144048-FIRST-GEN-MKI-(83%92-to-85%92)-HEAVY-DUTY-CLUTCH-SPRINGS-UPGRADE-KIT!

 

https://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?139138-First-and-Second-Gen-7-New-Genuine-Yamaha-Clutch-Friction-Discs!

 

I hope this helps!

Earl

[cowpuc]

Ok then maybe I am using the wrong term. What this is doing feels almost like when a rotary gear starts skipping a tooth. I am not 100% sure if it came out of gear. I don't remember it feeling like it went to neutral but I also immediately shifted when I heard and felt this. It only does this in second gear as you are accelerating somewhat heavily.

 

Terry,, our V-4's have a well known, and well documented issue with clutch slippage.. Quite frankly,, it is still my opinion that mom yam simply put to small of a clutch into these bikes at they do pull hard when they cross into HP range above 5250 on the tach.. This usually shows up in higher gears and with 2 up first.. Totally 100% repairable,, my advice,,, lean heavy on Skydoc for this,, he helped many many people solve this issue no matter which Generation of V-4 they are dealing with..

It sounds to me like you are indeed talking about 2nd gear issues.. What you describe is exactly how a failing 2nd Gear begins its complete failure.. My personal MO for having ridden the 83 (and one 84) Venture is this,, I discovered early on that the failed 2nd gear has no effect on the engines longevity or, even for ride quality when used for extreme long distance riding or even local fun.. The following explaination and the 2nd gear issue I am to explain is solely applicabile to the MK1,, 83/84 and the early 85's..

What happens is there is a soft shim on the end of the middle gear shaft (see parts 11 and 12 found here: https://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oemparts/a/yam/50042479f8700209bc787e38/middle-drive-gear that fail early into the bikes existence causing misalignment of second gear engagement ramps/dogs.. All of my bikes (5 of them) except the one I ride now had failed 2nd gears and I simply short shifted them out well past 200k miles of my own riding with failed second gears.. IMHO, these scoots pull hard enough and with enough low end torque and plenty of HP that I have yet to find a need for 2nd gear (except for drag racing against anything of the same hp figures,, V-Twins even with close to x2 the cubes? No problem even with no 2nd gear ) - I just bought em cheap,, real cheap with no 2nd gear and set out to wear em out.. Even with a fully gone 2nd gear, the repair of such is the same and fully doable, it does require a complete tear down though as there is no way to fix it without splitting the cases.. If you do decide someday that you would like to rip into yours and repair the second gear I would suggest strongly that you contact @Venturous Randy about doing a gear ratio mod.. Randy has spent plenty of time figuring gear ratios and has THE go to mod for gear these amazing MK1's! It involves using the gear set out of a later bike (and possibly the rear drive from a V-Max) and coming up with some outstanding numbers for gear ratios.. Personally,, I never slowed down enough on my bikes,, just ran em and ran em and ran em till they dropped and grabbed another one, to make the mod.. I bid you well should you decide to do it!!

Puc

[Condor]

On the heating issue I don't think anyone has mentioned the thermostat by-pass being open. This will cause the coolant to flow faster than the radiator can cool it. Maybe Prairie Dog can supply a pic. I just redid my computer and now don't know where anything is... I also ran a little water wetter in the system. It did bring the temp down a bit but still a couple of needles under the red... In the winter the temp stayed way down. On the clutch issue I'm sure someone has said to bleed the system. Also check to see if the reserve is over full, or the expansion hole is plugged in the bottom of the reserve.

 

Lots of great advice posted here...

[Woody]

First thing welcome to VR. and you can tell these guys love them first gens. have fun

[saddlebum]

If second gear is skipping my personal opinion is just do like Puc and double shift from 1st Directly into 3rd. For normal riding I usually skip shift anyway 1 - 3- 5. Only time I go through all the gears is when I wanna crank her out say to pass or catch up to the group after being left behind at an intersection or some such thing. These days at least here in Ontario the cost of doing second gear does not really justify the expense since the resale value of these bikes has really dropped over the last few years. The other issue at least here in Ontario is when taking possession of the bike from another owner they are required to pass a Safety inspection and a failed second gear could cause it to fail inspection.