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Gearhead

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Everything posted by Gearhead

  1. Gearhead
    Why did Yamaha eliminate it on the 1300 motor in 86 and up? Cost? Or did the redesign the intake port to achieve swirl without YICS? Jeremy
  2. Gearhead
    "I got the bike pretty cheap, not running, and stuck in first gear. Let me tell you somehting - it's not easy loading it in the back of a pickup while holding the clutch in. $16.00 worth of shift pins later, and it shifts fine. " Just found this on another thread...not sure what the shift pins are, but may be your problem too. Jeremy
  3. Gearhead
    As has been mentioned before, no matter how good the plastic looks you WILL find broken mounting tabs when you remove bodywork for any reason. It can be discouraging, but a little time and ingenuity, JB weld and some reinforcing material (I use light gage galvanized sheet metal) will have them back together. I think this will apply to any fully-faired bike. What are they asking for it? Jeremy
  4. Gearhead
    The clutch basket, boss, plates, etc are not suspect in my mind as Marcarl said. The only way it could be the clutch is if it is not disengaging right. With the engine idling, clutch in and in 1st gear, does it feel like the bike wants to take off if you release the brake but hold the clutch? Does it engage barely off the hand grip? If these are "no" then I really don't think it's the clutch. Behind the case cover on the LH side is the shifter ratchet mechanism, which connects to the shift drum. I hope you find something in the ratchet, although I don't have any suggestions as to what to look for. Maybe it will be obvious - a ball or spring out of place. It could be a problem with the shift drum or forks, which would not be good - hope not for your sake! Jeremy
  5. Gearhead
    More data points: 1st gen's have a tach and redline at 7500 rpm. Vmax, which shares the same basic engine design, redlines around 10k. Jeremy
  6. Gearhead
    Could also be a flaky on-off-vol knob - try some cleaner in it after pulling off the knob. My cassette was intermittent, so I yanked it and connected an MP3 in where the cassette used to connect. It required a toggle switch to turn the radio on and off and works well. Check out this thread: http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9724&highlight=jeremy+tape+switch Jeremy
  7. Gearhead
    Find the carb that the throttle linkage goes to - on my 87 it's #2 - and connect one hose to that. Then connect the other end to each of the other carbs and sync to #2 in the order specified in the manual. #1 will be first, then #3 I think, then #4. If you do 3 and 4 in the wrong order then one will throw the other off. Jeremy
  8. Gearhead
    "Thanks for the info on the sensor mod guys. I don't yet know if I want to go that way as there are differing opinions on how good the maintenance free batteries are compared to the standard ones." There are 2 kinds of maint-free batteries I know of - sealed wet cell and AGM dry cell, sometimes called gel-cell. The knocks I always hear are on the sealed wet-cell, never heard a knock on AGM. Odyssey is AGM, probably the best and expensive. I've bought an AGM for a quad from motorcyclebatteriesusa.com, called a Power Max. It's fine so far, only a year or two old. Two buddies bought their Honda quads new, which came with Yuasa AGM batteries, and they lasted over 5 years each. Neither kept theirs on any kind of tender or gave any special care. Battery Tender brand has a good rep, methinks. Jeremy
  9. Gearhead
    Well, you found the problem. Sounds like you're losing 3 volts on the hot side and an appalling 4 volts on the ground side! If this is like my Virago, it is ground-switching, which explains the high loss on the ground side. Do what George said - I did on the Virago and it made all the difference as they were getting 9.5 volts or so. Viragos are blessed with honk-honk horns as opposed to beep-beep, and they sound pretty good to me. Jeremy
  10. Gearhead
    "I would have thought that coming from a dealer the bike would have ran like a top from the get-go." Please, Condor, you think too much! I think standard fare on a trade-in is a detailed wash and maybe an oil change. Those guys want to maximize their profit. However, the fact that they're working on the carbs bodes well. I really like cliffno350's idea for when you pick up the bike. It will give you a very good chance of finding a coolant leak if there is one. I have a couple things to add. Use your nose - coolant tastes and smells sweet, and if there is much of an external leak you will smell it. He mentioned checking your oil, and you mentioned a dipstick a while back. There is no dipstick; you check the oil by putting the bike on the centerstand on a level surface and look in a sight glass on the lower RH side of the engine. This allows you to see the level and something of the condition of the oil. They should have changed it so it should be pretty much golden like new oil, although my bike turns it dark pretty quickly. (BTW, dark, dirty oil is not an indication that the oil is worn-out or necessarily needs changing.) If there is coolant in it, it will look like a light chocolate milkshake. Jeremy
  11. Gearhead
    "Glad I found this site, such nice and helpful people and now I know all about pushing and turning on buttons and getting tunes from a radio. This is soooooooo awesome!!!!!!!" Yeah, what he said! Jeremy
  12. Gearhead
    Here's what I have surmised; may be correct, may not: SLIDE DIAPHRAGMS They seal off the top of the slide from the rest of the carb. As the throttle allows more air to flow, more vacuum develops in the venturi at the bottom of the slide, which is transferred to the top of the slide through a hole. That vacuum then pulls up on the slide against the slide spring. Strictly speaking, slides, needles, etc don't affect the idle. But I'm not totally sure what the effects are of a leaky diaphragm (yeah, there's a joke here...). It would lose some of the vacuum that's supposed to be pulling the slide up. I kinda don't think it would affect the idle either, but not totally sure. COASTING ENRICHMENT DIAPHRAGMS When you let off the throttle in gear (called an overrrun), the mixture tends to go lean causing misfires; the resultant unburned fuel in the pipes is what causes the popping often associated with an overrun (most noticable with louder pipes). This doesn't really matter except for bad emissions (and would be bad for the cat converter if we had one). So for emissions reasons they installed the "coasting enrichment system", which is a second pilot air jet with a vacuum-operated, normally-open diaphragm valve. Under most running conditions (including idle, I think) there is not sufficient vacuum to close the valve, so the pilot (idle) circuit gets air from two air jets for its normal mixture. Under the very high vacuum of an overrun, the diaphragm pulls the valve closed, blocking the path of air from one of the air jets, enriching the mixture which prevents the lean condition and misfires. If the diaphragms are bad, I think it would allow the engine vacuum to leak to an open air source, causing a vacuum leak on that cylinder, and that WOULD affect the idle (carb sync and mixture). It would also prevent the enrichment system from operating correctly. Personally, I don't care one way or the other if the enrichment system is working, but I do care if I have a vacuum leak, and I don't really want to spend another 100 bucks on 4 new diaphragms. I think if I were to plug the vacuum source the carb simply would leave both air jets open all the time and function fine, just as if it didn't have that system. Oh, BTW, that diaphragm is on the side of the carb under a metal cap with 3 screws. Except for one of the caps, which is plastic and seems to mount some of the throttle hardware. They don't appear accessible without removing and splitting the carb assembly. Jeremy
  13. Gearhead
    "I read in the tech bulletins for my 83, to seal the intake boots to the airbox, had used a semi-drying gasket sealer for this." This makes sense, as when the air box accumulates a little blow-by-oil on my 87 it leaks out those joints and down on to the carbs. Jeremy
  14. Gearhead
    "Bottom line. Install a Relay, when you install the new horns !!!" Or even with the stock horns. They may have untapped potential if they aren't getting full voltage. There is an active thread right now on this very subject. Jeremy
  15. Gearhead
    Another thing to consider is mic position. Microphone volume is related to the square of distance from the sound source (your mouth), meaning that moving it a little closer makes the signal alot stronger. If it is not already, try putting the mic sock gently against your lips, and your passenger's similarly positioned. They you can possibly turn the intercom down. I need to do this on mine (87 VR). We just took our first trip with the headsets and it is pretty good, but at interstate speeds I have to turn it up pretty loud and have the same problem. Full-face helmets make mic adjustment a bit of a pain though : ( Jeremy
  16. Gearhead
    "I have read where some folks have had problems with the Intake manifold gaskets, makeing a good seal. One guy said he puts Sealant on them." Is this problem reported to be on the carb side or the engine side? If it's the engine side, I would just replace the o-rings! Jeremy
  17. Gearhead
    Amen about Momma and the rear seat! The swingarm pivots on tapered roller bearings, and the monoshock linkage has some type of hard plastic bushings. My 87 was in dire need of maintenance, but even still the bearings and bushings were OK. Cleaning, fresh grease, and careful reassembly (plus a couple new seals) and I was good to go. I've read mixed reviews on installing zerks in the shock linkage, so I didn't do it. Some say that the years without zerks also lack sufficient space for the inserted grease to circulate and get on the whole bushing, so that disassembly is the only way to fully distribute the grease. There are nice looking places to install zerks, almost like they intended to. Jeremy
  18. Gearhead
    Pretty sure it doesn't matter. Try it briefly and see if there's any diff in the sound. Jeremy
  19. Gearhead
    My plugs were rusty too. Water can get in the plug wells, but is supposed to drain off through a hole that drains behind the little rectangular cylinder side covers. Remove one (1 screw) and see if it's plugged (no pun intended : ) What speed is it idling at? It should be about 1000 rpm. Pull one of your carb slides and check the diaphragm for holes and cracks, although mine have holes (new ones on order) and I could still sync the carbs. I think bad coasting enrichment diaphragms will cause a vac leak internal to the carb.
  20. Gearhead
    Almost definitely goop in the carbs. This is a classic story for people buying used bikes. Somebody buys a bike, then their life gets busy or whatever and they park it, thinking that one day things will change...but that day never comes, so they sell. But it's been sitting a year, or 5, at that point and the fuel has long since evaporated, leaving behind it's crusty / flaky / goopy varnish which plugs jets and passages at the drop of a hat. Good news is it might not need any new parts (except it probably will need diaphragms as has been stated - they're really easy to check). Carb cleaning is a bit o'trouble, but not too bad. Try heavy doses of Seafoam first and check the diaphragms. Jeremy
  21. Gearhead
    Oh, another possiblity that assailed me once. I had the CB on to see if it worked. I adjusted the squelch nicely and rode around. Shut it off, started it up another day, no sound from radio. Turned out that the squelch, adjusted right for the conditions the other day, was set up too tight and it was breaking squelch, muting the radio. Jeremy
  22. Gearhead
    Hehehehe....pleading the 5th. Jeremy
  23. Gearhead
    Yeah, what he said! If you use an analog meter, put the red lead on the hot side of the horn and the black on the neg side of the horn. Of course, you may not be able to tell the difference, so just try it briefly - the meter should take backward connection for a moment - and if it's backward then swap them. Also, try to connect the horn directly to the battery with some loose wires and see how they work. Jeremy
  24. Gearhead
    Or the mute button on the passenger control? Jeremy
  25. Gearhead
    Whew, got any ventilation in there? Fans? Jeremy
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