Sexagenarian

found this part for you here: screw but my guide shows it as a 1HX-14565-00-00, not a 1HV unless I am looking at the wrong part? Do you have the link for Bob's article on the varnished carbs you mentioned above? I am also in the process of cleaning up my carbs off a 97 RSTD. -Wayne

profile updated so all can see the year and model now. -cheers!!

thanks billmac... have to work today so hopefully I can complete the separation and begin the carb cleanings tomorrow.. So far, yamahapartshouse has been my cheapest alternatives for product. I must be ordering odd stuff because everything seems to be two weeks out. ---cheers!!

Carbs are now 99.9% separated. Only thing left to do is undo the synchronizing screws. I see now, that my question above was really a newbie question. Sorry to all who thought I lost my marbles. One question before I loosen the synch screw for #1 and #2 carb along with the synch screws for #3 and #4 carbs. Is it worth my while to count the turns of the screw while loosening, in order to try and get them back into the same position upon reassembly? Or will cleaning the carbs thoroughly skew those synch settings anyway? Just curious. In other words, should I just courageously loosen them and resign myself to the fact I will have to resynch the carbs after putting everything back together? :080402gudl_prv:Thanks for any input... cheers!!

OK, I have the carb assembly off and on the workbench. I sit here staring at it and trying to figure out how I am going to get the float covers off. Failure is not an option at this point. Prior to this, my experience with motorized vehicles was turning the keys over to a mechanic. Looks like I will have to somewhat separate the assembly in order to get those floats exposed. I was really hoping not to have to skew any adjustments as the bike was running great prior to my mishap. Looks like #1 was the main culprit as it has the look of being soaked with fresh gas all over it. Is there a specific routine for separating the carbs whereby no adjustments are tampered with? It appears I will have to remove the two choke assemblies (one each side) and the mounting brackets to get enough separation. does that sound correct? What should I be cautious with? thanks for any responses.

hi Randy. there is, and i have replaced it now that i am removing the carbs for a thorough cleaning..

Again, great advice RSTDdog. Count me in as a new supporting member!!

that's it exactly. with the 'normal' pickup tube floating around in the tank, the port it used to be sitting in was now the 'bottom' of the normal tube which places it way lower than the bottom of the reserve tube. Being a new owner, plus a new rider, I really appreciate the suggestions on utilizing the reserve frequently in order to divert surprises when you least want them. thanks all!! Hhhmmm, come to think of it, it was after running the tank dry in this manner, that my gas problems began the next day. I probably carried something foreign to the carbs via the filter and pump. Working on that problem now. see this gas thread

Very good point. I neglected to mention I have the '97 RSTD. Was only able to work on it for a little time today. So I changed out the fuel filter with a yamaha one, since I didn't know how long it has been since the current one was replaced. Will be removing the carb housing hopefully tomorrow.

RSTDdog... thank you, thank you, for those great links. Even though mine is an earlier year, the technique appears almost identical except for slight variations. Seeing how the throttle cables in the first posting were shown, was huge and really explained what the clymer manual was alluding to. Great threads and thanks again..

thanks for the response dacheedah. I spent the morning on youtube familiarizing myself with carb terms. At my age, I just can't believe the plethora of good info on the internet. I was so mad at the quote from my yamaha dealer, I decided to attempt full repair myself. I have the air housing off and the carb openings exposed. I believe I have found the faulty carb by all the gas surrounding the air intake opening on that particular carb. Tomorrow I will be pulling the carb housing (?) from the top of the engine and begin cleaning ALL the carbs. Any words of precaution from all you veteran mechanics? This is actually FUN!!! I wish I would have attempted riding and repairing my own ride many many years ago!!

So I go to start the RSTD and am having a heck of a time. Finally open the throttle all the way and it finally fires. If I let up on the throttle I know it will flood out. I look down and see gas coming out of a hose. I have colored the leaking hose red in the attached black and white image. Is this the breather hose? Sorry all, but I know zero about carbs. And my nearest Yamaha dealer told me "4 carbs = 4 hours labor at $100 per hour" Ouch!! Any advice from anyone? $400 would be painful and they said that doesn't include any parts for fixing.

Forgive my lengthy dialogue in advance. After so many years on this planet, I find people like to read about the trials of others in order to make their own plights more bearable. so here goes.. Friday: so I took off on my Brand-new-to-me, 1997 RSTD which is my very first ever motorcyle. I was tired of being my wife's bit#@$ch as she has a Harley. So I went through the motorcycle course and absorbed as much as my ol' brain would take. I was having a great time right up to the point my engine started to sputter. No problem I thought. Just switch to the Reserve level in the tank. Except there was no reserve level. Bone dry. How? Was I motoring around with the fuel lever mistakenly in the Reserve position? Of course the wife is laughing hysterically at me now, which makes my ego shrink immensely. Nope. The long part of the lever was pointing down to the 'on' position. Maybe the person I bought it from told me wrong. Maybe the long part of the lever is not the indicator, maybe it is the short part and I truly was driving around in the 'reserve' position all this time..... Saturday: My Clymer on the RSTD showed up in the mail and showed the fuel lever operating modes. Yup, I truly was driving with the lever in the correct position. Then why no Reserve? Sunday: Curiosity got the best of me. My fuel indicator light never came on either. So time to find out what is going on. Off goes the speedometer cover and two pin trip button connector and the 18 pin meter connector get opened up. Interestingly the Clymer refers to it as a 12 pin connector... HHhmmmmm... Fuel lamp has continuity. Fuel sender connector is reachable just by taking the seat off. No continuity towards fuel sender, wiring towards the meter connector does have continuity. Wiring good. Off goes the meter, just cause I am curious now, and to clean up the previous 65,000 miles of dirt underneath it. Off goes the fuel tank after siphoning my tank refill into the gas can from Friday's refill. Almost ready to pull off the sender but I thought I better wait until Monday (today) to find out if my local dealer has the part in stock. I stare at the fuel valve assembly. I just have to find out why I had no reserve. Off it comes. As I pull the assembly away from the tank, I notice a short stubby piece of plastic on one input port and nothing in the other input port. Blowing through the output port confirms that with the lever in the 'on' position, the gas was being selected via the port with nothing in it. Which is why it was sucked dry. Shaking the tank revealed that there was definitely something loose in it. After an hour or so, I had finally manipulated the 'little plastic pipe extension' over to the other side of the tank so it could be grabbed with my finger tool from the fill hole. I put the piece of plastic back into the port and pushed hard to get it to seat all the way down. A friction fitting between plastic and metal!! I was astonished, but at least the mystery of why there was no reserve had been revealed. My clymer manual shows that these two extensions should have been metal protrusions and not something that was inserted. Is this normal. Has anybody else experienced the loss of their reserve? Before ordering the fuel sender, does the low-fuel indicator light on the meter actually work correctly? Stay safe!!