flyday58

That was it, big old jets to compensate for cone filters. Runs like it's aspose to now. Something to look for when acquiring an unknown history bike.

Pretty sure I found the problem. Clue was the cone filters installed by the owner prior to the current one, plus the sooty plugs, but I needed to check all the electrical stuff first before yanking the carbs again. As you might expect the jetting has been monkeyed with. Mains are 125s and pilots are 22.5s. We're in the mountains above 8000' (9000 at my house) so super-rich when coming on the mains above about half throttle, the third clue. Just a shame the bank has to be split to get at the float bowl screws. Jets on order from JetsRUs.com. This should do it; I'll follow up once she's all back together.

Made a few test runs trying different things, none of which worked. I jumpered the L/Y and W wires together at the speedo connector, bypassed the faulty side stand switch, checked voltage running (14.1V at idle, 14.08 when revved). So electrical issue looking less likely. Looks like I'm taking the carbs off again!

As a note, this dude had what appears to be an identical problem to mine. No resolution, never been back. I'm leaning strongly toward an electrical gremlin. My speed sensor is failing the test noted above at the speedo, but not sure how to test that theory. Should have continuity between the blue/yellow and white wires on the harness side, I'm showing an open circuit. Ideas?

Señor Puc, how's it hangin?! Figured you'd be along, good to "hear" your voice again! I'm still firmly earthbound since giving up the flying gig in 2018, enjoying running around on two wheels that don't (mostly) leave the ground. How's things in Musky Michigan? Well-taken points you have there in your list. Pipes are open and I bought an OEM airbox to replace the cones the PPO had on it. Diaphragms passed the hold-up-to-the-light test so no tears or pinholes. They seem to return readily to the closed position after opening with my finger. One is a teeny bit sluggish on the return, another has a fairly deep gouge on the upper surface at the base, so exposed most of the time and not riding up in the bore. Metering rods are clean, return springs are in good shape. This baby is largely electronic so didn't see any vacuum advance on it. It won't accelerate uphill and I have to downshift to third then second to keep her going. I'm hoping someone will chime in on the speed sensor question

Yes, checked with my heat sensor. I had pulled the plugs after the first ride, brand new plugs, all were black and sooty. I'm pulling them now... All sooty black again. I remembered one more thing. I did a speed sensor test and it failed. The manual says you should have continuity across the blue/yellow and white wires, I got zilch (open), even at the speedo itself. And the speedo doesn't come apart so I can't look to see what those wires go to. Anyone have a bike open so they can perform this test for me to see what they get? Thanks.

Continuing... Installed the new cap and went for a ride today. Bike now revs a bit more before acting the same way: more throttle results in a bog, with sputtering but no heavy popping, again like it's starving for gas. I could only go up mountain in 2nd gear, otherwise it lost so much power it threatened to stall. If I feathered the throttle it would run smooth, so long as I didn't ask too much of her. Going back down mountain I could get her to do 60 in 5th, no more. When I resurrected the 83 XVZ years back it had similar symptoms; that turned out to be the ignitor/ECU, which was thoroughly corroded inside. This one is acting similarly. At idle it sounds like a Harley, but I've verified spark on all four coils and plugs. New fuel filter and S-hose, fresh non-corn gas. New float bowl gaskets but few other seals available from Yamaha. The float seats were all loose in their receptacles; I found two o-rings in my stash that worked but the other two are original. New intake boots, replaced the cone filters with an OEM unit and filter(maybe I should check the jet sizes since the PO had cones on it?). Fuel pump was clogged with varnish but I got it pretty clean, and it seems to be pumping gas. One other thing, sometimes when I put the side stand down it'll quit, like it's in gear and the SS switch is sensing it. Today it refused to restart until I put the SS up, then it stayed running with multiple swings of the SS. When this happened, it would crank and fire but not run till I put the SS up. Clutch switch is bypassed, fuel indication is bypassed, both at owner's request (lack of funds). That's the story, thanks for any insights. Richard

Hello again everyone, been awhile since I've posted. But I'm back with a problem on a 97 Royal Star Tour Deluxe that I'm attempting to get back roadworthy for a customer/friend. Bike sat at least four years after the PO passed on, not much history except what eyes reveal. Carbs were very clean though not pristine, but cleaned up easily with no petrified varnish to remove. Fuel tank was another story, so bad that I told the owner I wouldn't fool with it. A friend of his took it, pressure washed it and brought it back, along with a can of red goop that can be applied right over rust. I did it but told him no guarantees. Once it all was back together it fired up on the second touch of the starter button and purred like a thing that purrs (right, Half-Pipe?!). First shakedown cruise was when the problem appeared. No tach but it wouldn't rev above 3500 rpm or so except in idle. It doesn't act like a rev limiter, more like running out of gas. I found the #3 plug cap reading infinity; when I took it apart it was corroded inside so ordered a new one from Mother Yam. Everything else seemed okay. TBC...

Great explanation!

Just a thought, but I've seen my Venture do this low-temp/blast off thing after mucking around with hoses and t-stats. Mine was an air pocket that once it burped out, all I had to do was top off the antifreeze and all was good. Fun reading, lots of gained knowledge for you in a short time. Cheers.

Nice looking cap!

Fun thread. I miss the old '83.

Thanks. If the nightmare returns I may have to pick your brain on exactly how to do this. Sounds simple in theory. Still can't believe I couldn't get it to act up at all. So far I haven't heard anything. Fingers crossed...

To quote Major Frank Burns, "nurtz"! Spent all day Saturday and found nothing. The old girl didn't miss a beat and rode like a dream, great acceleration, no hesitation, just kept going and going and going. I found one bad crimp on my fuse panel swap to blades, but it was for the headlight. So I checked all the crimps and redid them while I was at it. I pushed and pulled on every connector and wire I could get at that relates to ignition without unwrapping the wire loom/ bundle, checked all the relay connections, looked for corrosion I might have missed before. The ONLY real smoking gun happened after I first cranked her up. I was able to get two very subjective-sounding stumbles by applying thumb pressure to the Ignitech box, but then couldn't reproduce it the rest of the day. I even put the box in the freezer for a bit because it had gotten fairly toasty sitting in the El Paso sun, but it worked like a champ. I unplugged the fuel pump and let it starve to verify the symptoms. And of course they are different; when it dies it just quits as if the kill switch had been used, but as the fuel runs out it starts to stutter and surge before quitting. Then when you try to start it, she will try to fire off as some remaining gas gets in. I'm quite sure it's not a fuel issue ( petrol for Greg_in_London;)) Took the emergency stop/ kill switch apart and cleaned the contacts ( they already were), verified correct ops of the sidestand switch and relay, pulled each COP plug off in turn to verify all four were firing (ran on three each time, with #2 also killing the tach but the bike still starting up and running), checked the right switch harness plug, wiggled the ignition switch and key, tugged on every plug and wire I could reach, including the pick-up connectors and wires on the left side frame. When I rode it I went fast, I went slow, I hit bumps, I cranked the steering hard over left and right looking for anything but she ran perfect. The NO says it's even running better after we put it back together, but he had added Seafoam to the gas so that may be it, or it could be purely subjective. And for G_I_L, the cutting out of the tacho was when we tried the old 26H TCI last week. NO such issues with the Ignitech. With all that, I had a blast hanging out with the NO. He started me off with a nice steaming cup of mint mocha coffee while I took the old gal's outer garments off ever-so-slowly, like you do with old flames you haven't seen in a while. THE VENTURE COVERS GUYS, JEEZ!! The gentleman really enjoyed seeing the bike apart and seemed impressed with how much I knew about the thing. I tried to show him all my mods and where to look if certain things happened, although he says he's not very mechanically inclined. He's an electrical engineer but tells me it doesn't apply to bikes or cars, at least not for him. We have similar music tastes, so he put on the big-screen in his garage and we watched and listened to videos of Joni Mitchell, The Blasters, Pat Metheny, Crosby Stills and Nash, and Glen Campbell, great guitarists all. Then he gets out an old Stratocaster and plays through an old tube amp while I'm yanking on wires. Our religious values are also the same so we had plenty to chat about there. Finally I put everything back together and we went and had a late lunch before I headed back home. Without having found any real issues I'm not confident I did anything to fix it. He took it out on the highway after I left and said it flew, no issues. I hope they find happiness together (sniff) and many miles of happy trails. On a side note, a buddy of his pulled up on a 1981 CB750 as I was getting ready to leave. It's in pristine unrestored non-bobbered livery, so trying to talk the wife into thinking there's absolutely nothing wrong with having another motorcycle in the garage. 5 scoots, 6 scoots, what's the diff?

Taking all that stuff with me in the morning as I dispatch myself to ELP to work on it. Bringing extra plugs, my spark tester, might even bring the Carb Tune for good measure.I've got an extra right handlebar switch and ignition switch which will be making the trip, too. The way it's acting, from what the NO is telling me, is the bike acts like you hit the kill switch. I'm leaning away from the switch itself as the bike turns over but won't start. The very first thing I'll do is listen for click-click-click from the fuel pump, and if it starts then dies check for spark, then gas in the carbs. NO said yesterday he put the Ignitek back on and now it won't start. Stay tuned...

Hey Jeff B, just read your whole thread "Hold your breath, I'm going in", lots of good info in there from everybody involved. I'm going to use it as a simplified 'How-To" for the op. You cleared up some things for me in the schematics; I'm usually competent at running wires but the differences between the 83 and 84-85 diagrams have me shaking my head (the right switch is from an 85 with cruise, along with the main harness, cluster and assorted stuff to make it all work; all else is 83). And without the bike present to take a gander at I'm forced to rely on the old noodle, which is starting to get hard and crusty and has an escalating case of CRS. So once again a big shout-out and thanks for the write-up, even though the pics are gone (I assume they were from photobucket). So hold your breath, I'm goin in...

I'm considering this, too. I played hell getting the fuel pump to work after I replaced the points in it. In texts I've asked if he can hear the fuel pump clicking when he first keys up but he hasn't answered yet. And above I said I had resoldered the wires on the kill switch, but I remembered earlier today that it was actually the switch on a different bike, not this one. I had a spare right-side switch for the XVZ in my junk box and when I took it apart it didn't look familiar, so I guess I never fooled with the kill switch on this bike. I feel like the Yamaha shop because I know this bike in and out, and everything I've done to it. I just wish it wasn't 3 hours away now, definitely making it hard to get sorted. Thanks for everybody's advice.

Thank you sir. I figure it's going to be an issue like that so the best thing will be to bring the bike back here where I have access to all my stuff or try to work the problem there. The new owner has professed to not being very savvy on working on things like the Venture.

Just looked at Dingy's pdf on cleaning the kill switch and I remember now I had to do some soldering on the two wires going to the tiny circuit board in that switch. Seems suspicious, guess I'll start there after all.

Happy Season of Mellowness, Understanding, and putting up with My Stupid Sister-in-Law-mas! I hope everyone's Holidaze have been tender and mild. Need a little long-distance troubleshooting from the SMOE (Smartest Motorscooterists on Earth). So I traded the Venture. Don't hate me. It just sat in the garage looking forlorn, unridden and just sad, like that old girlfriend/ ex-wife who you split with but still lives with you because life happens. Had it on CL and a local version out here called Bookoo for most of the year and finally heard from a nice gent in Old El Paso who had a dirt bike he didn't ride that also just sat in the garage. Would I be interested in a trade? Well shucks, shoot and Egads Man, that's how I came by the XVZ in the first place. Bring it on. Issues arose right away but I'll turn to the last page and quit boring y'all. After delivery/ devilry, the Venture started just dying on him and wouldn't restart. I chocked it up the battery turning 3 so I reimbursed him for a new one and he went back to El Paso. Since then the agony has continued for the understanding gentleman. He'll be blasting along and the thing will unceremoniously quit. Crank-crank-crank, nada. Wait a few, crank-crank-crank-VROOM-VROOM, back in bidness. I had put the Ignitech TCI on it but had a spare 26H that I was gonna put on the forum, so I threw that in the truck and promised to hand it over when I got back from my Christmas trip to Sin City, the Garden State, the World Series Champs home and all parts in between. Upon touchdown in ELP I texted him I was there and, once again, he was stranded by the little 1200cc scooter. Crank-crank-crank-nada. Gimme th e address, I'm enroute. After apologizing profusely, falling on my sword and groveling at his feet, I swapped the TCIs and it fired right up. Yippee! Problem solved!! :bang head: If only. 'Twas not to be. First minute or two it was fine, then the tach dropped to 0 and the engine bogged. If you rev it a little the tach recovered, the engine started hitting on all four again and all was right. Let the throttle off and the tach would drop out and the motor would bog. Leave it at 1000 rpm and all was steady. So now it sounds like the #2 cylinder is dropping out at low rpm, taking the tach signal with it. I'm still 3 hours from home, it's now dark, and I've been up since early east-coast, including having to go back to the gate in Newark to fix a maintenence issue that put us an hour late into Houston (if any of you was on my flight I'm sorry, we appreciate your patience and hope you'll think of us when your travel needs blahblahblah). So since it was okay to ride we shook hand and I headed for New Mexico. I hadn't gotten out of the city when the phone rings. Yep, you guessed it, he was beside himself as the little Yamaha that could couldn't after all. Exact same issue as originally, VROOM-VROOM-dead. So apparently it wasn't the Ignitech. He's 2 and a half hours away but I gotta get this sorted. I may take my trailer down there and bring it back here or load up as many tools as I can think of, leave early and spend the day working on it. I'd rather have it here but what a PITA this has turned into. When I put the 26H TCI on it I plugged the advance under the battery box back up correctly to the #2 carb port ( I know y'all are wondering). I checked the plug for corrosion and security. I checked the COP on the #2 cylinder to make sure it was secure and properly connected. I checked the wires in the TCI plugs for security, corrosion, loose or broken wires. The fuse box is the new type that I had replaced a few years back; all that was secure. I did NOT look at the kill or ignition switches as I only thought of them after I had left the scene of the crime. Both are ebay replacements for the rusty junk that was on the bike when I got it. I don't remember doing anything with the kill switch, but I had the igntion switch apart because it was causing an intermittent non-charging issue because of sticky internals; BUT that may have been the original switch, all of the particulars are lost in the antiquity of time. I have pictures of the switch apart but can't tell which one it is. I put fresh premium in it before I traded it, and I think he's running the same. It has COPs, a new gel battery, new fuse box, new battery cables from here, replaced side stand and kill switches. The cluster is modified for running LEDs, also from this site. Whatever else I've forgotten to mention, ask away. To me it sounds like one of those all-too-easy-to-find loose or nearly broken wires or connector pins, or loose solder somewhere in the 95 miles of wiring and circuit boardery. I'll probably start at the kill switch and ignition after making sure there's no single wire that could cause all this. I'm digging through the wiring schematic to make sure I'm not missing something simple. So there. Have I beaten out Half-Pipe (Puc) for lengthiest post?

My ignition switch was causing problems when I got the 83 running, no dead shorts but non-charging issues. Took it apart and cleaned everything up. Problem went away after that. Might be worth a look if you haven't already got it sorted.

Without knowing your history with the bike (haven't been here much the last year) I'd agree with the others. The only other thing I'd check is the bypass valve. My 83 was on bypass when I first got it running and never got very warm. I was told on this site to check it and once I took it off bypass temps acted normally for this year, on the toasty side with the fan kicking on in stop-and-go traffic. Good luck.

That's how I got my 83 in a swap, his brake pistons froze and he didn't want to fool with it! I have the blue dots on the front now, much happier with them. Replaced the forks and discs, along with the beefier fork brace. A ton of confidence gained for the money. No worries on grabbing the wrong thing, we've all done it.

Varmints chewed through the power wires on my wipers back in November, now I'm paranoid about it, especially with all the junk that has to come out to get to the wiring. Plus all the other yummy wires under the Hummer hood. They even built a nest on top of the battery overnight. Now I pop the hood at least once a week. Hope yours is just the motor.

Actually met someone who survived Joplin in the laundromat here in Cloudcroft a few months after. It changes you deep down when you see mortality face-to-face. Thought I was gonna die in a plane crash in '91 shortly after going to work for the airlines, never been the same. It would be similar if you waited too long and saw the flames coming over the hill thinking, why the hell didn't I leave when they told me? Can't even imagine the terror of being trapped by fire, but i have seen the water rising and trees falling. Never been through a tornado, I just hope my Nasty Nature bucket list is full enough I don't ever see one! Super glad you and yours are alright though.