larrydr

I live 20 miles from the Canada ..USA border and at least till now we cannot cross the border ....In the past we used to make many trips to the C,omin in Grand Forks and had some great food at the Texas Road House there ....Have family and many good friends in the USA ...We miss the good times when did visit them ......I truly hope that all this ugly COVID goes away soon ...Have cousins in California and 2 other states we would like to go see .. You guys have a great time ...Keep it between the lines and the rubber side down

Thanks I will proceed with caution ...I think my cooling plugged or the water pump is done/kaput

I have been down this road many a time with automotive engine .....I have been warned not to use the regular cooling system flush as it may damage the XVZ1200 system . i was thinking of using vinegar and water mixture 50/50 ....Anyone have the right answer . I have been to find a thermostat here in Canada , that is near impossible

My 83 xvz1200 had leak at the gear shift lever , I pulled the cover and pressed out the bushing and made a new one in my lathe and installed it and put the seal back in .. That was 10 months ago and still okay

I do know of someone that lost a passenger ..did not end well

My XVZ1200 ... has 150 80 16 at the rear ....Is there a 15 inch rear wheel that would fit

I went to service a garage out of town early this spring , and when I was done the customer pointed to my rear wheel on my truck ,,it was flat ...He filled the tire with the air from is shop compressor and ran my hand over the tire and found a hole ...Went to my tool box and looked for a screw a bit larger than the hole and screwed it in , the leak stopped . I drove it a 20 minute drive back to my shop and the screw was still in the tire and the tire was full

I have found a issue with after market seals ...I ordered seals for my 83 1200 from Yamaha , it seemed they would never come so found some aftermarket not to far away and they arrived quickly . They don't seal properly , now I am back to waiting for my seals from Yamaha

I do know the manual says 3.7 US quarts ...I do know that the 83 is know to have that same noise . Is there a problem of of not enough lubrication that makes that washer/shim with that much wear at second gear a common issue

My 83 XVZ1200 has transmission noise in neutral .. I backed the bike out the shop door and the drop of concrete brought the bike down 2 inches and the transmission noise is gone ...I rode the bike back into the shop and the noise is back when the bike is on the level floor ...I added 1/2 to 3/4 quart of oil to the crankcase which is a overfill and the noise is gone ..When is the overfill to much oil

I think to agree and to disagree is just fine ...Sometimes that is the only we can learn

I had a Virago that had problem much like that ..I found that the floats in the carbs were caught on the inside of the float bowl ...I could change plugs it started out okay , and ten minutes same problem over again .. I pulled the carbs and found tiny little marks inside the float were the floats would stick...Good Luck

I do know and have used of the permatex designed as a gasket replacement ( designed RTV use ) and it most times worked well on many a Virago side cover I prefer to buy it in 12 inch applicator tube ..I do know it helps to keep it fresh and not let it dry out .Sometimes it only takes one to make you rethink the list of materials

Before I would do any major of engine work , I would do an extensive cooling system flush ..and system pressure test Then I use the right antifreeze with clean potable / household water and maybe do a oil and filter change then run it

I have used the right stuff and it has worked very well ..The last time I used I did overhaul on a Heston farm tractor 180 horse power diesel engine and all was fine ..The next I was going use was on 6V71 Detroit truck engine ,... I began to used it when it came out of the tube in a water like juice , so I went to Permatex brand ....I did try it again on the small cover on my 83 XVZ1200 on the small cover and it did not work well ....that is when used a slim hard gasket material with urethane coating to get the job done ...It may be that there a problem with surface of the cover

I had trouble with gasket at the same location on my 83 XVZ 1200 I found that the thicker / heavier gasket did not work I had the best results with a .008 inch rigid material gasket , for reason a thicker gasket with load up up oil and start to leak Some times the little things can make for a pile of trouble

I am a general contractor /shop door installer/repair ..I have never had to tackle builds that size ...Often when called to access door & walls to repair , I have to report and I keep wondering who built this and why were none of the standards met as to code ...I realize that the regulations/codes have changed from the 1960's to now ...But why was no one checking these things .

I would not mind leaving it to a automatic , the only problem is my card number is being changed .. I did renew just a little while ago .

As a small service guy I have to constantly make all the imported shafts fit standard bearings..( I buy all bearings USA made ) ..The metric system has helped no one ....The first problem is our government bends to every out of country government in the far east and is filling their pockets from that money and really does not care about its own people ... They adopted the metric system because they had their hands on foreign money ... We have been paying the price since ...our regular grade gas cost us $5.76 per gallon and premium gas cost us $6.48 per gallon ... The guy at the top is the biggest crook of all handing out tax payers money to his own family

Over the years working on motorcycles with nasty electrical problems have seen many things that would cause any mechanic to shake his head ..and say why did they do this ... I have seen wires come from a connector one color and run down the harness and about 3/4 way near the end of the harness do a u-turn and after the u-turn change colors and head back where the other color where the wire came from and then splice into another wire and head back down the harness ....And of course the wire diagram from the manufacturer not showing the splice and marking it as a different color .

My venture has the punch mark after the engine number indicating that it has been done ,,,,My thinking there is still something that needs looking after..I need to make room in my shop for this kind of repair ..I have too finish installing a hydraulic arm lift to move the engine from bench to another.

I did notice a noise in the transmission which may be caused a washer / spacer wearing thin near the second gear .. I did notice some gear chance difficulty leaving the bike with no neutral I did notice changing the gear position did help a bit . I got to a long time retired Yamaha mechanic who knows the venture inside out

Yes ..Handles great....I have 120 , 70 , 18 on front ....150 , 80 , 16 on the rear I dropped the rear of the bike 1 1/2 inches ,,,moved the shock mount pin 1/2 inch lower There 5 1/2 inches clearance above the rear wheel 4 3/4 clearance from the ground to the bottom of the shock at 15 ps 6 inches clearance at 20 psi at the rear shock

This may no be the answer to your problem , but what happened to me was I had the kick /side stand and center down and when I put it into gear the engine went dead . That is what it is supposed to do ...The kick stand switch should shut the engine down when the bike goes into gear when the stand is down

I had a steering wobble on my 83 1200 , first thing I did was check the steering head bearings ... The front / steering head of the bike is major part of keeping safe on the road . I spent $75.00 including the grease to replace the steering head bearing , that is a small amount of dollars to spend to keep your bike handling well