MiCarl

Back to your base problem: It is unlikely to be the diaphragms unless you buggered them up somehow when you worked with them. My 89 ran fine with holey diaphragms. The new main jets are unlikely to be the problem. They really shouldn't be in play until the engine has spun up and you are moving some air through the carburetors. I cannot tell from the picture if they are Mikuni jets. I have seen problems with aftermarket jets so you need to have this in mind if you have high speed trouble later. The situation you describe is consistent with the mixture going lean off idle. There are a number of things that can cause this: 1) Dirty passages or jets in the low speed circuit. The pilot (idle) jet and circuit should have a somewhat rich mixture. At idle that mixture is primarily supplied past the idle mixture screw. As you open the throttle there are extra orifices under the throttle plate that throw more of that mixture into the air stream. You can somewhat compensate for some blockage at idle by opening the mixture screws but as the throttle opens things have to all be right. 2) Air leaks. The obvious places are the carb holders (the rubber pieces that connect the carburetors to the cylinder heads) which can be cracked, misaligned or loose; leaking or missing caps on the vacuum ports and leaking vacuum lines. It's also possible, but less likely I think, to have air leaks internal to the carburetor. On your carburetor you have a jet block that carries the jets and attaches to the carburetor body. I can see where problems with that gasket might let excess air in. You can check for external leaks by spraying a modest amount of starting fluid on suspected areas and listening for the idle to pick up. Don't go crazy with the spray or you could get an unpleasant fire ball. 3) Grossly out of synchronization with a combination of other factors. You should get some sync gauges. I use THIS EMGO SYNCHRONIZER. Be advised that the vacuum lines that came with mine were crap and needed to be replaced. 12' of vacuum hose from the auto parts store won't set you back much. There are other gauges out there but for the money I don't think this one can be beat. A well running engine should have even vacuum on all cylinders of about 10". UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES PURCHASE A MOTION PRO SYNC PRO - it is very precise but unless your sync is very close you will ruin the gauge. Plus, it doesn't have absolute readings so it gives no indication as to whether the engine is running well. I do this for a living and sometimes it takes several tries to get them right. Even when you get them right some crap may come from the fuel line and just mess them up again. Be patient and don't take any short cuts. You'll eventually work it out. Having laid all that out here is what I think. 90% chance the problem is the idle circuits aren't truly clean or you put them together wrong. Do it again.

Exactly! Most of the things transacted on Craigslist are not commodities, each is unique and there is no way to know what it might be worth without an inspection/test drive. I've put my cards on the table - it's a whatever and I'll part with it for $XX. If you check it out and don't think it's a reasonable price offer me $YY and show me the money. If you call or email talking $YY I'm going to assume you're either trying to move the start point of negotiations or flat out don't have the money.

Try using the passenger headset connection. If that works ok the rider headset lead is likely damaged near the steering head.

When you say it won't transmit do you mean it stays in receive mode or is it transmitting without modulation (your voice). If the radio stays in receive mode I'd look at the wiring for the push to talk switch. It's going to be a part of the bundle going from the left handle bar switch group down to the steering head, and then either into the headlamp housing or under the tank. Flexing at the steering head may have broken a wire that is giving an intermittent connection.

I don't know if alternators were a problem on the 1500, but they are easy to replace. They're similar to an automobile alternator - disconnect the wire, pull 3 bolts and the whole alternator lifts off the engine. Carburetors on them are a HUGE job. Make sure it's not gunked up then take care of it so you never have to pull them.

It's unlikely to be an actual ground per se. You need to start by measuring charging voltage at the regulator/rectifier. If it's low you know you need to look into the regulator/rectifier, the stator and the connections between them. If you get normal charging voltage at the regulator/rectifier then you know you have some resistance outside the charging system. Check the regulator/rectifier (+) to a good ground. If you still have charging voltage you got lucky - just add another (heavy) ground onto the regulator (-) and you can move on. If the problem is on the (+) leg you'll need to start checking every connector, fuse and switch between the regulator/rectifier and battery.

Unfortunately there are a number of things that can cause these symptoms. Given the new parts the likely suspect is bad wiring connections. You need to check the voltage at the regulator/rectifier. If you're getting 14+ there then there is too much resistance somewhere. It can be a bit at more than one connection adding up to a lot. I've had motorcycles where I needed to fix a half dozen connections before they charged right. I just did one last week where the resistance was on the ground side. I solved that by just splicing an additional frame ground into the (-) wire on the regulator/rectifier.

That's the best advice you'll get this week. If you need a money pit just buy a boat.

I don't know that they're any more prone to problems than any other TCI. I know some Yamaha TCIs were sensitive to low voltage - would quit working below 11 volts while the starter would still happily grind away. Not sure if the Virago TCI is like that though. The really common problem for that motorcycle is a bad starter clutch, so if it cranks that is a good sign. Or the clutch could be shot and it's not actually cranking the engine but rattling the starter clutch rollers. Starter clutches are a big enough problem on those there is a joke that Virago is Italian for "Push Start".

I forgot to mention: I also coat the inside of the windshield so any water that gets on there falls off. I do my face shield too, if I stretch up and get my face into the wind the water will fly off that too.

I don't believe rain-x is suitable for poly-carbonate motorcycle windshields. I use a product called Rain Zip from National Cycle. I've found it does an excellent job shedding the water from my first gen above 45mph. Below that speed it doesn't do much. For me it's outstanding at freeway speeds. I think how well it works will depend on how the air moves over the windshield. I don't have any experience with it on a 2nd gen.

If you've never ridden one try and find someone who will let you try one out. They are an entirely different animal than two wheels. I've only ever ridden a couple short distances and that was enough to know a hack isn't for me.

Shortly after my last post the furnace crapped out again. Of course it was very cold outside. With all my messing around in there I'd finally figured out how things worked and re-wired it so the pilot would stay lit and got through the winter that way. Honeywell makes a control that's supposed to be a suitable replacement for the Johnson Controls control that was in the furnace. The ICM control (2 different units I tried) is supposed to be a "clone" of the Honeywell. Last week I broke down and ordered the Honeywell control which I installed today. The furnace works flawlessly with the Honeywell control. I guess the moral of the story is it doesn't pay to try and save a couple $$ with off brand furnace parts. The other moral is it's way easier to work on a furnace when it's 73 degrees than when it's 2 degrees. Thanks everyone who gave me input on this.

There is a lot that goes into pistons other than bore and stroke. Skirt length and configuration, wrist pin dimensions, ring grooves etc. Yamaha used different part numbers for MKII vs. 2nd gen. They're not in the habit of duplicating parts with different numbers.

I believe the cylinder numbering you listed is correct. If I remember correctly, the cylinder numbering is listed in the valve lash section of the manual.

Only tip I have is take your time and do it right. No point in having to re-do it.

You're right, it's not getting enough gas. But not because of the fuel pump. The idle circuits in the carburetors are gummed up. It only needs to sit a couple weeks with our modern gas to do that. You need to tackle a carb cleaning.

There is a timer that only allows it to run for a brief period if the ignition isn't firing. This is to prevent uncontrolled fuel spills. Six pumps seems a bit short though. I think my 89 will run for about 10 seconds.

The two long ones will stick out of the wrong holes a country mile. Try them in each hole and put them in the ones where they only stick out about 1/2 inch. Alternatively you can install the short bolts first. If the threads don't grab you've found a deep hole.

First off, it isn't exactly a choke. A choke restricts air flow to make the fuel mix richer. Motorcycles with true chokes often have a linkage to open the throttle a bit when the choke is on. What your carburetors have are enrichment circuits. They're quite a bit like a parallel carburetor except with a rich fuel mixture. When you open their throttles (by moving the "choke" lever) that rich mixture is added to whatever the main carburetor is doing. That rich mixture helps it start cold and the extra fuel/air makes the engine run faster. The enrichment circuits can compensate for dirty jets or air leaks affecting the idle circuit, but they are limited on how much they can do. Also, the enrichment circuits have their own jets and can get gunked up just like the regular jets.

Dave is correct - the octane rating measures resistance to pre-ignition (detonation, knock). It's got nothing to do with cleaning the fuel system. Using a higher octane than the engine requires simply wastes money.

On my '89 the entire clutch operation is within the first third of lever travel. You could reshape the lever back quite a bit and it'd still work just fine. No need to modify switches if you reshape the lever. I reshaped the clutch lever on a customer's V-Star 1100 because his hands were too small to operate it comfortably. I've also reshaped the clutch lever on my wife's V-Star 650. My wife would like me to pull hers back even more.

I refrain from "micro aggressions". I go all in.

My understanding: Leather - Made from an animal hide. Very durable. Textile - A woven fabric of some sort. Mesh - A very loose weave fabric where openings are left between adjacent threads. I have leather and mesh gear. The leather is great when it's cold and it tends to shed water so I also wear it in the rain. It'll roast me alive if it's hot and dry, then I wear the mesh because it breathes better.

I agree with you 100%. I want to rip my hair out every time I see someone post advice to tie the lever back. Fortunately, my hair is already gone.