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Venturous Randy

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Everything posted by Venturous Randy

  1. Venturous Randy
    As part of trying to get rid of the off idle skip on my 83, I removed the hoses and plugged the ports on the YICS system. The bike runs so much smoother and I can not tell any significant difference in power, so what did the YICS system actually do? I noticed on the 86 engine that the ports are not even machined for a tube for the hose. RandyA
  2. Venturous Randy
    There appears to be two different connection systems on the 1st gens. I have the tab and the rubber bungy type holder. I like this best. One of the side covers I got off ebay had the holder for the gromet and I just used that as a mounting point to put a tab on using Devcon Plastic Weld. You can get a two part tube of the Plastic Weld at Walmart for less than $3. RandyA
  3. Venturous Randy
    As for horns, I have used several sets from Harbor Freight. This week they had the 135 decibil air horns for less than $14. They mount nicely under the fairing on a 1st gen. The only thing is these are red and you will need to paint them gloss black. They occasionally have the chrome ones. They take a bit to hook up, but nothing that is very difficult. We could walk you thru it. And, they are lifesaving LOUD!!! On the back rest, they do come up on ebay occasionally, but get a little pricey. RandyA
  4. Venturous Randy
    I like purple!!! I heard a rumor a long time ago that the 83 windshield had a slightly different hard coating on them than later ones. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this? I know that mine is in very good shape with over 106,000 miles on the bike. RandyA
  5. Venturous Randy
    For a while now have had a skip at very light throttle, such as running at 40 mph on flat ground in 5th gear. And, as soon as I gave it any throttle, the skip went away. I have been thru the carbs, cleaned the pilot jets, synced them and replaced the plugs. This past week, I replaced the carb rubber manifold boots the carbs set on. Mine did have some obvious external cracks and the ones I used came off an 86 engine that I have and they look very good. Did not help a bit, ran exactly the same way. Yesterday morning I decided to remove all the YICS hoses and plug them. The two outer ones are easy to get off, but the two inner ones are hard to get to. I pulled one lose with a long pair of needle nose pliers, but on the other one, when I pulled it with the pliers, it tore into. This would have been easy with the carbs off, but I have already had the carbs off several times and I am tired of doing that. After I got the plugs on tight, I decided to replace the spark plugs again as I wanted to start fresh and to be able to try to get a reading on what the plugs looked like anyway. My son suggested I try the bike before I did anything else, but I did not want to get the engine hot. Well, when I pulled the back left cap off the plug, it came off the wire. Now these wires and caps were replaced a couple of years ago, so I did not expect them to be a problem. When I looked into the cap where the wire goes, there was green corrosion on the screw that screws into the wire. I cleaned it good and cut about a half inch off the wire and screwed it back together as far as it would go. It looked like the cap had not been screwed in good. I checked the other three caps and they looked good. I double checked the sync on the carbs and they were off some, so I adjusted them. I took the bike for a ride and it is running very good with no off idle skip. I am not sure whether the plugging of the YICS system was the problem or the cap problem, but at least it is running good again. RandyA
  6. Venturous Randy
    First of all Nathan, welcome to VentureRiders and welcome to the world of a 1st gen Ventures. We are glad to have you here. Not that it absolutely matters, but how many miles does your Venture have on it? I say that because with the 2nd gear problem, even though it is somewhat of a common problem, if it does start to happen, it will be as low as 39,000 miles, as mine was or it may not happen at 137,000 miles as another one I know of. And, unless you know the history of the bike, it may have been fixed anyway. The problem of the bike jumping, like it jumps out of gear and back in very quickly, will initially start under a heavy load such as wide open throttle. Then over time it will get to the point that about any pull on it in 2nd gear will cause it to jump. Some talk of the bike jumping out of gear, but with mine, it would not jump out of gear completely, but only for a split second and be back in gear. Mine started at 39,000 miles as I noted, but it was about 8,000 miles before I fixed it. The way that you want to check if you have a problem is to do some hard pulls in 2nd gear. If it does not do it under medium throttle, make some wide open throttle pulls up to at least the redline. Don't be afraid of hurting anything, these bikes love to rev and 7,500 rpms is fine. If you do this several times and everything seems fine, you may be ok. Just do it in a good place because these bikes can get to going fast in a hurry. As far as the stator problem, there was a fix(kind of), that does prolong the stator, but it is like a car, by the time a car gets almost 25 years old, you will probably have changed the alternator too. These stators are readily available and not hard to change with the technical support on here. Best of luck and keep us posted on what you find out. RandyA
  7. Venturous Randy
    I have a strange rattle in my engine. When the bike is tilted to the left, while on the side stand, there is a rattle. When I pull the bike up straight, the rattle goes away. Anyone got any suggestions on what you think this may be? It has been doing it for quite a while. When I had the collector off the other day, I could not tell if there were any baffles loose in it. RandyA
  8. Venturous Randy
    We have a local independent bike shop that works on anything. If fact, a year or so ago, I was out there and he had five 1st gen Ventures in the holding area to be worked on at one time. Interestingly, I left a note on every one with my cell and e-mail address and did not get one response. Maybe the mechanics took them off. Anyway, I think he charged me about $8 for the set. They definitely were stronger and the lever is stiffer. He just ordered them out of a catalog he had. RandyA
  9. Venturous Randy
    Everyone needs a good clutch hammer!!! RandyA
  10. Venturous Randy
    You can probably fix this for about $10. I bought a set of springs for mine that were about 20% stronger. That pretty much fixed mine, but later on I did change the plates because I started towing a 450 pound camper with it. You may even be able to take the cover off and not loose the gasket. RandyA
  11. Venturous Randy
    Removing the slave cylinder is not difficult, even though it can be a little bit tricky to get out of the hole and back in again, but it will go. Just try not to break off the bolts holding it on and there is just two, I believe. I think you are getting closer to getting it identified. RandyA
  12. Venturous Randy
    I agree also, does your clutch lever seem to have enough freeplay before it engages? I would be surprised if it started slipping that early. And now for the big question; are you absolutely sure the bike did not have 118,000 miles on it? Two years ago it was 20 years old with 18,000 miles on it, that's less than 1,000 miles per year. I have put 83,000 miles on my 83 in the last eleven years. I am not a big time rider like some on here, but at my rate of miles, I will have over 150,000 miles, in that time. RandyA
  13. Venturous Randy
    tiny, you did not answer my last question. What happens when you open the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder? Is it still hard to pull the clutch lever in? RandyA
  14. Venturous Randy
    A couple of years ago, the clutch lever on my 83 got more and more difficult to pull in. It ended up being junk in the metal part of the line below the engine, going to the slave cylinder. Once I cleaned it out and bled the system again, it worked fine. When you are bleeding yours, does it have much restriction when you open the the bleed valve? RandyA
  15. Venturous Randy
    If your battery was charged good and it done that, I would be concerned. But what idle rpm are you seeing. I tend to keep my idle around 600-700 and that seems lower than most. If your battery is low and the idle is low, it does send to stumble a bit at idle. RandyA
  16. Venturous Randy
    First of all, you need to determine if the clutch lever is working correctly. Does it feel like it has the proper resistance in the proper area? At about 1/4 the way in you should have it feel like it is getting more difficult to pull in, but still be able to pull in smoothly. Also, if the bike has been sitting for a long time, the clutch plates may be stuck together. It may just take putting the bike on the ground and seeing if you can get it to go into first gear with the clutch pulled in. It may scrape a bit, but I don't think it will necessarily hurt anything. Another thing to consider is taking the clutch cover off and taking all six bolts and springs apart and separate the clutch discs by hand. It is easy to do and nothing will fly apart. You can also do this with out loosing any oil if you do it with the bike on the side stand. As far as the oil level, there is a sight class with an upper and lower mark under the right foot peg. This needs to be checked with the bike on the center stand. RandyA
  17. Venturous Randy
    I personally think that is waaaay too many miles on that bike. Where did you say it was at? RandyA
  18. Venturous Randy
    I agree with Carl on this one. Also, make sure he knows to check the oil level on the center stand. RandyA
  19. Venturous Randy
    Dan, have you been able to do any measurement comparisons on the bikes you have from a reference point to the shock suspension mounts? RandyA
  20. Venturous Randy
    I replaced the wires a couple of years ago with real Yamaha wires and put on new caps. The plugs have been changed this spring. I have not changed either the TCI or the vacuum pressure sensor as the question I had earlier had to do with the ported #2 carb, which I went back to my old one. I got a PM from another member stating he had the same problem and he found a loose connection on his fuse panel and it took the skip away. I still need need to verify my sensor is still working ok. Thanks for the comments guys, I got to leave for work. RandyA
  21. Venturous Randy
    I am having a problem with the area just above coasting and pulling. If I am running on flat ground with just enough throttle to maintain speed, at say 30 to 45mph, I am getting a constant skip, but not like a single dead cylinder. When I give it just a little more throttle, it smooths out and pulls fine. I have been thru the carbs recently and cleaned the pilot valves and everytrhing else. I have also synced them again today and they also look good with the rpm's up to 3,000 to 4,000. I have tweaked on the mixture screws, starting at 2 1/2 turns out and really can not tell much difference when turning them in or out. I have also worked on the diaphrams and have no holes. I also ran a full can of Sea Foam thru it today. Is there any suggections? Denden, are you listening? RandyA
  22. Venturous Randy
    Thanks for the post. That is good information to know. I was going to suggest looking at the computer monitor as that can also be a problem on cold solder joints, but you found your problem. RandyA
  23. Venturous Randy
    As I noted above, battery light started blinking and when I got it home, I filled the battery with distilled water. Well, I am still having an intermitten problem with the battery icon coming on and the light blinking. I pulled the sensor out of the battery and cleaned it good, but I am still having the problem. I am going to get another sensor and if that does not solve the problem. I may just try by passing it. RandyA
  24. Venturous Randy
    Friday I should have a big jar of it. I needed it after doing the same thing trying to sync a friends Venture. Before I could turn the engine off, it sucked two tubes dry. RandyA
  25. Venturous Randy
    While on a ride Saturday evening, my light started blinking indicating my battery. When I got home, sure enough, several cells in the battery were low. I picked up some distilled water and filed it back up. The point I want to make is the next time you are tinkering with your bike, pull the cover off and look to see how full the battery is. And if is low, make sure you fill it with distilled water. You may have cells that are low and the sensor may not be picking it up because that particular cell is not that low. This will ruin a good battery if left too long low on water. RandyA
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