Seaking

If losing air is the only prob, it should be easier to fix / resolve than if you lost your oil which meas your shock is pooched.. Though a shock will hold air and give you some bounce, it will NOT give you a good rebound sensation if the oil is gooshed out.. I didn't realize that my rear shock was shot on my 06 until this week when Slydoc pointed it out to me and the tech who was able to fix my bike also confirmed it.. Under warranty replacement for me.. But do as someone mentioned, soapy water looking for air leaks.. could be the filler line or valve that needs tendering up..

i bought the carbtune kit ad long screw driver to do my own and yes, what a wow effect it can have. I've done several of my friends' carbs and they couldn't believe the difference.. the one thing I did learn about doing it though is not to accept the first straight line you get Blip the throttle a little and you'll soon see them out of whack again.. also, be careful not to push against the screws as this will also off set the carbs.. gentle soft turns on the screws.. patience and persistance.. and you'll have nothing but smooth mirrors =)

Seaking, whose 06 MIDNIGHT RSMV just rolled 44,000 miles after coming out of the shop today.. (24,000 of those were put on since last july! =) Sorry M8, tis the Air Force in me dropping a SUS charge on your parade.. hehe

Ok lads, I'm in Philly tonight, the techs at State College, Penn were able to figure out what was wrong with the bike within an hour or so, get it fixed and ready for me in short time.. No kidding.. wow. And you'll never guess what it was after all this.. the FUEL PUMP No joke, the gent who did the work simply said it was basic troubleshooting that led him to find what was wrong and what to fix. They were kind enough to rob the part from a 2009 model on the show floor and put it on my bike, covered under warranty. (below is off the top of my head, I hope it makes for good reading, listing a story hopefuly no one else has to go through... Why did the fuel pump fool everyone? Well a bunch of funny things happened to cause all this confusion.. a lot of strange symptoms and weird indications compounded to point us in the wrong direction but everyone SHOULD take note of this one as there was one odd thing about it that no one, even the rep tech knew about. The 06 Midnight had quit on me a couple of times before, the engine basically shut down with no forwarning, no coughs, hiccups or any indications. Last week, it shut down hard after a speed run while visiting Skydoc in Pennsylvania. The bike sat on the side of the road for 20 mins and wouldn't start up again like it had the previous first two times but it eventually did and ran fine.. Hmm what is causing all these shut downs.. electrics looked good, fuel was good.. hmmm We took it to the local shop there, explained that the front jugs were hot, rear jugs were cool (something I checked after recommendations from advice here as possibly the rear coils were dying, a comon occurence on these bikes).. The techs there took the bike in that same afternoon and checked the coils, couldn't find anything wrong with them, but I ordered new coils anyway, as a precaution.. They had checked for fuel flow and spark and everything was good.. The next morning, I opted to take the bike from the shop for a ride around the area, and bring it back when the coils arrived.. the bike started fine but as it was warming up, it went to shyte and would not start again. It would crank over, but wouldn't catch.. what the heck..? So we left the bike there waiting for the coils to arrive. When they got the coils installed, the bike still wouldn't start.. they pulled the front coils and test fine. Goose had suggested I insist they get a hold of the yammy rep and they were told how to properly test the coils and the front ones were found to be dead, as were the rear ones.. So oddly enough, all 4 coils were dead.. Ahhh OK.. so we waited for the front coils to come in.. But still nothing worked.. bike would crank but not catch.. argh. They tested everything Goose listed as 'possible' even if not probably, just in case because you never know.. I was told that the tech saw good spark on all four plugs, and confirmed there was fuel, from the pump and at the carbs (from the first night we brought the bike over).. But Goose was convinced the tech never saw a good spark.. they didn't seem like they were trying to pull the wool over my eyes but man.. something was NOT adding up here.. So finally, on Saturday (tuesday is when the bike failed).. we opted to bail from the dealership and Skydoc arranged to have the bike hauled to another dealer out in State College, a city about 45 mins away.. (Thanks!) Luckily the dealer was across the street from a nice hotel so my buddy and I were able to hide from the unbearable heat in that part of the state.. wow.. The day we went to pick up the bike to haul it away, I tried to start the bike and hit the signal light and noticed how the signal lights were now blinking super fast.. you know how you have a dead bulb, the other will blink super fast? Well all 4 bulbs were good, but left and right signal lights were flashing super fast.. but not the hazard (4 way) lights.. huh? So what the heck? Not only can't I start the bike, but now I have a lighting issue.. man.. it just gets weird and worse.. BLECH!! Fast forward to monday morning (today) and I talk to their tech, tried to explain the litany of the long story, as to what was already checked and was going to suggest, hey might as well check the ignition module, which was going to be my next guess.. But he kindly told me that he needed to do his troubleshooting from scratch to see what the problem was and see where he was at.. Gees, good thing too cause it didn't take him long to find what the prob was!\ Here's the fun part.. A dead fuel pump will not allow you to start the bike. According to the tech, the rear jugs will get gravity fuel ok, but the front jugs need the pump.. if no pump, then no gas.. And how did he figure this out? He cranked the bike over and over and then pulled the tank off, pulled the plugs and the rear plugs are wet, the front ones dryer than dry.. he did the fuel feed test and yep, no fuel pump feeding the front.. rear ones were getting gravity fuel, thus being wet with fuel.. HUH! But wait, the first guys did a fuel test and said it was good.. oh wait a tic, that was the night before I tried to take it out for a spin the next morning.. and THAT was the 'straw' that finally killed the pump dead for good.. before that it was intermittent.. and difficult to confirm as the culprit!! Remember the fast flashing signal lights? Well when the bike died on tuesday, i thought I had observed the signal light flashing fast but it went back to normal soon afterwards.. and never gave it a second thought. As soon as the new pump was installed, the signal lights flashed normal again and have been since then. I'll go out on a limb here and say that this is a diagnostic tool for a pump failure.. Anyone else see this before?? We left State College in mid day heat, ran it high speed, slow speed, stuck in stop and go traffic for an hour on the highway (HOT!) and blasted the hell out of the bike and she's performing soooo much better than she had most of the summer.. wow. And on top of all that, my buddy's 2008 Venture, with stock air and mufflers was enjoying much better fuel milage than I could with my K&N air filters and RK pipes.. on a run, if he put 4 gallons in, I'd usually put 4.6 or so.. But today, twice now, I was within .1 and .2 gallons to his mileage.. wow.. and we were hauling assets today! Man, what a week this has been.. BUT the upside has been that we got to spend some extra time with Skydoc and his missus, had great ribs at Mel's, know the WalMart there inside out (there is an inside story there).. discovered that my US bike actually DOES have warranty on it here in the USA but not in Canada.., and for a few bucks I got a lot of new parts on the bike I normally wouldn't have had replaced at home.. And when I come back to visit Skydoc, the State College dealer will replace my rear shock when I drop in to see them.. how cool is that? The only thing the bike needs now is a decent carb synch.. I never though of asking to have it done there but not that all 4 cylinders are banging away properly, and new coils, fuel pump, plugs and etc etc, the engine could use a weeeee bit of adjustment to smooth things out a tad more. Ok guys, this is a lot of writing, it's been a loooooong day's ride through 95'F heat here and I'm off to bed.. wow.. what a week.. Once again, I do wish to thank Goose for his sage advice, it did come in handy. A comedy of errors led us to chase down the wrong snag.. but in the long wrong, a lot of good came out of it.. Until next time.. ----- OH BTW, it just occured to me.. And this is a warning to be heeded by all who decline to change their fuel filters because it's in such a horrible location making it a pain to change it out on a regular schedule... If you'll remember, in May I had another 'shut down' issue involving fuel starvation, where as the bike would starve of fuel because the fuel filter was so dirty, the pump couldn't suck enough fuel from the tank past the filter unless it had enough 'head pressure' from more than half full tank of fuel.. once it got below a certain level, it would starve and quit.. A fuel filter change resolved that issue.. now imagine how much strain THAT all put on the pump during all that time?? I wouldn't be surprised that some of that was part in partial leading up to this fuel pump failure. Usually, pumps fail.. period.. This one failed.. intermitently.. and was difficult to diagnose the problem.. SO CHANGE YOUR FUEL FILTERS!!

Oddly enough, yes I have passing lamps on the bike but unsure where they are wired into to make them work, to be honest.. The lights work, the switch works and no probs in there. I see where you might be going with this but again, it doesn't quite lead up to what's wrong with the bike. I had already removed the front mount cover to the light bar and played the wires around trying to see if it would have any effect on the signal lights etc but to no avail.. Anything IS possible though.. Cheers

Thanks Goose, point taken about the techs at the first place.. I'll be moseying over to the bike today for lack of anything else to do (too many college girls to admire today!) If the shop here can't do my shock under warranty for various reasons (they have to dismantle a serviceable bike after all to do this if none in stock on the shelves), I'll be checking with some shops in Maine on my way home about setting it up.. it's just an 8 hour bike ride from where I live to Bangor.. thanks again M8

Wow, if not much help, as you apologised for, it certainly was quite educational! Basics yes, but man, one heck of a good refresher!! Thanks. I appreciate your comments about not personally seeing the spark and such, but body language and tone of voice from both the service manager and technicians leads me to believe they did an honest attempt to try to remedy the problem.. however, weirder things have happened in the past.. not being there to personally oversee the works, I can't attest to everything being done as told.. SO.. The shop we're going to see on monday said they have a show floor model available to rob parts from and we'll see about doing the ignition module first. Its sunday today and the bike is sitting in their lot across the street from the hotel, (not bad set up eh?).. If it's not raining today I'll pull the fuses and see if anything changes. I mean anything IS possible.. As you indicated with finding that ONE wire leading from the ignition module, it appears to be unrelated but might actually be the leading culprit cause. I may pull the fairing off if possible today to check for bad wiring under there, there had been munged wiring in the past where the previous owners' added on wiring got eaten up in the steering stops.. Since the signal light switch goes down that way, I can at least check for that as well.. If nothing else, so far this has been quite the educational trip!! Skydog noticed that my rear shock was dead as well.. (I had nothing to compare it to really since I keep mine pumped up higher than my riding partner does his).. If the dealership here is nice, maybe they'll rob the one out of their bike and install it onto mine as warranty work As soon as we find anything, I'll drop you a line and let you know what's the what what.. thanks again.. I truly appreciate your help !

just a quick update, we're still dead in the water and now trailering the bike up to another city with a larger dealership to get the bike fixed.. I left Goose a PM about the specifics, and wish to thank Goose for all his assistance and the updates.. I can only tell you one thing.. when this bike finally gets fixed, the fix will be one for the books. There is something more to this than what the books will lead you to.. Trouble shooting guides can only take you so fare. signal lights flashing fast while the bulbs are good, this happened just after the bike died the other day but came back to normal flashing speed.. but now constantly fast flashing with all 4 good bulbs.. The brake light dims a lot when the signal flashes.. the 4way hazard lights seem to be normal I think.. Does this have ANYTHING to do with the intial problem? Maybe, dunno, who knows. We'll hopefully have this all figured by monday!! Stay tuned for more news! thanks to all who are following..

bwa'ahaha.. now THAT was an awesome story =)

Hi Fuzzy, it was discovered earlier today that after all the run around that all 4 coils were bad.. the rear two were hard dead and the two front not too far behind them so the rep authorized the warranty replacement of all four.. The tech rep told the shop tech how to properly test the coils and that's how it was determined that they were dead.. the rear two most likely put such a load on the front ones as to fry them also.. Now, we're not sure if THAT will fix the problem as they haven't yet received the front coils but I should hope that by supper time tomorrow we will know what's the what what.. What I am hoping for is that there isn't another underlying issue causing the coils to die out like that.. I'll let you know how it goes.. Cheers M8

If I understand properly, this fix you suggest is only viable if you can't get the starter to turn over? My problem is that the bike will turn over no problem but won't fire up anymore (no spark).. However, my previous post lists what's being done right now while we're waiting.. Thanks for the info though, certainly worth holding on to just in case. Cheers

well some good news and some time news.. First, many thanks for Goose for the detailed list of checks to do which I provided to the shop this morning... I asked the shop to contact the yammy rep about this problem to get things moving as my buddy and I are now soon going to be time compressed on our schedule if I don't get this bike moving. When we dropped the bike off the first time, I had asked them to change the rear coils on spec only because the rear jugs were cold when the bike shut down on the highway.. (remember, the bike started again after 20 mins or so) They ordered the parts, they arrived the next day and they tested the old ones and found them to be serviceable. Huh dang, well at least I know it's not the rear coils then.. dang.. not warranty items.. I left the bike with them and then got Goose's list and everyone else's suggestions (thanks guys!!).. Armed with this list I went back to the shop this morning and before I could say anything the shop guy informs me that they can't even get spark from the front plugs now.. what?? The rear are firing up nicely but the front plugs won't make adequate spark.. so they're pulling the coils to see if those are good or bad. But turns out they tested good also... what the heck?? After I left them with the trouble shooting list, I also suggested he get a hold of the yammy rep asap to get some sort of resolution to this bike problem.. talk about feeling down.. sigh.. Later this afternoon we get a call from the shop.. well how about that.. no joke. Turns out the shop talked with the yammy rep and discovered they were measuring the coils incorrectly! oh no.. the rear coils they pulled off were indeed dead.. that last shut down was the straw that broke the coils' back.. so that means the coils I ordered and installed are covered under warranty! yay.. but the front coils now test dead enough to warrant replacement under warranty also.. hence why not making enough spark to fire the bike.. oooh looking promising! Now just waiting for the new coils to arrive tomorrow, be installed and fire the bike up to see if THAT all fixes it.. if it doesn't... well.. we have an alternate plan in place already.. however, 4 new coils covered under warranty and all I have to pay is the expedited shipping costs.. which isn't too shabby seeing how I'm on the road AND not thinking I had warranty in the first place.. So turns out for sure that yes, 4 coils CAN go bad at once.. the 2 rear coils lingered long enough to damage the front ones.. However, we may still be surprised with another problem that Goose listed, ignition module, a switch or as others suggested.. We won't know until tomorrow.. sigh.. nothing to do until then but go back to WallyMart to watch the babes walk by.. Thanks to all for your assistance.. I'll let you know how it turns out.. A HUGE thanks to Skydoc_17 fand his missus for their hospitality and sense of humour for putting up with a couple of Canucks these past days Cheers

hi guys, I'm down in PA visiting friends and the bike broke down weird.. The other week I reported the bike shutting down for no reason but it would restart easily as if nothing had happened. Because of that, we decided to continue to head out on this road trip as the problem never reoccured after those two initial incidents. We rode the whole 2,000 miles down here in the heat, no probs what so ever, over hill, dale and high speeds, slow speeds, the bike was running flawless until after we got here.. oops. We did a fill up 100 miles before getting to destination. After an initital meet and greet we headed out for a local ride and after a 'spirited' run, the bike switched off once again as before.. I pulled over onto the side of the highway and waited a few minutes but could not get it started again. After perhaps 30 mins we pushed the bike down the road with me on it, just to get it off the highway and while coasting, I hit the start button and boom.. good to go! she fired up and stayed running, lots of power an as before, like nothing had happened. But when we get back to the house here, we decided to take it up to the local dealer in this small town to see if they could test the coils, as this was the one item everyone had been leaning on before. The first night they had the bike they tested the coils and couldn't find anything wrong with them so I decided to order new ones anyway to remove that 'maybe perhaps' issues out of the way for good.. But when I picked up the bike the following morning, it fired up AOK but after 5 minutes of idling getting ready to roll away for the day while waiting for the coils to arrive, the bike died and never started again.. Full choke or no choke, it would no longer catch and stay running. So I left the bike with them yesteday waiting for the new coils to arrive today and hope that this woudl finally resolve the problem. As a precaution I had them replace the fuel filter and spark plugs as well. New coils arrived, they installed them and fugh.. same thing..can't get the bike to fire up. The bike had run smoothly and perfectly on the way down here, 2000 miles in 2.5 days and no probs what so ever.. but that one run locally did something to the bike and no one knows what's what. The local dealer is a small one, and they are stumped. I'm sort of on a short schedule as it is now and with no resolution in sight as to what might be the problem I'm hoping someone here might have a glimmer of hope! Conditions: new plugs, new fuel filter, bike on premium gas. new air filter and new oil change before departure a few days ago. While rolling on the highway, engine shuts down. Lights still work. Bike restarted and ran fine for the rest of the ride. However no longer able to get the bike started. Cranks over ok but won't catch or stay running. One weird thing to point out and I don't know if this means anything but I noticed that when the bike shut down the first time here, I had the signal light on and the indicated blinked rather oddly but my ride buddy behind me said the rear signal lights appeared normal. I honestly don't know but I had the feeling this might had been a diagnostic code that the signal light blinked fast at first and then settled down normally. I don't think it's the kick stand switch or the ignition switch that has gone wonky as the bike will crank over but it's simply not catching.. So folks, if you have any sage words of advice to help us out.. please let me know. Cheers

Sigh... Save a tree.. eat a beaver..

Very awesome to hear.. I installed some Larosa downturn pipes to mine and had the same issues until I synched up the carbs.. they are too loud for prolonged road trip like what we're doing tomorrow, but go here and have a look at the last clip on the page to see what they look and sound like.. the audio doesn't do it justice ; ) http://www.myvstar.ca/waverley/

I have the HD pipes on my 06 Midnight and prefer their sound over stock.. But it's when it gets cool out that you'll really appreciate the sound.. I love the de-acceleration sound they make.. By no means a "barking" pipes like the Larosa's I have but on mine, these HD's sound much nicer than the stock ones.. I'm leaving tomorrow for PA to see a friend.. Maybe the heat and humidity down there causes a softer sound?

Food is what we're all about.. We belong to a strange bike club better known as an "Eating Club with a Riding Disorder" =) We're departing Nova Scotia on Sunday this weekend, should be coming through CT on Monday / Tuesday along the 84 (rain or shine).. Can you PM me your info so I can plug it in so we can touch base with you when we leave Maine? We're departing a little later in the morning and probably won't get much farther than below Bangor.. Cheers Boomer..

Boomer.. you sound like the lad who wants to do more with more than less lol.. I've having my garage built (24 x 24) when I get back from next week's road trip.. We'll be travel through your neck of the woods I think..

Cut the heel part off.. I'm soon to be doing that and will take it to a powder coat shop this winter to seal it up.. I caught my pant leg on the rear part and almost dumped the bike.. grrr.. And as one lad suggested, blue loktite the bolt.. I lost mine but a kind Hyundai dealership was able to fix me up with nice bolts.. Very unique looking and it will never fall out =)

I just went out and tried that and the lights come on, then off, and on.. no flicker.. key turns a little sticky though.. If this were the problem, what is the remedy? The bike had been ridden in the rain a lot these past weeks.. but had ample opportunities to dry out.. so I had hoped..

Hey Phil, try looking up LAROSA (larossa) downturn pipes for Harley's and you can mount these on your Venture.. loud? Holy frikken CRAP!! lol.. nice deep throated rumble with a viciously nasty BARK when you blip the throttle.. Everyone loves hearing those pipes, well bikers do..but non bikers hate them.. My wife can hear me coming home from many blocks away LOL.. wow.. You can see and hear them at the bottom clip on this page: http://www.myvstar.ca/waverley/ The audio doesn't do them justice.. *I* have to wear earplugs as they hurt my ears.. but get them up to speed 75- 80 MPH and they quiet right down =)

Ok THAT problem YOU had could easily be a bad Fuel Filter! I had that same problem not long ago where the bike would conk out when the fuel level got down to a certain level and would ONLY start again when in RES.. this was due to the filter being so clogged that it couldn't permit the pump to suck enough fuel without head pressure of a full tank pushing down on the fuel.. Seafoam masked the problem (though nothing wrong with a good cleaning) but a new fuel filter sorted it out.. Best of luck

What do you do specifically to clean yours? I was thinking of the WD40 spray down...

Only thing running in both instances was the radio and highway lamps. I'll check the battery cables for tightness as well.. Heck, ya never know.. Thanks

I just pulled over, turned off the ignition, turned it back on and the bike started OK after sitting there for a minute pondering what the heck.. Funny enough, this is the only thing the dealership techs could suggest was the sidestand switch being twitchy.. hit a bump a certain way and it's enough to glitch it.. Of course there are no switch available in this area so I'll see about picking one up in the USA while traveling next week.. at least eliminate one possibility.. I'm just worried of it conking out on me at the worse possible moment, ya know? A shot of WD40 to clean it out for now..