Seaking

hahah no worries, I'm glad it only goes the way it went out as I would never have been able to pull it out otherwise.. man what a nasty location!!

THAT is my next project when I get the chance.. relocating the filter.. shouldn't be TOOOOOOOOO hard.. I'm a retired Air Force mechanic and building aircraft around parts is a common practice.. Can't fix it? Use a hammer.. still didn't fix it? Get a bigger hammer.. still not fixed? screw it.

Thanks Steve, I found my problem in error is that I had seen a 1st Gen carb schematic and got lost as to where the screws are.. there is another FAQ to be found here http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/index.php?action=article&cat_id=002010&id=311 which amplifies Freebird's excellent article.. All I need now is a proper tach but the clamp on ones sold in the USA cannot be shipped to Canada.. NAFTA at it's best again? Thanks!

Hey guys, to confirm this, the screw to adjust the LEFT and RIGHT carbs is on the left side of the bike near the choke knob.. The 1&2 carb screw is on the right side front, but the 3&4 carb screw is where? I've seen three conflicting schematics and explanations as to where these are..

Well ya know, that might well make sense.. I can believe that.. However it still doesn't explain about the lack of the F or low fuel amber light.. except perhaps the bike starved JUST before reaching that point.. ya know? Hmm how about that.. Now where were YOU when all this started? lol Mind you, whom ever designed the location of the fuel filter should be shot and quartered.. my gosh man, what did they do? Suspend the filter by a string and THEN built a bike around it?! Big hands are not good for that filter. Thanks to all for the assist and guidance.. MUCH appreciated..

Yep.. in my case, the bundle of cables coming from around the left side of the neck side cover to around the front of the neck were being crushed with you turned the bars to the LEFT... this sounds contradictory to what it should be but if you have a look with the fairing off it will make sense.. strange though, almost as if you were pinching off a water hose, impeding the flow of electrons through the wires lol.. Glad you go yours fixed today.. what sucked today is that I rode out of FM radio range and my Nano iPod was out of battery juice LOL. so ALL that fer nuttin hehehe

Ok so now everything is back to normal.. (I'm posting this in case someone out there has the same rare occurrance as I had.. and that this may help them in the future.. ) Initial problem was that I ran out of fuel while still carrying the reserve amount.. This happened twice in a 2 week period. Petcock set to ON and the bike stuttered with 2 fuel bars showing.. switched to RES on the petcock and the bike died.. poof. When subsequently fueling up, it's discovered that the bike still had a reserve amount of fuel.. It would not feed from the RES position on the petcock (yes, it was indeed in correct position as per etc) There was no F on the ODO nor was there the amber low fuel warning light.. just the stutter of the engine indicating a low fuel issue but the bike would not feed from the reserve fuel in the tank when the petcock was on RES. Testing at home showed that the fuel would drain from the petcock from the ON position and when the flow stopped, it would indeed resume when petcock set to RES position, just as it should.. but didn't when I ran out of fuel twice on the road.. So this problem did not make sense. When the tank was drained from the petcock, the F on the ODO nor the amber fuel light came on.. huh. Ok something is not working. A few calls to service dept yielded such things as witchcraft and pulling stumps out with a wet herring.. No idea what they were talking about.. I doubt they knew either. What caused the problem? Well guesses are that sludge might have blocked the RES port on the petcock, preventing the fuel from flowing to the engine. But when I pulled the petcock off the tank, the standpipes on the petcocks were clean as a whistle and the inside of the tank showed no signs of dirt or sludge.. So ok, the petcock is working as advertised up to this point. The VENT tube at the top of the tank is cleared and passing air so that's not blocked causing a vacuum. The Fuel meter on the dashboard indicates proper fuel levels and shows it full and decreasing as you put miles on the bike.. So the float is working.. I changed the fuel filter on spec. On examining the fuel filter, it was as it should be after a year of use.. nothing dramatic or un-normal about it.. I had disconnected the battery at this time as I had other electrical work to fix on the stereo under the main fairing.. I pulled the tank off the bike to change the spark plugs and at that time, 'swished' the tank with clean fuel and drained it.. upside down and sideways, listening to hear anything bopping around loose in there but all was good. When the bike was put back together again, with 10 litres of fuel added to the tank, and ignition turned on, the fuel pump could be heard ticking away filling up the bowls and lines and the bike's engine fired up as it should.. Fuel levels were showing on the gauge and the bike was put away for the evening. This morning, with a jerry can strapped to the back seat of the bike, I set off to test if I would get proper function of the fuel system or a repeat of the last time. And at two bars showing on the fuel gauge, the F on the ODO showed up and 3 or 4 miles later the low fuel amber light came on, just as it was supposed to. And I added just over 16 litres of fuel into the tank, JUST as it should.. so everything is back to normal.. A subsequent fuel run gave me the same results.. seems I can now rely again on the low fuel indicating system.. But the big question is what the heck happened to cause the problem in the first place?! I basically ran out of fuel as I was unable to feed from the reserve fuel in the tank.. Here's what I'm guessing and let me know if any of this makes sense or not.. (A) there was sludge in the tank but it got 'swished' out and now all is good.. (B) the fuel filter was probably actually dirtier than I had thought and replacing it fixed the problem.. © or more interestingly, perhaps the bike's fuel management computer pooped out a while back and was reset when I disconnected the battery.. In other words, a set condition was met when the fuel float got down to a certain level, failing to activate the pump or signaling the system that the bike is actually dry and not having any reserve fuel.. or something like that.. The reason I mention © is that the stereo system on the bike was giving me probs all spring long where as the bars had to be turned to the right in order to make any channel changes, though the volume works all the time.. I pulled the fairing to find the cable going from the hand controller on the left bar was trapped under a bundle around the steering neck and when the bars were to the left, applied a weird pressure on the cable causing it to not work.. go figure.. Once I released that cable to the top of the bundle, the control unit works perfectly.. ... And also to mention that on a recent road trip, the Cruise Control would sometimes deactivate when hitting a large bump.. Perhaps there was something electrical causing all this BS in the first place and all I needed to do was reset 'something' by disconnecting the battery?! Anyway.. if anyone ever finds themselves in this kind of situation, drop me a line.. I've been through it.. Hopefully I might be able to save you some time in trouble shooting. Thanks to all who submitted helpful suggestions.. Cheers

I have similar HD slipons on mine, a nice low rumble (the colder outside the deeper the rumble If you go big pipes, also go big air with K&N air filters for more kick in the pants.. but at the slight price of fuel economy.. you won't be able to go as far as someone with a stock bike.. Keep in mind, for HD pipes or the like, there is a special plate mount you'll need to make it work.. ensure the pipes come with it.. Search around here for those, mine were included with the pipes. Cheers

Yep some of that was mentioned in the original post.. everything is good as advertised.. Doing the fuel run tomorrow and hopefully everything is sorted out but we'll find out. Its possible that I pooched the idle set screw while doing the first start and that resulted in a mixed of problems related or unrelated to the whole initial problem.. I'll let you know tomorrow after the run. It may be a computer problem as well..

musta been that part of the page that says "second gen venture tech talk" that confused you

disregard post.. de-idioted the book and figured it out..

Ok, here I am in the garage with a hijacked wireless connection (so many unsecure wireless in my friend's neighborhood) I poured 3L into the tank and fired the bike up. I did NOT hear the pump kick in though but after a cough and a sputter, the bike started with the valve in the ON position.. Hmmm and the F on the ODO came on and the low fuel light came on.. nice! I switched it to RES and it still ran.. ok.. I left it running and it took 10 mins or so to cough cough and boom.. that's it.. she's dead.. problem is, I can\t get the bike started again.. argh! I refueled the bike with 10L of fuel and tried everything.. not happening.. I am not sure if it's a continuation of the existing problem or if I played with the idle speed setting too much and now its out of whack..?? Is there a quick and dirty way to reset the idle speed setting to get back to ground zero, so to speak? I dunno if I'm this close or that far from being finished.. and stressed out.. sigh beach slapping whom ever wrote Yamaha's technical books is a step in the right direction.. however I did manage to sort out my start problem and got the bike started and running smooth and proper again and ready for a test ride... but thanks, the rains have started lol.. egads I won't know until I drain out this tank if my original issue is resolved or not.. what was funny is that I found a lot of funny stuff the previous owner had done to the bike and found a lot of his missing hardware, which would explain some of the buckshee bolts and nuts on this bike lol going to bed now..

As mentioned in initial post, it is in the proper yes, proper position.. it's an obvious miss for many but its in the proper position as shown in many manuals etc etc and some more etcs. but thanks for the effort..

I have one of those and they are awesome!!

I have a shorty wide and a tall wide and change them out regular.. the silver cheapy plastic chrome strip on mine will lift in the wind unless I double side velcro it down.. so it makes it all nice and simple at shield change time..

Ok folks.. I've gotten a lot of work done to the bike today and here's what I discovered and I'm STILL puzzled by the WTF factor lol.. wow 2006 Midnight Special, 36,900 miles on it.. (NO warranty on it at all.. don't ask, there isn't any) Initial problem was that when the fuel level got to the reserve level (around 3 bars or less) and the bike starts to choke, I would select RES and the bike dies, though it is confirmed to still have it's reserve fuel amount (yes, the level is properly selected to RES, not off, not ON). Once the bike is refueled, and lever set to ON from RES, it will start once again with full choke on and then all is good as normal.. Once was a fluke, twice is a problem so I had to start working on it.. Everything is fine but the bike wouldn't give me an F on the fuel or a yellow light.. just cough and die when I would select to RES. SO, this would indicate a blocked standpipe in the tank.. I drained the fuel with the level set to "ON" and let it go until it stopped.. then selected RES where I would assume nothing would flow but Huh?? It flowed full force again.. what the heck? This is contrary to what I was getting on the road.. twice!! I pulled the petcock out of the tank to examine it, expecting to see sludge or what ever.. brilliantly clear and clean.. the fuel drained from the bike was clean.. I took a lint free cloth to wipe a little bit of the inside of the tank to see if there was a sludge coating or something at the bottom of the tank and nothing.. all clean.. well then.. what gives? With the ignition turned ON, and absolutely no fuel in the tank, the fuel gauge reads nothing but there is no empty fuel light or F on the odo.. I removed the tank from the bike to change the spark plugs and gave it a roll over to swish it out a bit and hoping to hear the fuel level float inside but didn't hear it.. I would assume it's working as it does indicate fuel amount.. The local Yamaha dealership suggested that I have the interior of the tank "steam cleaned" at the local radiator shop to make sure no gunk or junk is left inside.. But I hesitate on that one for obvious reasons.. and no one here has ever heard of "Heat" or H33T what ever it's called.. I pulled the fuel filter out (ever pull the teeth out of an elephant from it's rear? this is similar!) and it didn't show any odd signs of contamination so it got replaced on spec anyway.. All the fuel lines were 'puff tested' to make sure they were clear and not blocked (spit, caff caff) And the vent line as well at the top of the tank.. So now, the only thing left is to swish the tank again with clean fuel to catch maybe perhaps something else that might in there.. and try this test all over again.. Can someone confirm that when I put fuel back into the tank and turn the ignition ON, I should indeed hear the pump tick tick tick as it fills the lines again? Is this correct and that failure to hear the pump might indicate a fuel pump malfunction? Or is it possible then I am possibly looking at a 'computer' problem?? Later today, I will run the bike with it's new filters (air & fuel), spark plugs and such and see what happens.. I'll run it in RES and ON mode to see if that makes a prob.. The only prob if I can't resolve this fuel issue is that I will have to ensure I refuel just as I hit 3 bars as then I don't know when I will 'run out of fuel' as it were, while still carrying a reserve amount that I can't access.. Any of this sound familiar to you guys? Any thoughts or ideas? Man.. what a day!! Cheers

I've never taken any of my bikes back to the dealership to get any work done on them.. After the initial break in tuneup, the bike's never been back to the dealer.. Same with my VStar.. there are enough indie shops around that can do good work at a better price and still keep the bikes up and running when the work is too technical for me to complete.. Well I'm off to the shop to start work on the bike to get her spiffied up.. Cheers

With my 'Canadian dealer info' ?? Yeah that would be great, but this was a private sale.. As mentioned before, I've been through all this before and knowingly so when I bought the bike.. No worries..

And THAT sir, is the crux of the problem.. Simply putting US plates on the bike would only open me up to fraudulent liabilities and when they compare the VIN to the warranty information it would not match up anyway.. so moot point.. meh

A motorcycle purchased in the US is covered under a US Warranty.. A Canadian bike purchased in Canada is covered by a Canadian warranty.. A US bike registered in Canada is now a Canadian bike but with a US warranty not applicable in Canada, and the US Warranty cannot be applied in the US as the bike is not registered to a US citizen.. Fun eh? Been through all this with them before, and it was something I was indeed aware of before purchasing the bike.. for the price I paid for this beautiful fun riding 06 Midnight special, I can't complain!!

No worries, M8.. I have my new plugs ready to roll for thursday and everything set for carb synch, oil change, air filters recharging and that dreaded fuel petcock removal and investigation.. I'm in the studio all weekend so if the bike is down for parts, no worries.. but better now than later.. I'll let ya'lls know how it turns out. Cheers!

Silly question perhaps but why pull the tank to check the air filters? I typically hit reserve (though no longer able to access the reserve fuel) at around 160 miles indicated on the trip odo. Thursday will be the day I am able to tackle this and many other tasks on the bike and find out just what the heck is going on with this fuel issue.. It's not a show stopper as I would only need to make sure I refuel earlier than normal thus shortening my useful range on the bike between fuel stops..

I have an 06 Midnight and I replaced the OEM Dunslop D404 with the Elite3 (E3) tires and wotta diff these tires make.. Personally, I would not recommend a narrow tire on this bike for several reasons.. The E3 will give you a better response than the D404, and a narrow tire will, as others have suggested, follow the bad lines of a road.. Imagine going down the road and your wheel wants to follow all those road snakes, you know what I mean, those long tar lines used to fill in pavement cracks.. how annoying of a feeling THAT can be.. With the E3 tire, I hardly notice them.. And when they scrape the top layer of pavement on road improvements, you will sail over the long grooves instead of the groves steering you.. My recent trip to New England saw us riding through some of those conditions on the I290 and my buddy's Venture has the Dunlop D404 and those scrape lines tossed him from side to side while I hardly noticed them.. I didn't know why he had slowed down to a crawl on that segment of road but it was bad enough to slow him down.. A properly inflated E3 will allow you to properly maneuver in slow speeds etc

heheh they got me coming AND going.. I was in New England last week and pulled in at a Yamaha dealer to check out what they had on and asked that same question.. Though a US bike, with a useless warranty in Canada, the bike is registered in Canada, thus making it a.. Canadian bike that was sold in the US that doesn't have warranty coverage in Canada because it's a US bike but can't be covered in the US because it's a US bike registered in Canada though it's a US Bike, not a Canadian bike even though it's in the US with the Canadian plates in the US with Canadian rider but not entirely on the right side of the ... Confused? no kidding.. Thanks Yammy.. Nice warranty.. The dealership guy didn't know what the policy was and couldn't get straight up answer.. so couldn't provide me with a proper answer..

Oh "wow" .. JUST what I'd been hoping for.. Many thanks to all who took time to respond.. wow.. I'm impressed!! and appreciative...