GeorgeS

Well, 1st gen coils do fail. ( but not near as often as the 2nd gen coils ) To get them out, you have to pull out the air cleaner box. Makes it eaiser. Also, 1st gen coils do come up quite often on E-bay, in a full set of 4. ( salvage bikes ) Also, you can replace the plug wire on the 1st gen coils, they just screw out from the coil end and the plug cap end. The plug wire is Solid Core Copper plug wire. ( standard 7MM auto plug wire ) Before replaceing the coil, try removeing the wire, and Cut off, about 1/4 inch on each end, and re-install. Might help. Have you considered, that your Carbs may need to be Re-Synced ???? Serious misadmjustment of the Throttle linkage on these bikes, can cause one cylinder to not run correct. Make sure you have at least 1/8 inch of Slack, in the Throttle " Pull " cable, before the mechanacial linkage starts to move as you turn throttle " OFF " idle position. IF not--- you need to re-adjust the Throttle cables, and then do a Re-Sync, of the linkage assembly. See, the Service Manuel for this proceedure, ( downloadable on this web site, if you do not have a service manuel )

Don't expect to get much over about 9000 miles on that " rear " Bridgestone. Plan on that for replcement time. -- E3 -- Dunlops of course :whistling:

10 wgt fork oil any bike dealer. Order progressive springs on line , most any supplier, dealer can supply progressive springs.

Being that the 2nd gen coils, have been a ----((( fairly high failure rate ))) --- item on these bikes ! And, the wires are " not " replaceable at the coil end, and that they are mounted in " Hard to Access " places on the bikes !! I have been wondering about replaceing them with coils from a 1st Gen Venture, IF, that is possible. Will these coils work with the 2nd gen TCI Units ??? ( Just wondering ) Was thinking about mounting 1st gen coils, with upgraded, plug wires, and trying to figure out a more " accessible " place to mount them, both front and rear. Obviously I would have to fabricate some wireing cables to reach the new mounting position's. But thats not to big a problem. OR--- is there some other type of coils that would work ??? I recall sombody, mentioned useing " Plug over Coils " from some other 4 cylinder Japanese bike. Just a thought, something I might do on my 08. :confused24:

The Barrometric Pressure Sensor , gets power from the " Ignition fuse " Same supply that runs to the TCI. I know of one 1st gen, that had water, and Crud built up in the Rubber Cap, fitted over the electrical plug on that sensor. This build up caused high resistance, short to ground, dropping the voltage to the TCI unit. Check the plug on the Barro pressure sensor. ------------------------------ Also, follow the cable from the Kill Switch, forward to behind the headlight, there is a pull appart plug in that cable, located somplace behind the headlight. Maby, --- that plug has a high resistance contact. This would kill , or lower voltage to the Ignition system. ---------------------------- Have you checked the Main grounding point, located, Under the Upper Left side Fairing ??? 4 Black wires, connected to a grounding point there !! Hard to get to, but be sure to check these. Grounded to a bolt, just left of battery on the upper frame member. Pull out radio, and the Inner material of the fairing compartment. --------------------------- Have you checked the Battery Ground cable, point where grounded to Engine case, near the water pump ??? Pull out the bolt, and check for corrosion. at that point . -------------------------- Do you have an Extra ground strap ( #10 wire ) from Neg side of Battery, to a ground stud ?? -------------------- Any chance that your battery, has in " Intermittent " Internal short, condition. ??? This would be a way out in Left Field, condition, but, it does happen ----------------- Have you " opened up " the " Main Fuse " holder, ( assumeing you are still useing the OEM , main fuse holder ) Possibly the small #1 phillips head screws, that hold the " fuse element " in place have come loose. ( I have heard of this happening ) A rare condition, but it can happen. Open up the fuse holder, and clean the fuse element. and re-install the small screws. ---------------- Have you checked, the " Plug " in the cable, that runs from the " pick up coils " up to the plug of the TCI unit. 5 wire cable as I recall. Plug located just about under your left knee, as you sit on the bike. find this plug, clean the contacts, and check for loose wires on the male and female side of this plug. ----------------:detective:

Have you checked the Valve adjustment on that cylinder ?? Have you Run the bike for Several Tanks, of fuel, with a fairly heavy dose of SEA-FOAM in the fuel?? ie: give it 3 or 4 tanks of fuel with heavy Sea-Foam dosage, and possible it will " free - Up " something. Maby, Dirty valve seats ? Well, worth a try ??

Is is possible you did not install the Barnett Pressure Plate in the proper position ?? Note: on the instruction sheet , " you may have to rotate the plate to the proper position " I just installed mine last week. I found the proper position, and also rotating it 180 degrees works also. Any other position and it does not engage completly. I tried in vain to look at the thing , to figure out, why only two positions of rotation would work, could not find the answer. Pull out the paper work that was included in the box, and read thru the instruction, you will see what I mean.

This week, rode Sea to Spokane, Wa. and return. About 500 miles, and the New Barnett Clutch seems to be working just fine !! OK, so far

Recently been hearing of large deposits of Nat Gas, that have been found. But not yet being used. Hmmm ?? I recall T Boon Pickens, on a TV show talking about an extremely large Nat Gas, find in West Texas. Why can't they just build Electric Power Plants, in the area of the Nat Gas supplies then make Electricity there, and hook that into the existing nationwide power grid ?? Sort of like all the Electric power dams on the Columbia River here in Wa state. That started with the huge Grand Coulee Dam, built in 1942 ( 6890 Mega Watts capacity ) and many more on the Columbia and Snake River system. ( Google search, " Columbia river Power Dams " ) There are 14 Dam's produceing power on the Columbia River !! Total Electric production is about, 24,800 Mega Watts !!! On the Snake River system, Dam's produce 4,900 Mega Watts. My point, being. Why make a mess in the, Dakota's, and ship the oil via pipe line to the southern part of the country, to refine it, and use to make power ???? Why not, just build Electric Generation plants, " Where the Fuel " is located ???? in N. Dakota ????? I have been hearing of more and more, Generation Plants being switched over to Nat Gas, for fuel. I guess my point to all of this is , why not drill more Nat. Gas, in Texas, and use that instead of makeing the big mess up North, and building the long Pipe line to the south??? Just asking ??? :confused24:

OK, yesterday, run from Spokane, to Sea. We stopped at Chevron , in Moses Lake, Wa. Lots of bikes stopped for fuel and eats. Group of 4 harleys, and group of 4 BMW's, myself and my friend. Anyway, these 4 Harley's all had " Mo. " plates on them. They had No Mufflers, They had No Windshields, They had No Saddle bags, They had No Trunks !--- The riders were all dressed " Typlically " Ahmmmm It was Pouring Rain !!!!! They were on a " Long Trip " !!!! All the extra luggage was Strapped onto to the rear of bikes with Bungee Straps!!! They were all four in the process of Refueling, and """ RE-Strapping, """ all of their traveling gear onto the back of the bikes !! My friend Rich and I were quietly Chuckling to each other as we fueled up, and congradulating ourselves for having Trunks, and Saddle bags on our bikes. I made it a point to park next to them after re-fueling, needless to say I got a few dirty looks !! Oh Well, the coffee was pretty good. Richard and I were laughing pretty hard as we drove off, as the Re-Strapping process was still being worked on !! I swear, I never have seen such a mess strapped to the back of 4 Harley's !!! But!!! They were Dressed, " Perfectly " for the " Part " they were playing !!!! And, the bikes, were " SO Loud " !!! Thank the Lord, for " Bungee Straps" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :whistling: :whistling:

An old friend from Minn. called Tue, said, last min. decision to ride to SEA, then Down to SFO, this week. Have not seen him in 30 years, so I decided to ride to Spokan to meet him and provide a " Motorcycle " Escort from Spokan to Seattle. Anyway. I left SEA yesterday morning, was about 52 deg. and light rain. 60 miles east it was pouring, and temp down to about 45 deg. Got to eastern side of the Cascade Range, and the Pouring Rain continued all the way to Spokane. I meet up will Richard, at Exit 247, West of Spokane, we rode back to Seattle in Pouring Rain, and about 50 DEG, temps all the way. ( cell phone works great for setting up meeting points, on the interstate's ) !! I have to say this was the Worst day of Rideing, I have ever experienced !!!! But, it was great to ride with an old friend from grade school days, and a good friend all my life. His older Wing, has about 150 K on it !!! This trip, was Minn. to SFO and back, just cause he wants to ride Across the Golden Gate Bridge !!! Anyway he left here this morning, for the Bridge, I expect tomorrow morning he will be crosssing the bridge !! WX, looks pretty good, up and down the west coast today. Temps here in SEA, have been almost 20 deg. below normal for a week !!

Also check the bolts holding the forks in the Triple Tree. And ditto all the other comments, Don't forget to check the front, and rear, Axel nut Torque, 56lb front, and 110 lb. rear axel. Also, check the 4 , 13MM nuts holding the rear drive box onto the end of the drive shaft houseing. Also, torque settings, for the Rear Swing Arm. ( each side ) but you need a large torque wrench and some Large , Expensive , Metric sockets for job. ( as I recall, 24 and 26 MM Sockets ) ( They cost a few bucks !! ) And of course, the Steering head Torque setting. ( pull that up in the Service Manuel and study how to do it !!!!! ) And of course, Tire Pressure, Also, Is your Front Tire " Balanced " ?????

Yes, you only need the pressure plate. Assumeing plates are OK, I'm pretty sure that any Venture with less then 50K on it does NOT, need new plates, Unless, the clutch has been abused. I know I'm repeating here, but frankly, my 08 ( new in Aug. 2012 ) haveing the clutch starting to slip, ( pretty bad ) at only 13.5 K is totaly unacceptable from Yamaha. This has been an issue since the first Ventures, back in 83. All they would have had to do would be use the Pressure plates, they used in the V-Max. models. Simple fix !!! Why did they not do it ??? :confused24:

Ordered from Termecula, Ca. Yamaha. Because close, and no sales tax. The guy said they had 2 in the warehouse. Have ordered many parts from them in the past, good service, from them so far. One other point concerning the barnett pressure plate. There was a piece of paper in the box, saying that if you need Stronger Springs, they can supply them, and the part number was included. Maby if you are pulling a trailer, or other ( Ahemmm, heavier loads ) you might need the stronger springs. Anyway, they are avialable if you think you need them.

New Barnett Pressure Plate, arrived today. Installed this afternoon, took about 1 hour. Easy to change. Went for short test ride, No slippage !! With Mobil - 1 Syn Oil. 15 W 50W. The stock clutch started slipping at about 13,500 miles on the new 08 RSTD. Cost a few bucks, but its fixed !!

Will a pump from a 1st gen work on a 2nd gen bike ?? I still have a good spare from the 89 I sold. Well, I guess I can pull the side cover off and take a look and compare the two pumps. Project for tomorrow.

Dunlops are a better deal, Better tire, last longer, worth the higher price .

Well, many opinions on this subject. I'm not up on the subject, however I did hear a short bit of info on a news report yesterday. Just heard the end of it. Some guy, said, that the Amount of Shale Oil, in the Montana, Alberta, area, has been recently estimated to be 10 times , what had been previously thought to be there. What does this mean ??? Not sure, but will be listioning for more information

Last week I got back from 9 day trip to Los Angeles on the new 08 RSTD ( new last year ) Anyway on the return trip, the clutch started slipping. Milage is about 13,000 when left on the return trip to Seattle. About 14,300 on bike now. Not real bad, but, its slipping !! So---- Yesterday I ordered the new Barnett Clutch Spring Assembly. ( and some gaskets ) You know, as long as this has been a problem on the Venture's, you would think that Yamaha, would have fixed the problem, before the 2nd gens went into production. My old 89, had same problem, but did not start slipping untill around 25,000 miles. ( Barnett replacement solved the problem, never slipped again, sold bike with 89K on it ) ????? :confused24: Anyway, going to just replace the pressure plate, and see how that works.

Just get the E-3's , front, and rear.

Be sure to inspect the " Plug " in the cable running " from " the " Pick Up " coils, that runs to the TCI. 5 small wire cable, has a plug, about half way from pick up coils to the TCI. Its located just about under your left knee, as you sit on the bike. This plug has caused problems, clean the pins, and tug tug on the wires on each side of the plug. Might be a loose wire, at a crimp. Also, check the Plug, on the " Barometric Pressure sensor " Also, don't forget to do a Resistance Check " thru the Run Stop Switch "

If battery is staying charged, and everything works, don't think its a problem.

Where is " Miles " this week ????? Which road is he on ???? :confused24:

Comeing " North " thru Medford Or. Tue Afternoon, about 2 PM ( not sure exact time ) on I-5, a 1st gen pulled on road behind me as I passed an On Ramp. Followed me to the next Off Ramp and exited the freeway behind me. I think it was a Silver 1st gen. Not sure on exact color Anyway, do we have any members in Medford ???

Question here, I know about the Upgrades to 1st Gen front brakes. Is there any improvement that has been figured out for the 2nd gen bikes ??? Brakes on my 08 seem pretty good, but??? just asking ----