frankd

Yes, it's fine. I use 10W-40 Valvoline motorcycle oil in both 1st. Gens. and the 83 has 140,000 miles on it and the motor runs like new. My 89 has 70,000, and for the last 40K, it's been on 10W-40. How much is Yamalube going for these days?

The front and rear dust covers are identical.

Also check the radiator cap and that the fan comes on when the heat gauge is about 3/16" below the red. When you inspect the radiator cap, make sure the rubber gasket isn't all dry rotted. If it doesn't seal to the radiator, the coolant in the engine and radiator will boil much sooner (no pressure) and you will hear it going into the reservoir. Normally, you hear nothing. If you want to replace the radiator cap, you don't have to buy the Yamaha cap if you don't want to. You can use a cap designed for a car and grind one of the ears off so it'll go onto the radiator. You can use a Stant 11227 or 227, and I bought one at O'Reily's Auto. If your fan isn't coming on, check the connector at the temperature switch (right side of bike). I've seen a couple that have become oxidized and then they don't make connection. Clean them with a soft wire brush and coat them with di-electric grease or even regular grease to keep the air from contacting the terminals.

I've got a new set of Avon's ready to go on, but haven't done them yet. The only difference that I see between the rear Venom and the new Cobra is that the Cobra has hard rubber in the middle of the thread and soft rubber in the outer threads plus some different belts to keep everything aligned to minimize wear. I usually get about 22-24,000 miles out of a set of Venoms, and hopefully I'll get the same out of the rear Cobra. However, the rear Venom I've got on now is being replaced a little early. We've got a big trip planned at the end of the month and it's a bit notched on the side threads, especially the left side. I've got 19K (1 1/2 years) on it now and the thread is still OK, but because of the trip I'll put the new one on. The front has 22K (2 years) and is approaching the wear bars. Most of this wear is 2 up.

No, without an audio system, you have absolutely no need for it.

The mufflers are different, but the windshields are the same.

Seeing that the headlight isn't working, I'd guess that there isn't power going through the headlight fuse. Make sure you have a good fuse installed, and if it's not a blown fuse, look for what you mis-wired. The headlight fuse is the one with a red with yellow stripe (R/Y) on one side and a brown (BR) on the other. The BR is the hot side (when the key is on) and the R/Y goes to the headlight circuit. If you have power on both sides of this fuse, you'll have to measure the voltages listed on page 7-25 of the service manual. The BR wire goes to the monitor also, and the monitor should power up whenever BR becomes energized. Make sure you have 12V on the BR wire on the monitor when the key is ON. I just re-read your post. The headlight will not work with the monitor unplugged, or did you have the monitor plugged in and the headlight didn't work. Frank D.

Instead of turning the key off to recycle the fuel pump timer, you can just rock the kill switch to the OFF position, and then back ON and this will reset the timer.

We were over to DaCheeda's house to watch the boat races on the Kankakee River (had a great time, tnx. Kevin & Chris) and we went out to the garage to look at his bike. He'd just purchased some Ed-set(?) helmet speakers and mikes, and he mentioned that he had a problem with them. I was listening to them and I noticed that when you use the intercom, it doesn't mute the radio like it does on my 1st. Gen. It's not his helmet speakers/mike because I plugged my J&M setup in and it did the same thing. His intercom is reasonably loud, but his radio just doesn't mute. Is there something that is set wrong OR is there something wrong with his radio OR are all 2nd Gens like this? Frank D.

I was doing some research on LED driving lights, and found quite a few different LED headlight bulbs that replace the old Halogen bulbs perfectly (according to them). Has anybody tried any of these? If you want to see what I'm talking about, do an Ebay search for "LED 9003". Frank D.

When my 83 was only a couple of months old, I had mine want to come up also. I was a little more fortunate because I was approaching a red light and the screw still held the back, keeping it from flying away. I had had the panel off the previous day, and I assumed that I had not gotten the front tab inserted correctly. Since then, every time I install the cover, before I install the screw, I pull up on the front and verify that the front tab is in the slot. You said that yours flew completely off......Did you have the rear screw in? Frank D.

That's it!!! Now I can do some research, but of course if anybody knows of good LED driving lights, let me know. Thanks, Frank

At Vogel (or was it the International?), I was talking to another member about the LED driving lights he had on his bike. They were very bright and he told me what brand they were, but I neglected to write it down and of course now I have no idea about what he said. All I remember they were about $300/set. If you are the one I talked to, please let me know the brand again. Does anybody know about good LED driving lights? I've already got Halogen driving lights on my 1st Gen, but they really aren't worth having. I'd like a set that would mount like the Halogen ones do (1 bolt), and my bike already has a relay and switch installed, so I don't need a wiring kit. Do I need a spot set or a flood set (narrow or wide beam)? Frank

What's your coolant replacement schedule been? I change mine every 2-3 years because I've read that anti-freeze changes and becomes slightly acidic with use. Then gaskets are eaten away. This allegedly is the cause of head gasket and intake manifold gaskets failing on car/truck motors with an aluminum head. When I changed my coolant after rebuilding the water pump this spring, I installed 5 year Prestone, but I haven't decided if I'll leave it in for the full 5 years yet. Frank

The BMW 1600 is an inline 6, not a 'V'. It is extremely smooth. Frank D.

I believe the shocks are nitrogen charged, and you'd loose the nitrogen if you open the shock.

Gary, No problem, the bike isn't apart. I thought I remembered them as being thinner than the ones in my metric O ring kit---the 40mm O rings in my kit are 3.5mm thick (cross section). Now I'll probably just order them from Yammie ($8/ea!!) to guarantee I'll have the correct ones when I change them. I rebuilt the forks over the winter and didn't replace them. Now I've got a small air leak and I have to top off the front suspension every 2-3 days. Thanks for measuring them!! Frank

I need to change the O-rings that seal the Air Joints on top of the front forks. Does anybody have one that they could measure and tell me the thickness of the O-ring? I've got a metric O-ring assortment that has some that would be the right diameter, but before I take it apart, I'd like to make sure the ones in the kit aren't too thick. The Yamaha part number is 26H-23188-00-00. Thanks, Frank

Yes, you have over a gallon of gas left when the last bar goes out and the red light comes on. On my 83, if you stop for gas immediately after the red light comes on, it takes 4.0 gallons. My 89 takes 3.9 gallons. That leaves about 1.4 gallons left in the tank. At 40MPG, that's 56 miles. Now if you're going 80MPH and getting lower gas mileage, you can't push it that far or you'll be walking. You can also estimate your gas mileage by when the bars on the display go out (if you are riding on level ground). I know that the last bar goes out on my 89 @ 3.9 gallons. If I have 170 miles on that tank, I'm getting about 43MPG. I know @ 200 miles, I'll still be running.

If cleaning the crud out of the seal doesn't stop the leak, you have a nick on your fork tube. Small nicks are hard to find, but they will cut a seal!! If you take it apart to replace the seal again, get somebody with good close eyesight to inspect the tube and find the nick. You can also take a small section of woman's panty house and move it over the tube to help you find the nick.

The position is probably fine, but you really didn't need 2 relays. Both horns are within the capacity of a single relay.

I think you're referring to the anti-dive valves....On my 83, my anti dive valves started leaking fork oil at the valve shaft slider. The shaft slider is the internal rod that the brake line pressure moves to restrict the oil flow for anti-dive. When the first one started leaking, I was able to buy a new one thru Yamaha, but that was a long time ago. When the other side started leaking, I was able to buy a used one from somebody on the Venture site I used back then. When I installed the Progressive fork springs, some Venture owners suggested that I eliminate the anti dive, so when I installed upgraded brake lines, I disconnected the brake lines to the anti dive valves (to improve brake lever feel). Then I had a machinist buddy of mine make up plates that allowed flow between the fork ports to eliminate the possibility of them ever leaking fork oil again. You can't just block off the flow between the fork ports because that would put them in the anti-dive mode. First, replace the O rings in the fork ports, but if that doesn't eliminate your leak, the valve itself is your problem. If you have a leaky valve and want to keep the anti dive operating, you probably could take the valve apart and replace all of the O rings. You can get a metric O ring kit at Harbor Freight. I've never taken an anti-dive valve apart, so I don't know for certain if it has anything other than o-rings in it though.

Do you have the fuel tank petcock in ON or RESERVE? I leave mine in RESERVE and rely on the gas gauge. That way, the bike will use all 5.3 gallons in the tank without the problem of running out of gas at a bad time. Using the whole tank, I can run over 200 miles if I want to. When the last bar goes out, mine takes 3.9 gallons. Then I look at the mileage on the odometer and buy gas within the next 50 miles.

Steve The only tests you can make to a non-running bike stator are to make sure it isn't grounded AND measure all 3wires and make sure the resistances are equal. Look at the plug and make sure it's not burnt. Frank

Or a broken valve spring or a bent valve.