V7Goose

I hear ya Don - some times you just have to make a change. I am getting ready to sell my RSV too - just have not been able to put near as many miles on it after moving up here to the mountains with the dirt roads, mud and snow. Way too few riding days now. I think I'm gonna just have to break down and get the old Guzzi and hack back on the road so I can ride more. Goose

I have been running W10 on three computers for the past 6 months or so with no problems at all. Took a bit to get used to it and ferret out the damned intrusive stuff, but I like it - certainly not better than W7, but no worse either. But even with that good experience, I have held off upgrading my two main computers that I do serious financial and audio/video editing stuff on. I was just too concerned that I would hit some problems with some of the specialized software, and I wasn't even sure I had all the original source material where I could find it! So I have been slowly migrating each program over to one of the new W10 machines, and it has all gone without a hitch so far. Once it is done, I'll be able to do a full clean W10 install on the older computers and get rid of any lingering trash from years of XP and W7 stuff. Now here is a tip for y'all - there is a GREAT free option that will let you run an older version of Windows inside of W10 (or any other OS) - it is called VirtualBox from Oracle. I have a number of things that will only work under XP, so I basically lost them years ago when I took everything but one laptop up to W7. I knew about the various virtual machine options available, but just never wanted to spend the time to learn them. However, I decided to try it out with W10 just to have some insurance if I ran into compatibility problems with something important, and I am glad I did. VirtualBox installed super easy with almost no research, and it is running an XP machine perfectly! I wish I had checked it out years ago. If you want to try it, you can read all the documentation and download the software for free on Oracle's web site. The only thing you will need is the installation media and license key for whatever OS you want to run as a virtual machine. You don't even need a valid license key in most cases if you just want to run the virtual machine in testing mode and do not mind any nag screens the guest OS might throw at you from time to time.

Like you were told above, the gauge is one of the self test systems on this bike. Read the tech manual.

There is only one pickup coil, so if any plug is firing, it is fine. You can access the wires on the rear coils from under the bike - not too hard to pull wires and replace them with long nose pliers. All the coils share a common wire(s) from the stop switch - just going from memory instead of bothering to look at the schematic right now, but I'm pretty sure that is 12v, so you should test for that on the wires that are the same color. The unique color wires are the trigger wires from the ingitor. I do not know how many miles are on your bike to suggest if there could be other internal issues or not, but have you checked the vacuum level on all cylinders? At this point it does not really matter if they are in sync, or even what specific vacuum, but you should get strong, similar sized pulses from all cylinders, running or not, if the rings and valves are in decent shape. Goose

Stock dog bones are kinda green and have a part number stamped in them. Goose

I know you said that the carbs were spotless ... But I would still try another test after you verify the plug caps have no more than 10K of resistance each: Get a can of starter spray ( it is ether, but carb cleaner will work too) and spray a bit in the vacuum port for one of the non-running cylinders while the engine is running. If there is any spark at all, the RPM will pick right up. I do not wish to insult you in any way, but you have an old bike, a very old bike, and frankly, no matter how clean you think the carbs looked, I'd still be surprised if they are not the problem if you find you really do have spark. Do not pass up the most simple tests. Goose

Really appreciate your posting this info with pictures. This is REALLY worrisome to me, since it is not something that we routinely check, but I damn sure will now! I have put very few miles on my 05 in the past several years since moving to the mountains with all the mud and snow on the 2 miles of dirt road leading to my house, and I am considering selling it this spring - gonna have to make sure nothing like this is hiding in there for the new owner...

The plug wires on a 2nd gen are permanently attached to the coils. Even an old nasty plug with 100,000 miles on it is quite unlikely to prevent a cylinder from firing. Still, it never hurts to change them; just do not put any hope in that fixing such a problem. If it makes a difference, count your blessings and buy a lotto ticket. We know from experience that the base of the spring in the plug caps on a 2nd gen always corrode with age, and often this causes very high internal resistance, so that is where you start if you do not have reliable spark.

Bet on your plug CAPS being bad (but they can be fixed). Despite what some people say, in my experience the coils on these bikes RARELY go bad. I have had a number of them sent to me that were claimed bad, and they were not. Check the tech library for my article on testing and cleaning the internal parts of the plug caps. When you work on it, be very careful NOT to try and clean the internal resister in any way - even slight rubbing will destroy it. There are certainly many other possibilities for the cylinders to not be working, but start with the easy one. Goose

Take a small piece of paper (paper towel or just letter paper is fine), rub it in the liquid to get one end as wet as you can, then take it outside and light a match to it. Totally safe, and you will know for sure if it burns fast. My guess is you do not have a fuel leak, but probably a small leak from the drain plugs under the fake cylinder fins. This is VERY common on these bikes when the temps get cold and the rubber plugs have not been changed in a few years. Goose

I'm late to the game here, as usual, but I'll still add a thought or two. I do value the friends and personal relationships I have had with many members here, but all of you who know me know that I am not the warmest, fuzziest of guys. I have a hard time finding common ground to talk with people unless it is around a specific interest (such as our favorite motorcycle). And I like technical stuff, so I learn about all of it that I am personally involved with. That means I spend the majority of my time on these type of sights focused on mostly technical questions and related discussions. To make matters worse, I have almost totally lost personal contact with members since moving to the rural mountains of New Mexico - we just do not have a crowd of riders around here that want to get together for a ride or who need some technical help. And I cannot even get the danged bike down off this mountain after about October - dirt roads, mud, snow and ice just do not help out at all! Those are all reasons why my involvement here seems rather limited at times. As for changes to the site - I'm not sure my ideas will have much value for all the above reasons, but here goes anyway. I personally have zero interest in information or discussions focused specifically on other bikes - and in particular, Goldwings and HD top that list of zero interest. So the more of that I see, the less involvement I have. If I ever sell the RSV and buy a different brand, I'll almost certainly seek out a group of fellow owners of that bike, not try to change this group to include my new interest. For example, I love my Yamaha Rhino UTV, and I use it up here way more than I use my RSV, but I do not try to shove it into the conversations on this site. I do not and never will use Facebook or other social media - WAY too much intrusiveness and risk to privacy and personal information. Anything that involves that just drives me away. I used to rate a lot of things I knew about in the Google store, but when they started not allowing ratings or comments unless you used their social media crap, I just left. I still use my Android stuff, but I can't really help anybody else with it. I may not do well with small talk and idle chit chat, but I do like to help people - that is what I have tried to do here over the past 10 years. I'm not sure what changes might enable that more, but I am all for any ideas in that direction. The things that bring me to a new site are mostly learning things - I've pretty much learned all I am going to about this bike. The things that keep me there are a feeling of fellowship and feeling wanted and valuable. We absolutely have that fellowship here, and helping others is what makes me feel valuable. I just wish that we had some other owners around here. Ride safe y'all (when you can ride at all), and maybe I'll see some of you when I can finally get down off the mountain in the spring! I do miss the 365 days of riding I had every year in Texas (but everything else is better here!). Goose

You've been duped. You have a serious problem with your engine (ignition or intake), and you chose to simply hide the indications that the problem is there instead of actually fixing it. Besides NOT fixing your bike, you chose to make the air foul for all of us for no reason at all. Very very poor choice in my book. Goose

Eight BEDROOMS? Hard to believe. You sure that is not "sleeps eight"? That is pretty normal, but eight bedrooms would sleep 16 or 18. Houseboats are great - we have one on Lake Eufalla in Oklahoma that we haven't even used yet this year - getting real late, and we have never put it off this long. Have room for 4 or 6 people to join us in the next 3-6 weeks if someone is interested??? Most costs are covered already, you wold only need to kick in your own food/drink and maybe a hundred for gas. Goose

I've ridden a long way on reserve, and it has been documented in many very old threads. I have a six gallon tank, and It holds six gallons, and I can use all of it. That has also been documented in many old threads. There are specific things necessary for this, and they also have been documented in many old threads. For the record, I have run 56 miles on reserve without running out of gas. I filled up with 5.96 gallons. I WAS a bit worried on that run! Under bad conditions (stupid speed and head winds, etc.), my reserve has been dry in 40 miles. I do not think I have ever gotten less than 40 miles on reserve. All of this is dependent on proper bike setup, tuning, and individual riding styles. YMMV Goose

You have a fuel flow problem - clogged strainer, clogged fuel filter, or kinked/plugged fuel line. You definitely should be seeing more than a teaspoon in 5 seconds of open line pumping. And no, the pump will NOT run continually when the line is open - there is a timeout just like there is a pressure switch to shut it off. Everything you describe almost sounds like your pump is just fine - the problem is the fuel supply TO to the pump (if there was an obstruction after the pump, the pressure switch would shut it off quickly). I said "almost" because step 2 does not make any sense. I'm pretty sure that the fuel filter is BEFORE the fuel pump, so you cannot pull the line from the filter going to the carbs. You need to pull the line off the carb inlet to check the flow through the fuel pump. In a normal situation, the carbs are pumped full during the first key cycle of the day, then after that, turning the key off and back on does not generate any clicking because the carbs are still full. Your carbs are never filling. Goose

As long as you do not have any grinding or other strange noises coming from the transmission, you have absolutely no risk to continue riding the bike. Provided, of course, that you do not try to force a shift with lots of excess pressure on the shifter, which COULD bend a shift fork that might not already be damaged. Shifting without touching the clutch like I described will damage nothing at all. In fact, since the clutch plates stay fully engaged, they will NEVER wear out when using that technique. Downshifts are also easily done without the clutch, but take more experience and practice. The trick for a downshift is to preload the shifter the same way, but then suddenly snap the throttle OPEN to increase the engine speed, and as soon as the transmission gears unload during the change from slowing down to acceleration, the sift will happen instantaneously, just like an upshift. With just a small amount of practice, you never have to touch the clutch at all except for starting from a dead stop. One other thing to look at while on the road is slop in the shift lever itself - the hole in the lever on these bikes quickly wears out of round, which will also cause misalignment and additional wear on the rest of the linkage. If you have that problem, you can help it some by picking up a large washer at the hardware store and placing it under the shifter retaining bolt so that it presses directly on the shift lever, reducing its ability to wobble on the worn shaft. You might even need to put on TWO washers, one on either side of the shifter so that it is sandwiched between two flat surfaces. You will have to grease it up good so that it can still move with the pressure from the bolt/washer on the side of the shifter, but it will help a lot if your main issue is binding in the shift linkage. Do also try to adjust some of the slop out of the rest of the linkage - everything will help. Goose

Most likely cause is that your clutch fluid simply needs to be bled. You are going up in altitude and any small air bubbles left in the system will be expanding and making full disengagement of the clutch more difficult. With those miles, it is also possible you have some badly worn linkages or bushings that have introduced slop in the shift linkage that is causing some binding and preventing clean quick shifts. If there is nothing else wrong with your transmission or shifting forks, the normal shift operation is extremely easy to test without even touching the clutch. Ride normally, and just before you are ready to upshift, pre-load the shifter with your foot using moderate pressure, then roll off the throttle at a normal rate to shift. As soon as the RPMs drop to the correct speed to sync with the next higher gear, the transmission will instantly fall into that gear without you having to do anything else or apply additional pressure to the shifter. Without experience with the technique, it works best on a level road with moderate speeds so that the bike maintains a steady speed during the process and the "sync window" for the engine RPM is a little longer. That is why I said to roll off the throttle at a normal rate, not just snap it shut. As soon as you feel the shift, be ready to start rolling the throttle back on to maintain speed or accelerate. If this works, then your only problem is the clutch fluid or the master/slave cylinders not functioning properly. On the other hand, if the upshift is not perfectly quick and smooth as I have described, then your problem is either with the linkage or internal to the transmission. If you want to swing south through New Mexico before heading back east on your way home, I'd be happy to look at it for you. Goose

If jets are only partially plugged so that they still let a bit of fuel through, then Seafoam will do a very good job of cleaning them in a tank or two of gas. But if no gas is able to get through the jet at all, then nothing will clean it short of removing the jet and soaking it in a bit of carb cleaner. This is because the jets in a carb do not sit submerged in gas, so the only time they can get cleaned is when the engine is running and fuel is being pulled through them. Goose

They are covered by brass cones - easy to pop the covers off with a long common screwdriver - just place the screwdriver at the base of the cone and twist a bit. For this method to work well, the screwdriver bit should be in good shape with flat end and sharp edges - a worn one doesn't grab into the brass. Goose

No idea whatsoever how coolant could get all over the battery, but that alone is a bit of an indication that someone did something really wrong! Goose

Your statement that everything is now completely dead sounds more like the main fuse, but bad connections or failed battery are also lesser possibilities, as is a failed ignition switch. Goose

In my opinion, the problem you describe is NOT normal - but that could simply be a difference in how you chose to word it vs. what I would see if I could test the bike. Your pilot jets are probably partially clogged. Test this by first setting idle at 1000 RPM, then slowly turning each pilot screw in to see if RPM drops. No speed drop means no fuel through pilot for that carb. If the speed falls off, then gently seat the screw and back out until RPM quits increasing. If you do not have a tach, try just setting the screws to 4 turns out - good starting point. Do each carb in turn, and if any of them do not show a reduction in RPM when you trun them in, you have a problem with either the carb or ignition. Goose

It is fairly easy to put in the front pads with one of them not quite fully seated on the rails (with the ear on the end hanging up outside the rail it is supposed to slide on). Goose

Welcome, and glad you found a good bike. Most of the issues you mention are easily sorted out and covered in great detail here in older threads (usually the most details are in threads from 3 - 5 years ago), so I won't go into great detail here. Your afterfire is a very common problem and usually easy to fix. A stock RSV will absolutely NOT do this unless something is wrong with either the fuel mixture, ignition or exhaust headers. It usually happens because the bike runs close to the 'too lean' point and a slight change in fuel mixture easily results in poor combustion. You absolutely should NOT NOT NOT disable the AIS system as some people will quickly advise - that does NOTHING to fix the problem with your engine, it just hides the symptom! The most common cause is a vacuum leak from cracked rubber caps on the vacuum nipples. Other causes are improperly set carbs, bad plugs, and exhaust leaks at the headers or Y pipes. The RSV tank does actually hold 6 gallons, but is designed to prevent you from totally filling it. You can improve this by venting the filler neck just under the lip of the tank opening. No reasonable way to move the seat. I am 6'5" and use highway pegs a lot. I personally think the Morgan tool is junk, but many people like it. The old-style four gauge set is MUCH better. For tires, I like Dunlop E3 or Avon Venoms. I have written a LOT about tires and my detailed testing in the past, so you can find lots of info there. Just make CERTAIN you NEVER NEVER buy the stock Brickstone tires called for in the owner's manual - your bike will handle like a dead pig. Goose

I can understand, but still not completely buy that excuse. If you head north to Globe and then come across US60, temps should drop pretty quickly this time of year as you begin climbing into the White Mountains. Then you will keep good altitude all the way here. Even if it wasn't a heat issue, that is the only route I would take - that I10 corridor is nothing but butt ugly! Goose