V7Goose

As far as I know, there is never a reason to remove the choke knob. Goose

Hello Tim - in direct response to your question, your mileage from a Dunlop D404 was fairly typical. That is just an average tire, not a really BAD one like the Brickstone, but nothing particularly good about it either. I have done a LOT of very detailed testing and reviews of most of the available tires for this bike, but most of those posts are 3-5 years old. I have well over 100,000 miles on my 2005, so that has given me the chance to burn through a lot of tires! And since I change my own, I am able do do more comparison testing than some are willing to do. May I suggest you do an advanced search specifically for posts by me containing the word "tires". There is a lot of reading available, and in those threads you will find many differing opinions (not just mine) about different tires which will let you form your own ideas on where to go next. I am not trying to suggest that my personal opinion is any better than the others, but I do think you will find that I have posted way more detailed facts about why I hold those opinions than most of the other contributors. Those facts are the only way you can decide if you think a posted opinion makes sense to you. Good luck, Goose

DO NOT BUY the referenced tach from the post above unless you fully understand what you are doing! That tach probably will not work for you unless you are willing to build a pulse adapter. From the specs, it looks like it is designed for a typical engine with a single coil and a distributor - the lowest setting is 4 cylinder, which will expect two pulses per revolution. Although our engines are 4 cyl, they have no distributor - each cylinder has its own coil, which would lead you to believe that it needs a tach designed for a single cylinder engine, but that is not right either. The ignitor on our engine fires each coil ONCE per revolution (the second pulse is a waste spark during the exhaust stroke), so a tach that works on this engine must be designed for use on a typical 2-cylinder engine. The real key is knowing how many PPR (pulses per revolution) the tach needs. Four-stroke engines that use a single coil typically produce a number of PPR = 1/2 the number of cylinders, thus a 4 cylinder engine will provide 2 firing pulses during each engine revolution. In contrast, a two-stroke engine will produce one firing pulse for each cylinder during every revolution (twice as many as needed on a four-stroke engine). Tachometers designed for cars usually only specify the number of cylinders, which often confuses the non-technical buyer. Tachometers designed for motorcycles or boats are more likely to specify the required PPR. As I stated above, each coil on the RSV will produce 1 firing pulse during each engine revolution. Goose

Good links - thanks for posting them. Lots of other great info is also available on "Bobs..." site related to both oils and filters. Just FYI for the OP and anyone else who might be interested - I have been using Purolator non-motorcycle filters (both standard and Pure One) almost exclusively in my RSV for over 100,000 miles, and my engine still seems perfect in every way - absolutely no detectible oil burning or loss of compression. I personally nave no concerns at all about using those filters in the RSV. Goose

If you are saying you tried to ride it with the lower fairings off, then your problem was normal. The issue is not too much air, but too much turbulence and air pressure change on the carb vent hoses that sit right in front of the air filter intakes. CV carbs cannot tolerate any pressure changes from turbulence on the vents, since then air pressure difference on each side of the diaphragm is what causes the slides to open. Too much air flow CAN cause some performance problems by allowing the bike to run way too lean with stock jets, but that normally requires greater exhaust flow also, and the symptoms are different than what you described. Goose

The ignitor may be bad, but it is a simple job to test the wires to each coil first. The R/B wires are all connected to a common 12V supply coming from the kill switch, so just disconnect that wire from the coil and check it for 12V with the key on. As you have already seen, the other wire on each coil goes to a specific pin on the ignitor. To test that, just remove the plug from the ignitor and use an ohmmeter to check for continuity from the pin in the plug to the end of the disconnected wire at the coil. If you have continuity on the wires, the ignitor is almost certainly bad. HOWEVER, just removing and reseating the plug on the ignitor MIGHT fix your problem - sometimes pin connections can build up a thin layer of oxidation that is fixed by simply reseating the connection (scrapes the surface of the pin). Pilots used to HATE it when we wrote up a repair as simply "reseated unit", but it was not an uncommon fix. Good luck, Goose

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?1067-A-list-of-known-problems-on-the-Second-Gen-Venture

This bike does not come with an alarm, so who knows what butchery was done to the bike when it was added? Unfortunately, all of our knowledge about the RSV may not be of much help to you, since we will be just shooting in the dark. You will need to give us much more information about the problem. Do the other electrical parts of the machine work? What dash lights come on when you turn on the key? What happens when you hit the starter - any dash lights change? Do be aware that this bike has both neutral and side-stand interlocks that will affect starting. Also be certain that the kill switch is not in the kill position. Lots of information on interlock problems in older threads on this site. The shop manual available in the tech library has the schematics that will be necessary for you to be sure the bike is put back together in original condition without alarm. Good luck, Goose

OK, here is yet another test that can prove if the cylinder can fire or not - remove the cap from the vacuum nipple, and when the engine is idling, spray some starter fluid or carb cleaner in the nipple - idle speed should pick up and header pipe should get hot. If it does, then you know for a fact that the carb is NOT feeding proper fuel at idle. Goose

It is very tough to tell you specifically what the problem might be without a lot more detailed information. But based on what I have seen so far, I'm pretty confident it is all in the carbs. Some of your posts make me think that you do not have much knowledge about the carb adjustment and sync processes on this bike - all that info is available on this site for a little research. Have the carbs been properly cleaned? Are the floats set correctly? Have you verified the pilot jets are all in the correct carbs (four carbs and three different pilot jet sizes)? Are the caps and vacuum hoses on the vacuum ports in like-new condition? (If the two caps are over 3 years old, I guarantee you they are not, and the vacuum hoses are often damaged by careless mechanics.) Although the elimination of all vacuum leaks is important for proper running, I will say that it is unlikely to be your main problem. On the other hand, proper routing and functioning of the carb vent lines is critical on CV carbs for good operation above idle. But your first problem is to just get all four cylinders to fire properly at idle, and that really only involves clean, properly sized pilot jets, a reasonable setting of the air screws, and a decent spark. Minor vacuum leaks will not particularly affect idle operation, but an open vacuum port will. A really screwed up carb sync CAN give you fits at idle simply because the sync process just changes how far the butterfly valves are open on each carb, so it is always a good idea to make sure the sync is reasonably close before you do anything else. One more comment - good tools are important. You need to be able to assure your idle is set to 1,000 RPM (NOT just guessing by ear unless you are very experienced with this bike). And using real vacuum gauges to do the sync also gives you one more important piece of information that other tools do not - how much actual vacuum is your bike pulling? If you are not seeing at least 10" Hg at idle, that is a strong indication of probable clogged pilot jets. If all four are low, the issue is probably the carbs, but if one or two are low and stay low, it may well be an issue with rings or valves. I have no idea if you are the first or subsequent owner of this bike, but there is always the possibility that some ham-fisted bozo has really screwed up the pilot jets in your carbs by sticking something in them trying to clean out the gunk. Unfortunately, there is really no way to tell that without having new or otherwise known-good jets to try. Feel free to give me a call, my number is in my profile. I often do not have my phone with me when I am out working on the property, so just leave a message and I will try to call you back. Goose

The plugs on these engines should never be black, or even brown. When everything is running right, the plugs are virtually white, looking more like they are running too hot than anything. So that confirms that you have a problem with that cylinder, but doesn't tell you much about what the problem might be. Two most likely causes remain carb issues and high resistance in the plug caps. Find an old post by me about cleaning plug caps - probably in the tech library. Be very careful to NOT try to clean the resistor in any way. If you have a problem, it will be on the base of the spring where it contacts the inside of the cap. Also do not loose the tiny thin brass disc that fits between the spring and the resistor. The plug caps just unscrew from the wires. Check the resistance by putting one probe inside the cap where the plug goes, and the other probe on the screw that goes inside the wire when you put the cap back on. You cannot change the wires on this bike. I imagine you can buy new caps from Yamaha, but I never tried. I did do some research on available aftermarket caps - only option was NGK 5K ohm caps. Did you rev the engine to see if the pipes heated up above idle? That is the best way to see of the problem is most likely idle jets or ignition. Goose

If the air plenum above the carbs is not staying fully seated on the tops of the carbs, then you do not have it installed correctly - at least one place has the rubber folded under when you tried to put it down on the carbs. The clamps above the carbs are designed specifically so they cannot be over tightened (there is a metal bushing on the screw that limits how far it can co). It is a little tricky to get it on correctly, but that will have nothing to do with the problems you are fighting. 8K ohms for these plug caps is an acceptable reading - it is actually BELOW spec, which I have never seen, but that is probably just your meter. The quickest way for you to get a good idea if you have a bad coil or ignitor is to simply put a new plug in the cap and use some wire to solidly attach the base of the plug to some metal part of the engine, then start the bike and watch for spark. If you get regular spark, then you can be pretty sure all of your problems are in the carbs. Goose

The fingertip test is just the first step of this problem. Since that test only checks how fast the pipe heats up at idle, it USUALLY points to a clogged pilot jet. Unfortunately, that is probably not your problem, since a clogged pilot jet only causes mild problems at speed where your fuel mpg numbers would be most affected. But it does give you a pointer on where to start. If the the #4 cylinder is not heating up at idle, then maybe it is not running at all - in that case, the problem is most likely ignition, either (in probability order) plug cap, bad plug, bad coil, or ignitor. The most simple check on any ignition at all above idle is to just rev the engine a bit while still doing the fingertip test - if the problem is only a plugged pilot jet, the pipe will sizzle quickly as soon as your raise the revs. that will keep you from wasting time running down ignition problems when you simply need to clean the carbs. But no matter what else you find, I would strongly suggest you do two things - change the plugs (or at least switch the two right plugs so you can easily see if the problem follows the plug or stays with the cylinder), and take off the plug caps to measure the resistance. High resistance due to internal corrosion on these bikes is common - look for more details in older threads. You want to see about 10,000 ohms on each cap (just going from memory here); anything above 12K is a problem. Do those additional tests, and we can tell you where to go next. Goose

Your gas mileage is a problem, and any jet change is just going to make it worse. When the carbs are clean and funtioning on a stock 2nd gen, the jet sizes are just perfect. These bikes rarely get great fuel mileage - most people get mid to upper 30s. Mountains generally do not make it worse, since that often keeps the speed down. The only time I ever broke 50 mpg on my 05 was in the mountains! Riding style makes a huge difference, and the biggest drain on economy is wind drag (SPEED). You should never get less than 30 unless you are riding at least 80 MPH and have a head wind. At high speeds and no head wind you should still get at least 32 mpg. Keeping the revs at a reasonable level is important, but it should never make your fuel mileage less in normal riding, and it CAN improve your economy if you have been riding the bike like a v-twin. Running on only three cylinders certainly will give you the problem you describe, and believe me, the average person who does not already have a lot of experience with one of these bikes CANNOT tell they are only running on three! Do the fingertip test on cold headers to see if all four are at least hitting when first started. If all four cylinders are firing properly, then your problem is definitely in the carbs. (which includes the full air intake tract). Good luck, Goose

No need for appologies - I saw nothing in your posts to take offense at. I do not play games with words, and I try to assume others do not either - if you want to offend me, you need to get straight to the point! As Freebird said, I'm usually the one who offends others by just bluntly saying what I think without trying to sugar coat it and obscure the real meaning. The offense is never intended, but often taken... Anyway, I hope you can get it figured out and running right. Goose

Jets are made from soft brass - never never use anything metal to clean them. Some people say a copper wire is OK (technically softer than brass), but I won't even agree with that. The only thing I use to clean jets is spray cab cleaner in a small bowl or cup, then compressed air. If you have stuck something in your jets, you may already need to buy new ones. The tech section of this site has a very detailed article on setting floats. You can also find many old threads where I have discussed this - bottom line is that not a single RSV carb is set even close to correctly from the factory. That may sound doubtful and even stupid, but in my experience with these bikes (considerable), it is a fact. As for carb sync tools - the only one I personally find acceptable is the four gauge set, generally available for between $50 and $100. I have discussed this in many older threads, including very detailed reasons on what I find good and bad about the other tools. I do not suggest you blindly agree with my opinions - many people do not! Just read the information - look for facts to analyze instead of just unsupported opinions, and then make up your own mind. Goose

In general a 14 AWG cord is way way too small for any electric chain saw unless you are only using a 25-50' cord. The paperwork that came with your saw should clearly tell you what size cord you need for a specific length. For example, I have a little 14" electric saw I bought to fill in the gaps the first winter I moved to the mountains - my gas saws were stuck back in Texas, and it was cheap form Harbor Freight (and works great). Anyway, it is rated at 9 amps, and the chart in the manual shows that it requires a 10 AWG cord for 100', and should not even be used with a 150' cord (probably because an 8 AWG cord is not only very hard to find, but almost impossible to handle!). Using a 14 AWG cord at 100' would seriously damage that motor if used for anything but twigs. Goose

I do not know how much I can help you, since you have modified the exhaust and the intake - either of those acts can screw things up bad. First, make sure you have your idle set to 1,000 RPM - if you are not very familiar with this bike, you cannot do that by ear - 1,000 RPM sounds higher than most of us would guess is right, especially if you are coming from any twin cylinder engine. Based on some of the earlier posts, I suspect ongoing problems inside your carbs. A stuck choke plunger can cause surging idle - make sure they are all pushed totally in. You should not have been able to make all the changes you did to the idle mixture screws without noting some significant changes in idle speed - that suggests you have problems with the idle jets. Start by setting all of them out 3 full turns. Then with engine warmed up, turn one in slowly until the idle speed starts to drop - this will prove that the idle jet is providing fuel (maybe not totally clean, but at least working at a basic level). When the idle speed begins to drop, start slowly opening the screw until the speed stops increasing - that is about where you want to leave it. Repeat this process for the remaining three carbs. If done right, it will give you settings close to what you will get with an gas analyzer, and certainly better than the factory settings. When you had the carbs out, did you set the floats? If not, they are way too low and can easily contribute to your hesitation problem. Other general thoughts on the hesitiation - this is a common problem with constant velocity carbs whenever the air flow is not correct. Since you have messed with both intake and exhaust, I'd bet a lot your air flow is not correct. A hesitation generally says that you are getting more air than the carbs can properly supply fuel to match. CV carbs have a designed-in hesitation to the vacuum circuit that slows the initial jump of the slides just to avoid this type of problem, but if your idle circuits are not able to provide enough fuel to match the sudden opening of the butterflies, then you will have it anyway. If your carbs are properly cleaned and the floats set right, then you may simply need larger idle jets - this is NEVER needed on this bike unless someone has already screwed up the system by making unwise changes to the intake and exhaust without the proper knowledge and testing tools to do it correctly. As for your exhaust leak at the "Y" connection - that is very common on these bikes - poor manufacturing. The joint is not welded, just crimped, and that crimp can often leave two large holes that cause the leak. In bad cases, those leaks can let enough fresh air get sucked in to cause the after-fire popping. People who are insistent that they have the right to annoy everyone else by running excessively loud pipes can often cause the same problem by removing all the insides of the mufflers. But the closer the air leak is to the exhaust port, the worse the problem will be. That is why you have been told to check the header gaskets and make sure the bolts are tight. If there is not a significant exhaust leak, the after-fire problem is most often caused by screwed up carbs or vacuum leaks on the intake tract. Lastly, your Motion-pro tool is total junk - I'm sorry you were mislead into buying that tool. It is better than nothing, but not by much. As for the calibration - any single vacuum source will work - this bike has no 'master' carb, so just forget about that. When you sync them, you match the left two together, then you match the right two together, then as the third step, you match the left pair to the right pair. When you try to calibrate that POS, you should have a vacuum source somewhere around 10" Hg - of course, you will have no way of knowing that unless you have a proper vacuum gauge, but that is about what you should see on each cylinder at idle on this engine. One of the problems you will have using a single cylinder as your calibration source is the significant vacuum pulses you will see at 1,000 RPM. But do not be tempted to rev the engine to smooth out those pulses - that junk tool you bought wildly changes calibration at higher RPMs. The spec for carb sync is to be done at idle speed. Some of us like to compare the sync at idle to the sync at 3,000 RPM or higher, just to verify that the slides seem to be operating properly and all else remains good - but you CANNOT do this with that tool, at least not the ones I tested. I wish you the best of luck getting that all sorted out. Goose

Just put on over here to Ruidoso, NM and we'll do some bench racing and generally get 'er done. Goose

If your problem is coming up off of idle or other low-speed running, then you probably have some clogged pilot jets and are running off the mains just to keep the RPM up. With a CV carb, this leaves you no "cushion" of fuel to take up the slack with the sudden increase of air as you open the throttle. The mains cannot add any fuel until the slides start to rise, and CV carbs are specifically designed to delay this (to avoid that exact problem). Goose

There is no way to tighten the wheel bearings, so I do not understand your post. It is very common for the front brake pads on this bike to make noise at low speed after a lot of light use - generally that clears right up after you get up to decent speed and use the front brake good. Goose

I'm gonna advise things very different - first of all, your best guide is the service schedule in the owner's manual. That said, here is an important change to it - the manual for those old bikes specified an extra long oil change interval - DOUBLE what the newer 2nd gens call for - although the engine did not change, the spec was cut in half in either 2004 or 2005. I cannot remember if the current spec is 3,000 or 5,000 (and I'm too lazy to go look it up right now), but make sure you follow the oil change spec for 2005 or later RSVs. Next, the valve check/adjust was due at 27,000 miles - you are due, and I personally think it is very important to have this checked. Unfortunately, that job is pretty expensive (typically $500 or more at a dealer). Lots of information about this in older threads. I doubt if you need to think about replacing swingarm or wheel bearings, but you absolutely DO need to do the swingarm bearing adjustment. Steering head bearings are a different issue - I'd bet big $$ that they are very loose, and at 30,000 miles, probably damaged if they are. Unfortunately, greasing these bearings is also a very big job, so I ordinarily recommend the quick adjustment we have defined here on the site and see if there is still any play in the bearings when you rock the bottom of the forks. But with the age of your bike and the amount of time it has sat, I'd recommend you juts plan on doing the full job to grease the bearings, and be prepared to replace them if needed. Still, the only way you will know if they need replacement is to properly adjust them (using either the "swing" test or the correct torque value, and then carefully feel for play in the bearings by push/pull on the bottom of the forks (as described in the service manual). Again, lots of info on this in older threads. You MUST replace the rotted vacuum caps on the intake nipples and carefully inspect the two vacuum hoses for cracks. I also strongly advise you pull the carbs and properly clean them and adjust the float levels - if that has never been done, they are set very high from the factory. And with the amount of sitting that b ike ahs done, I wouldn't trust those carbs without a proper cleaning, no matter how good you think it may be running now. For the same reason, pull the petcock and fully drain the tank to look for water and rust sediment. Make sure you replace the fuel filter. Your brake and clutch fluid is WAY past time for replacement - this is NOT optional. In addition, if the rear pads have not been changed, yolu probably already have disc damage there - again also see older threads here for all the info. There are probably a hundred other things I would go through if you had the bike here, but those are the things that first come to mind. Good luck, Goose

Not seeing a fuel filter fill is not uncommon, and not necessarily a problem. For example, I put an external clear filter on my generator (just gravity feed and only about a 2" drop between tank and carb), and most of the time when it is running I just see a bit of gas spitting into the filter with NO pooled fuel in there at all. But occasionally it will completely fill the filter - no idea why. Since you do not have the fuel pump connected, you have only the weight of the gas to fill the carbs, and nothing allows the air to really bubble up out of the filter into the tank, which would be necessary to fill the filter if the air is not sucked down into the carbs. Therefore, it would seem normal to only be able to see the slight trickle of gas equal to what the engine burns at idle. This is especially true if the filter is not mounted vertically. At this point, you may not have any problem at all. But if you still DO have a fuel feed problem, the most likely suspect would be the neoprene tips on the float needles being damaged from a nasty chemical cleaner. The only brand of cleaner I will use on these carbs is Gumout, as that has proven to me to be safe (and some others, like the old STP cleaner are absolutely NOT safe). Also be certain that the vent lines that run from between the carbs to the front of the air filters are not pinched or kinked - that is real easy to do when installing the carbs. I know you said you can suck through them, but that alone does not prove they are not restricted by pinching or kinking - applying any vacuum or pressure to a soft line like that is totally different than free atmospheric air. Goose

Just wanted to mention that you can never get air to blow into the carb from a fuel line unless the whole system is dry. If there is liquid in the carb bowl, the float valve is forcibly shut - the harder you blow, the tighter the valve is shut. Goose

In post 19 you said you turned the tank upside down and pulled the petcock - you said nothing about draining the fuel. As I said above, this type of problem is typical of water and crud blocking the screen, and that stuff will simply wash off as soon as you slosh the tank. You may have a blocked vent, but unless the tank is filled to the absolute brim, you can ride for a very long way until the vacuum caused by the used gas begins to starve the engine. This is especially true if your fuel pump is working. Here is an RSV fact for you to consider: If you have at least 2 gallons of gas in your tank, the bike will run perfectly at any speed on direct gravity feed from the tank to the carb input. The ONLY things that can affect this are a defective petcock, crud blocking the petcock screen, clogged fuel filter, or kinked/blocked fuel line. If you have a blocked vent line, it will still run for quite a while, and then you will hear the "whoosh" of air rushing in when you open the tank cap. I suggest your pull the petcock and drain the fuel through that hole. Then after it sits for an hour or two, take a careful look at the bottom quart or so of the fuel you drained out. If you do find water in the bottom, then make sure to drain all four carb bowls AND flush the fuel lines and pump before you put it back together with fresh gas. Water sitting in the bottom of the bowls will cause similar running problems. Note that it is actually important to let the fuel sit for at least an hour - when first drained after any amount of sloshing, the water in the gas will not be particularly visible - more like a mist or milky fog than water droplets. Goose