Rob Swallows

Hi there. I have the "Curt" powered isolator type converter for my 2005 Venture and I'd prefer to install the connectors on it as to not butcher into the bikes harness. What would these be called? Are they readily available at auto parts stores? Thanks, Rob

Well, got a look into a bit of the website and appreciate the tip; quite useful. Today I met the Yamaha dealer and very nice folks I'll say for certain. It may be a story for the "Pay it forward" category but their mechanic I actually know from a chance meeting alongside a highway several years ago when I was in the auto body business. I changed his daughter's flat tire a couple miles down from my shop in the pouring rain as she had infant little ones in the van and really didn't know how to do it. The spare tire in the Chrysler mini vans is under the driver and front passenger's feet and it must be lowered from inside the van and dragged out from underneath. As I was finishing up, the father drove up and that's how we met. Anyway, he is not familiar with the Venture motorcycles as they are not that popular around the area but is very versed in the "V-Max" series. Going by his suggestions on what wears or gives trouble in those machines, and at his cost, I ordered four diaphragms, four throttle valves, and four base plate gaskets or "o" ring seals for the float bowls. He says it's clogged jets for certain and to remove the carbs, remove the base plates, remove the floats and needle valves, remove the diaphragms and throttle valves and clean everything with carb cleaner. Outward appearance is the carbs will not need broken apart for soaking requiring many more pieces parts to reassemble and adjust. It should be an easy job given no cylinders are actually dead. #1 , and #4 are definitely weak in comparison to the other two as verified with my Type "K" thermocouples and selector panel. Kinda hard to get these connected to read right on the pipes themselves but small band clamps holding the thermocouples did work. Best part is what I don't use can be returned with no charge as they are common usage parts for them. Thanks for the assist with this. Rob I'm about a hundred into the parts but am confident on the right track.

Thanks, I've not really delved into the website at all. I'll get a look later today when more time is available.

Is it alright to remove the airbox above the carburetors and directly spray the slides with cleaner? I don't have anything apart at this time but the Mikuni carburetors on several of my Z1, and KZ 900/1000 Kawasaki motorcycles I'd done this to. What about removing the air cleaner elements and "fogging" the intake air path while modulating the throttle slides? It does seem to want to run a bit better with the more use but while I have a bit of free time, I'd like to get it wrapped up and not look back. Probably won't let it set again..... Thanks, Rob

Thank you kindly. I didn't start the engine at all with them removed. I was trying to figure out how to change the spark plugs before realizing the tank needed to come off for most any kind of service. Before that, I didn't realize they were fake as never really looked. I dug into that other website and found the procedure for synchronizing the carburetors with photos, along with a few other things, (great help) but it appears the website is no longer supported? It sure seemed like a nice asset for these type motorcycles.

Thanks guys. I'll follow suit with the suggestions and have plenty of "SeaFoam" in a couple of bottles for this task. I'll look into the carb diaphragms tomorrow along with maybe shooting the slides with some carb cleaner if they're accessible. I did notice a couple of little things that shouldn't be there; I removed the fake fins from the rear cylinders and there were two screw on brass caps/tips from a prior carb synchronizing apparently. I've never been into this engine so they have be left over from prior maintenance. I hate losing tools and I'm certain somebody wasn't none too happy about this..... The rubber plugs that are to be removed from synchronizing, are they the ones looking like a bulb with a band clamp on them near the middle of the carb? Looks like they would be in a bleed air passage to me and you replace the plug with a hose leading to a manometer/gauge?

Rode about six miles at easy throttle and they are all within 30 degrees of each other best I can tell. They look to be just over 225 degrees after idling about two minutes. Wish I had a tach to relay engine rpm of the misfire but I can believe it's a cylinder starving if the slide doesn't open. I've never had a bike with diaphragms in the past so this is a bit new to me. I can pull the diaphragms with little difficulty if they are under those covers but would want to have ready spares available as just in case. I've never dealt with the Yamaha dealership here in the Peoria area so know nothing about them. Are there aftermarket suppliers available?

They seem to be all firing at idle. All four were about 96-99 degrees and after three minutes running at idle, all are in the mid 125 range. # four is the hottest at about 129 degrees. I'm going to ride it around a few minutes and reshoot the pipes which are kind of difficult to get a look at straight away due to the fairings and chrome covers.

Thanks for the responses guys. I have a non contact thermometer and all four are relatively close in temperature at low speed; i.e. idle. I suspect a clogged jet or diaphragm problem myself and I can get the misfire with a little harder acceleration from a stop than I normally run. With my normal acceleration it's not even noticed unless my wife is on the bike also. If I slowly accelerate through the given speed it picks right up. Are the diaphragms under the black plastic caps and about 2.5" in diameter? If so I can pull those easily but would I be best served if disturbing them to replace? Being an 11 year old machine it might be a good idea? I'll do a carb synchronization as I was supplied an auxiliary fuel tank and the main tank will be removed so I can watch things. Where is a fuel filter on this bike if known? I don't think it's been changed as the original owner only changed the oil & filter. Thanks for the help. Rob

I had let my bike, (2005 Midnight Venture) set in the heated garage for four years with the tank full with mid grade gas and "Stabil" in the fuel. I'd ran the bike till it starved out and died. It was kept on a "Battery Doctor" brand maintainer the whole time also. I'd not brought it back out citing life in the way of riding, and the bike just wouldn't ride correctly and I was afraid of dropping it. I have now purchased a high quality low pressure gauge and have the front forks balanced and what a difference! The left fork on the bike will consistently deflect the original low pressure gauge about 3.5 psi lower than the right fork. With the new gauge, they are perfectly balanced. Anyway with that settled I have now begun to ride consistent and have run up about a thousand mile this past month. Besides the heavy feeling to the bike in general, I really like it. The reason for the post is I have mid throttle response issues only since it was setting. I've ran several gallons of fresh gas though, and the current tank full has eight ounces of "Seafoam" in it. I've installed new NGK Iridium plugs, and ensured there is no corrosion in the plug wire boots. The bike starts and idles perfectly but in fourth gear at about 52 mph it is missing on at least a single cylinder. In fifth gear the speed is about 57-62 mph. Seemingly it's on the right side of the bike. There is also noticeable "cackle" from the exhaust I don't remember from a prior life five years ago. It has decent full throttle acceleration although nothing like I'd thought for a 1300cc engine and does not seem to misfire during hard acceleration. It is rock solid dependable and we are preparing for our first long road trip in 30+ years but I'd like it to run perfect before starting out. It is never a dead miss but rather something like a high speed carburetor jet partially plugged or restricted. More throttle application always brings it back to running on all four. Don't know if I should keep going, or tear into it as our trip is going to take place in early September. Anybody market carburetor kits for these things? I've not ever been into this bike at all but have purchased a synchronizer set for them for preventative maintenance. I don't have a service manual or any literature except owner's manual but am going to order one. I'm wanting to change the fuel filter but haven't found it yet either..... Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks, Rob

Thanks for all the replies. I was concerned as the prior owner stated the bike had a theft prevention system installed and didn't know if the key had a security feature like a lot of Ford automobiles do. I've seen nothing that has to be enabled and have tried to set it off when setting and locked down with no results. Rob

Several years ago my neighbor had a gold wing with a folding mirror for his wife that hinged down from the open trunk lid. I seem to remember it being a flexible piece of highly polished plastic as to not break. It had a snap fastener that held it in the "up" position when loading/unloading the trunk. He had removable bag inserts and the mirror must have molded to the shape of the bag because it never broke. Has anyone seen something like this before? My wife would love a mirror after a ride. It's that hair thing....... Thanks, Rob

Hi there, my 2005 Midnight Venture has only a single key supplied with the bike. Can any locksmith replicate mine, or does it need to come from a Yamaha dealer? Thanks, Rob

Hi there and thanks for the guidance. I had to stop on the disassembly because both of the bolts, (stainless) that retain the passing lamp bracket readily rounded out in the hex socket area. Typical of 304 series stainless steel, it is soft. I will take the heads off of the fasteners with a carbide burr, then extract the remaining threaded portions later in the week. I did separate the fairing after removing the windshield enough to allow a looksee into what I need to do. Thanks again, Rob

We purchased a visor for the front headlamp on our 2005 Midnight Venture but I don't quite see how the assembly comes out of the fairing. I don't have a service manual yet and don't want to break anything. The passing lamp visors installed without problems but I can't get the headlamp to release and there must be a retaining fastener on the backside. I did remove the allen head bolt under the lamp and nothing is loose. Thanks, Rob

Racoons can cause some damage. I have a 2007 Buick Lucerne in the shop now that "grazed" a coon without killing it, (it ran off into the woods). The car needs a front bumper cover, lower closing panel, transmission pan, minor radiator support straightening, and paintwork. Just a tad over $2800.00 damage. You are quite lucky as I've seen motorcycles "upended" with the rider ejected by impact with them. Rob

When we were looking for a Venture, two of the bikes had vents in the base of the windshield, and three did not. Did Yamaha offer this as an option, or the "Clearview" brand the only one that offered them? A couple of the bikes had different height windshields also. I can't remember the years of all because we looked at over a dozen once our mind was made up to which bike we really were drawn to. Rob

I always had a Bell "Star" and found them comfortable for the short duration use I'd given them. Bells' slogan during the 70's was a $10.00 head deserves a $10.00 helmet. At the time their's was over a hundred bucks to purchase. I've seen and heard of the Arai brand and remember them to be nicely constructed helmets. However, I don't think the contents of my head would bring a plug nickel at a Ben Franklin store; regardless, still want a nice matching pair of helmets. Comfort is a big issue because I will ride as I drive as in stop to piss, and fuel, (me and bike) then keep moving along until my ribs start to hurt from the rearward punching(s), LOL. Thanks, Rob

Hi there and thanks for the response. I really don't know what type of helmets we will wind up with as it has been so many years since we've been riding don't have much of a clue what is current. Back in my flat track days I always wore Bell full face helmets but equipment was supplied by sponsor(s). Really didn't do a lot of street riding in those days and only grabbed a helmet to go into Missouri, (was a lot more care free years ago). With this bike we don't want to scream over the surrounding noise to speak and it has intercom which we plan to use. This must be a by-product of growing up I suppose? Looking back through the related posts that appear after a new post is started there are brands with features I've never heard of or seen. We do plan to visit a couple of motorcycle shops this weekend to give ourselves a little lesson. We haven't been into motorcycling since 1993 and a lot has changed since. Rob

Hi there, we, (my wife and I) are in need to purchase a couple of helmets to go with our bike. We've not had any for several years and I'm wondering if there is a favored brand or type out there? Thanks, Rob

Hi Tom, and Joe, and thanks for the responses. My wife and I plan to see a little "road time" this summer visiting the Grand Canyon, and a few other smaller places. This bike we purchased is low miles, (9850) and runs well, so we are confident it will fit the bill. I do plan to join the group as this seems to be a very nice bunch of folks from the limited amount I've read. We are located in central Illinois near major interstates, and can offer support to anyone having trouble. Always have a trailer and my auto body shop has ample room to be out of the weather to facilitate repairs. Not to make a pitch for myself but I am a competent painter and can offer assistance/advice on the cosmetic end of keeping these motorcycles up to par. Really appreciate the link for the stand. I may make something that could remain permanent mounted, but I'm too new at this right now. I like to have the weight off wheels over any storage time although I'm not a "fair weather" rider only. About 25 degrees is my limit, depending on distance, (at least used to be. LOL). Thanks, Rob

We have a 2005 Midnight Venture just purchased and am wondering how you folks lift the bike for routine service without a factory center stand? This is our first motorcycle in 19 years and all prior had factory center stands. I have a hydraulic lift table but would like to have a way to have both tires free of the ground. Thanks, Rob