darthandy

As I mentioned above, I pulled the bike into the garage after the wash to clean out the air filter elements. They were quite dry. Afraid it's not that - oh, by the way they were brand new items installed just a few days before and had been taken on a 500 KM trip, part of which wound up being on gravel roads - that's why I was cleaning them so soon. Thanks, Andy

Thanks for the idea, but the bike is unrideable - it won't take any throttle at all. Not sure how you got he TCI on the air cleaner - or was that a first gen? Mine is a 2nd gen - RSV. Andy

Last week I washed the bike (Garden hose - low pressure setting on nozzle) and happened to spray some under the gas tank. Started the bike afterwards to go into the garage - no problem. Cleaned the air filter elements and went to start the bike - problem! It took full choke and 1/3 throttle and it ran really rough and wouldn't take any throttle. It seemed to be running on only 2 cyl. Rear exhaust pipes heated up a lot faster than the fronts. I let it dry some more and went back out and tried again It was still hard to start but suddenly picked up revs, but still rough and now seemed to be on 3 cyl. It would take throttle but only very slowly and lots of afterfires through the exhaust. I let it warm up hoping things would improve if it got dryer but no change. I turned it off and waited a while. I tried again and heard the fuel pump going at a good clip (It had been slow before but I forgot I had just started the bike) as I hit the starter. Once it started, I tried giving it more throttle but this time it actually did backfire through one of the carbs (Blew some residue out the overflow tube) and kept afterfiring through the exhaust. I pulled the plugs out, blew air in the plug caps (one plug looked normal the others had varying amounts of soot on them) and put in a new set of properly gapped NGK iridium plugs. I blew air around the coils (The ones I could see anyway) and put it all back together today and tried starting it. It started well, but still wouldn't accept throttle and was afterfiring (Not as badly) through the exhaust. I turned it off and started it again several times and, with the choke, it starts well, but runs rough, afterfires and won't accept any throttle. Also, I have a lot of exhaust smoke coming out of the right rear pipe at the junction where it goes into the motor. I'm no mechanic and I'm ready to take it into a shop (Not the local Yamaha dealer - I wouldn't trust them to wash the bike!) if I can't find the problem. My only other thought is that maybe a coil got fried and that's causing the problem but I don't know how to test them - assuming I can find them - they seem to be well hidden. If anyone has a good idea. please let me know, otherwise I have to figure out how to get the bike to the nearest independent repair shop (Them I trust) and spend what I fear will be a lot of money. Thanks, Andy

Roll your bike onto a one inch thick board and you'll see how it feels. I felt no real difference other than the improved handling of the bike. Andy

My Mastercard is a chip card and so far has worked in all the pumps that I tried in the U.S. recently. But then I didn't go very far south so it could be a different story in some places. Andy

Thanks - I actually thought of doing that but couldn't find any tubing of the right size anywhere in the humongous pile of sh .... er, I mean in the large supply of parts I keep in the basement. I won't repeat what my wife calls it! Andy

A flat V-6? OK , this I gotta see!! Andy

When I was down in PA last Thursday I stopped into a Yamaha dealership for some parts and had a chat with one of the guys behind the counter. He told me that he had heard from a friend working for a Yamaha regional office that they were working on a fuel injected version of the V-4 to put into a new design touring bike. So - there's a little more fuel to the rumour fire! Andy

Used compressed air - couldn't find a lint lizard ! Everything went reasonably well, although I was wishing that I could shrink my hands down to better get at the plugs. I mean it's not like there really big, but - sheesh! those are some tight spaces! I'll put the tank back on in the morning and hope she starts and runs well after all that 3 cylinder fun Thursday after the wash job. Andy

Thanks, CM. That sounds like a good plan. Andy

I'm putting new spark plugs into the RSV and just wondered ... is there anything special that needs to be done when the two front engine braces are removed? The engine is solidly bolted and these just seem to be there to stiffen things up, but I'd like to be sure. Thanks, Andy

I agree. Controlling a bike where the rear tire goes flat can be quite an experience, but with a front tire you are looking seriously at going down hard. I'd hate to replace a nearly new tire but it sure beats crashing at 60 mph or so on a busy 4 lane. As a very good technician once told me - you can't always be sure how seriously that area of the tire has been damaged - do you really want to find out at highway speed? Andy

Actually, I recently noticed that some of the gas pumps in NY and PA now have a small sticker on the pump explaining how to do this, but thanks for posting for those who don't know. Andy

It's my understanding that the raised part is an addition to the original plastic base plate. If it can be sliced off parallel to the base plate, there shouldn't be a hole. Personally, I would just go with the K&N filters, but that's just me. Andy

The filters with the raised section are the new and improved elements. I had the old flat top ones and recently the paper element started pulling away from he plastic base. The parts manager where I got the new ones told me that they redesigned the filter elements to keep that from happening. It seems that they don't sit quite flat in the pods and get bent just a bit. Over time the stress causes the paper element to pull away from the base allowing unfiltered air into the motor. This is what was happening with mine and why I had to replace them. The new version gets "sandwiched" in the pods keeping everything pressed together. Hard to believe that mother Yamaha chose to redesign something like this to eliminate a problem, considering that nothing has been done about the crappy rear shock - that's too expensive I suppose. Andy

Just recently ran some Seafoam through and in fact I run some through about once a month to keep things clean. Haven't checked the plugs yet. Will do that hopefully tomorrow when I pull off the gas tank to check for wet connections. I just hope that te backfire through the carb didn't damage anything. Andy

Started the bike up again and backed into the driveway. Noticed a small puddle of something where it had been parked so I checked it. It did't smell of gas but looked and felt oily so I put the bike back to where it had been and laid on the floor to see what was up underneath. There was a drop of oily liquid coming out of one of the overflow hoses! I guess that would be consistent with a backfire blowing stuff through the hose and pushing any residue in the hose to the outside. Since it backfired, I'd guess that the cylinder in question was firing at that moment. It's still running rough, almost like it's running on three cylinders, but will now accept a throttle application without stalling and idle (slowly) without the choke. I guess that's some sort of progress but it looks like I'll be pulling things off to fully fix the problem. Too much to hope that things would dry up on their own, I guess. Andy

Well, I went out and started it again. Again it was hard to start but finally went. I decided to let it run for a few minutes and after a minute or so, I killed the choke. It kept on running as long as I held the gas open a bit. At one point it backfired (Almost sounded like it cam through a carb so - a real backfire) and then slowed and stalled. I waited a couple of minutes and restarted it. This time it stared more easily and after a couple of minutes, when I released the throttle, it settled into what sounded like a normal idle. As well, I could "blip" the throttle like normal and it would rev up and down. After a couple of more minutes, it started to slow down and when I held the throttle open, it started popping through the exhaust. I held it for another minute or so and it was still running rough and popping. I'm pretty sure by now that I'm dealing with something that got wet which I find surprising as I was using a garden hose with a nozzle on a low pressure setting, but I guess water still got to where it shouldn't. I guess in the rain, it doesn't get up there or if it does, the with the bike running it gets turned to steam before it can settle anywhere. I'll let it sit for while so hat engine heat can soak up into the various parts to, hopefully, dry things out the easy way, especially since at one point there, it seemed to be running normally. Failing that, I guess I'll have to pull of the tank and do things the old fashioned way. So close! Andy

OK, went to check things out and began by starting up the bike. Noticed right off that the fuel pump was ticking away at a good speed, but the bike was still slow to start. Then I remembered that the bike had been running just a few minutes before I had checked the fuel pump sound last night, so it probably didn't need much pressure which was why it had run slowly. Noticed also that as it warmed up, even a slightly sudden twisting of the throttle caused it to hesitate badly, but a slow application of the throttle let it rev up quite a bit. It stalled as soon as I killed the choke. I restarted it and let it run while checking the exhaust pipes. I noted that the rear pipes got up to uncomfortable temps while the two front pipes were just warm. After a couple of minutes, the rear pipes were searing hot but I could still touch the front pipes with only mild discomfort. Sounds like the fuel pump is OK but the the two front cylinders aren't firing well, if at all. Of course - it has to be the two where the plug wires can't be removed without removing the gas tank - that is more than half full of gas. I ran the bike at elevated rpm's for a minute and it was starting to pop loudly out the exhaust (Unburned gases from the front cylinders?) and run rougher. There seemed to be more exhaust smoke (Same unburned gases?) but not really that much. I'm beginning to think that the problem is electrical (Wet plugs, coils?) rather than the fueling system since the motor will rev if I move the throttle slowly and the pump was ticking normally. Andy

Whoaa! That's a lot of suggestions! Thanks guys - coming through as always! For the record (Think I mentioned this up top) I started the bike (after washing) and rode back into the garage, no problem. It was after cleaning the air filters (Which I have done previously) that it acted up. No - I don't have K&N's. These were brand new Yamaha air filters I bought from Weaver motorsports in North Tonawanda last Wednesday (Great folks to deal with - and they have an interesting load of antique snowmobiles in the place as they are a Polaris dealer) and installed on Wednesday. I cleaned them because I did about 32 km of gravel road on Thursday and thought I'd knock some dust out. I'll try the suggestions above and see if any of them fix the problem or at least confirm what the problem is. While on the subject, I noticed in some old threads that someone had "fixed" the pump by replacing the points with a repair kit from K&L Supply. The link they gave sent me to part number 18-4615 which is for a number of various makes and models of bikes but the Venture isn't in the list. Anyone know if this part is the correct one? At around $30 for the kit and $5 shipping (In the U.S.) it seems like a good way to fix the pump at low cost and without the potential problems of using aftermarket pumps. Thanks again, guys. Andy

Washed the bike today after a very rough and dirty ride last Thursday through parts of NY and PA. We found ourselves having to take some gravel roads and one that even had a bit of a "ditch" full of mud running across it. Anyway, we made it but the bike was filthy. After washing it, I left it in the driveway to finish drying in the sun. I then started it and ran it into the garage to clean out the air filters (Lots of dust on those roads!). I put it back together and had a bit of trouble starting it - like I did't have the choke on - but I did. I repositioned it in the garage but it was quite a chore - the bike would barely run with the choke on and then with the choke on I couldn't give it gas or it would try to stall. This sounds like the symptoms I've read on this forum for fuel pump problems.The pump seems to click, but very slowly. It was too late to do more testing, but tomorrow I'll try tapping the pump to see if that does anything but it sure sounds like a fuel pump problem. Has anyone had these symptoms where it was not the fuel pump? Andy

Yeah, mine rarely takes much more than 3 litres (Which is close to a quart) no matter how long I let things drain. And if I went over the half way mark on the sight glass, I did get excees blowing out the vent tubes. Andy

Tough question to answer. We would have to know how much the bike was lowered at each end and then how much it would be raised now at each end. It's unlikely that it was dropped the same amount at each end as there is a limit to how far you can drop the front before the handle bar starts hitting the gas tank or some such. Most likely, the rear was dropped an inch and the front was dropped about 1/2 inch. So ... if that's what was done, then the answer to your question is "Yes" - you would get improved handling at all speeds and especially at lower speeds. I really noticed the difference when I raised the rear an inch (Front was at stock height) on mine and I have even thought of raising it another 1/2 inch. Handling was more precise as was control at all speeds. It actually felt a bit "squirrely" at first till I got used to it. I would never go back now. And I think it would definitely help if you are going to pull a trailer as that tends to pull the rear down. Andy

There were no Ventures from 1996 to 1998. Do you perhaps mean the Royal Star and Royal Star Tour Deluxe? Andy

Yes, it will make a noticeable difference at all speeds. Handling will be "slower" at higher speeds and at lower speeds the front end wants to "flop" over and it makes precise control more difficult. This is not pleasant when trying to maneuver around a parking lot at low speeds. Just my $.02 worth, but no way would I go back to stock height. Andy