Venturer Adventure

[bikerphil]

No problem brother, that's what we're here for.

[Radioguylogs]

I have manual aftermarket petcocks.

This problem does seem to behave like fuel starvation. Whenever I had an electrical problem, it always seems to have a more violent, jerky failure mode. However, I am not ruling anything out at this time.

Thanks for looking out for me Bikerphil !

[bikerphil]

Something else I thought of regarding the fuel delivery. Are the vacuum petcocks actually holding vacuum if tested with the mity vac? If they don't, they will still function, but the fuel flow can't keep up and the engine performance will gradually fade and lose power. You combine that with the restricted vent in the fuel cap and even less flow at certain times.

[Radioguylogs]

Deebs:

Looks like a job that should only be done if necessary, due to the numerous opportunities to screw it up.

Thank you very much for the insight.

I have procured a spare 4RO module and will tuck it in the fairing with the other spare parts whan I travel.

[DEEBS11]

..........

[DEEBS11]

It's all covered in conformal coating and any access would need stripper. It gets messy. To remove the circuit board, you need to strip the coating from the solder joints of the connector and then de-solder.

[Radioguylogs]

Thanks for the tips Bikerphil.

I did check the 5 pin ignition connector behind the fuses and it was in beautiful condition, and I cleaned it anyway.

I did clean the TCI terminals, but based on your advice, I should go back and make sure the female side is actually pinching the male terminals.

I was wondering if I should open up the TCI and examing the solder connections near the terminals plus look for failing electrolytics capcitors (if there are any).

[bikerphil]

Maybe something to check...

I had an intermittent ignition problem once that would drop two cylinders like it was pickup coil wires, but it finally turned out to be loose connectors at the TCI end. Once I tightened up the female blade connectors in the plastic harness plugs, it was back to normal. Took me awhile to figure that one out.

There is also a 5 pin ignition connector behind the fuse panel. That one can cause the same issues.

[Radioguylogs]

Awesome, Mike! You know I'll buy it from you ever you ever sell . . .

Thanks Ian!

I never liked this bike so much as I do after I took a trip on it.

I can't wait for the next adventure trip.

[IanDMacDonald]

Awesome, Mike! You know I'll buy it from you ever you ever sell . . .

[Radioguylogs]

Thanks for your advice Deebs.

I bought the bike around 2019 timeframe. It was running, but had sat negelcted for about 5 years. I went through everything at that time (carbs, wheel bearings, steering bearings, brake masters and calipers, valve adjustment, cam chain tensioner, clean connectors, new tires, new battrery, etc,etc.........)

I have not done anything sonce the winter of 2019/2020. The problem may have existed all the time, and it took a long trip to discover it....or something is spontaneously going bad.

I hate intermiitent problems. They can be so hard to find and sometimes you are never sure if you fixed them.

I'm gonna trailer it to the famiy renion in South Haven on Friday, and ride it as much as I can during the week I'm there. If it fails, I have a trailer and family nearby. I hope it completely dies so I can fix it.

[DEEBS11]

Always go back to the point it was running and what was changed. If the gas cap was the only mechanical change maybe that was the turning point. Perhaps you could install the old one temporarily.

[Radioguylogs]

Arrrrg! Spoke too soon.

Rode to church on Sunday, everything was perfect for the ride there.

Parked on the kickstand, petcocks OFF.

Left after about 1 1/2 hour. Started easily on 1/2 choke. Idled fine while I geared up. Rode throught the cemetary and took a right turn onto a main road. As I sped up, everything seemed normal until I got to about 50 MPH. Then there was a loss of power. I could maintain speed, but there was no change at all if I went WOT. This went on for about 2 miles. I had some time, so I tried opening the choke a couple of time, with no effect at all. (Not surprising in 4k RPM range). I tried opening and closing the throttle and there was no change. There was no sputtering or jerking, just no power and slight lumpiness on the feel.

Eventually, I could feel some lumps of power coming on and over a 15 second period, all the power came back. Everything was normal after that.

I have taken a few trips since then to try and make it fail so I can find the problem. It has been running perfectly.

One thing I did come back to.......the gas cap is NOS and in almost new condition. However, over the summer, I could hear it hissing after I put the bike back in the garage after a ride. My other bikes don't do this. I did take it apart and Sunday night and make sure it would pass air ( ) easily. I rode 120 miles yeaterday, and did not hear the hiss when I parked it in the garage.

We, I didn't see any cause in the gas cap, and I am brainstorming what to do next. I need to find this problem so I can have more Venturer Adventures without any sad chapters.

[Radioguylogs]

I wanted to provide an update rather than leave this thread hanging.

I replaced the floats, the float pins, and the float needles. I used OE floats and float pins. I used K&L needles.

I trimmed the existing gaskets and reused them since they were only a few weeks old. They didn't hang out into the float bowl very much, but I trimmed them anyway.

I blew compressed air through the pilot circuits for good measure. I resisted the temptation to send carb cleaner fluid though them in consideration of the rubber parts.

One interesting find was the new float pins can be inserted and removed without any tools.There is very little friction. I don't know if Yamaha revised the interference dimension or if it just a manufacturing tolerence. I am considering buying more of these float pins and replace them in future carb work on my bikes.

Of course I set the floats and sync'd the carbs after I installed them.

I checked the inline connector for the pickup coills. It was actually so clean it was shiny. I cleaned all connectors again just because. They didn't really need it.

I have about 120 miles on the bike since then, with various riding condtions and plenty of stops. I purposely left the petcocks ON at each stop to watch for sticking floats.

It's not many miles, but so far everything is perfect. The bike starts easily. It idles smootly and robustly. It pulls normally in all conditions. Not a drop of leaking gas.

I believe the #3 float rubbing the carb body above it was the root cause of most of my problems.

Now I want to take another adventure, but I have some commitments in September. Maybe I can squeeze something in. Perhaps take it to the family reunion in South Haven Sept 5-12. Maybe take it to VYR.

Thanks to all you guys for your input.

[DEEBS11]

Mike, I go to bed at 8:00PM and get up between 3:00AM-4:00AM every day for the last 25 years. I get more done that way. I guess I remember you mentioning the manual petcocks in the past. I run those too and love em. I hope you find the issue with your bike. I will be here every morning 7 days a week if you need me.