XVZ12 Yamaha Venture?

I'm looking at an '83 Yamaha Venture 1200cc touring bike. It's in very good condition. Starts easy with no choke(90deg weather) and idles smooth. The plastic is clean with a few repaired cracks. Over all a nice looking 33 year old bike.

Anyone have any experience with them? Anything to look for? I know the plastic is hard to find but what about mechanical parts?

Thanks

 

I pulled the trigger on the Venture. It's sitting my driveway now. I'll get some pics later.

 

I have one and love it. Had it for 10 years and put 20K mikes on it. Easy to get parts so don't worry about that.

 

I had an 83 Venture and loved it! Mine was in bad shape when I got it and had to replace the TCI and the rear brakes locked up. Once I fixed those two issues it was a great bike the only reason I got rid of it was to get an XJ1100 that had on 3500 miles. It also started skipping in second gear. I will most likely get another one but I'm looking for an 86t to 93 model so that I don't have to worry about the second gear issue. (The XJ110's can develop the same issue but is easier to fix)

 

I may have had my "New Bike Goggles" on when I test rode this one. It was near perfect for the short test run but after the shake down run including near highway speed, it's developed a hesitation and is popping on deceleration. It accelerates smooth but surges and ebbs when maintaining a constant speed. It feels ignition related to me but I've never dealt with a liquid cooled V4 before.

When I first got my Suzuki GS850, it felt nearly the same. I potted new wires into the coils and it's run fine ever since.

I'm on the hunt for a factory service manual for now.

 

The number and orientation of the cylinders doesn't matter. Suck, squeeze, bang, blow. The symptoms of what's wrong will be the same.
Don't discount the likelyhood of the emulsion tube having blocked holes. Surging at midrange, but not at idle or WOT/ near WOT; popping on decel; points to being lean somewhere too.

 

hehehe

 

Shop teacher was a Marine. That's how he explained the 4 cycle engine.

 

Yeah, I've heard it before. It struck me as funny late last night. In fact, I remember reading an article in Sport Compact Car magazine entitled "Suck, Squish, Bang, Blow". For some reason, squeeze made it sexier than squish.

 

So, here's the new Yamabago.

 

Some years of the 12's had a second gear issue......reported to have been resolved for the 13's and later.......

Your description makes me think carb related, rather than electrical. something may be clogged, or you may have sucked up something from it having sat for awhile......either way I'm thinking carb-----

 

I synchronized the carbs today and it made a world of difference. They really weren't too bad, but not perfect. Now they are. The popping appears to be gone and the idle is even smoother though it is a more staccato idle than the inline fours.

Yeah, the '83 is one with the second gear issues. Supposedly they start around 60,000 mi. I'm at 29,000 so I have a little breathing room. It's also reportedly not a difficult repair.

 

Shift easy and the problem may never come up.

 

That's the plan anyway.

 

I made some repairs to some of the plastic today and have the parts to swap out the glass fuse box for a ATM box. Plenty of room for the bigger fuse box on this one.

 

New fuse box installed and ordered some missing parts for the saddle bags, oil filters and a factory service manual. A coolant flush and fill is next on the schedule.

Why is it that these "Great Deals" always keep costing more money every day?!

 

Remember, $4,000 will buy you a used motorcycle that needs a few things done to it; $3,000 will buy you a used motorcycle that needs a few things done to it, $2,000 will buy you a used motorcycle that needs a few things done to it.....

 

And $100 will get you one too, that will need $1000.....

 

Well, I'm into this one for a Grand + a couple hundred in parts, manuals, oil and coolant so far. The good news is I confirmed the ignition is GTG but it does need some TLC in the carbs. Labor and minimal parts, I hope! These carbs are completely different from anything I've worked on in the past. They're Mikuni but a far cry from the Mikuni Harley used in the 70's and 80's. I was assured they are actually easier to deal with than the Hitachis but that will remain to be seen.

 

OK, my so called confirmation of ignition was a bit premature and, evidently solely based on hope and rose colored glasses! A very informal visual spark check looked good on all cylinders, However, a resistance check showed one coil to be open on the secondary and two others to be far out of spec.

The good news is I found a set of coils on fleabay on the cheap and they arrived and all measure within spec. Let the healing begin!

 

BTW, after removing the body plastics from the left side of the bike, removing the carbs is a breeze. Breaking the rack down and disassembly of the carbs was easy as well. Everything went back together just as easily. By far a more pleasant experience than pulling the rack on either of my XJs.

 

Still wasn't right so I pulled the carbs back off and ran a compression test.
Left rear- 195psi
Left front 150psi
Right rear-190psi
Right front-180psi

Oiled the front left cylinder with no change in compression. Didn't bother oiling the front right. The odd thing is the front left cylinder was never on the radar. Everything looked good. It was the right side, front and rear that appeared to be the problems.

I'm going to tear the carbs down again for a more thorough cleaning since I have them off and pull the valve covers to check the valve clearances. Need to order new cover gaskets and bolt cushions.

 

I have an 89 Venture and found that the ign. coils split along the top case seam, from heat and age. Water and moisture then corrode the terminal lead where it plugs into the coil. You can get a look at them, by removing your battery and battery box. If the bike misses when wet or when parked outside overnight, this is the most likely cause. They're kinda hard to get at, so it would be best to replace all 4. If you look in above your radiator cap you'll see the mounting screws. When you get to them, loosen the tray that they're mounted on, this helps to get to the coil mounting screws.
Good luck / Dan

 

I have 4 coils installed that meet spec now. New wires and all the caps are in spec. The compression is good an all cylinders after doing the valve shim adjustments. All four carbs are Color tuned to just a bit rich from perfect combustion and the carbs are synchronized nicely. She runs much better now, but there's still something not perfect. Just the slightest hesitation when going WOT from mid RPM in any gear and she doesn't pull as hard from 5krpm to 7krpm as I think she should. This engine should be a torque power house at nearly any speed. She winds out at nearly 65MPH in 2nd gear at red line, but the torque just isn't there at mid throttle.

I'm thinking an after market TCI is order for next season.

 

Not sure if this would help, I use a K&N air filter on mine. May need a little more air.

 

Don't forget to install a grease fitting in the rear swinggarm.

 

Capy, good to hear from you..... have tried several times to reach you but your inbox is still full......

Dave Fox

 

Think I got everything fixed and figured out now.

 

The first gen xvz has been a great bike so far. Miss my 700 air head though. Same motor the V-max is based on. If you can come across an 86-92 dirt cheap grab it. Most of the upgrades were installed on the second gen and are a bolt on to the first gen. ( electric anti dive) 83 has the most power out of the models and the tci is not interchangeable with any other. Biggest problems are TCI getting damp, brakes soft, and air suspension leaks. Most are an easy fix. No problem jumping on mine and going anywhere i want with confidence. Even quit carrying a tool roll.