Yamaha RS Venture backfire popping issue solved 

you mentioned that bike shops in Texas are mostly rip offs. when I first started working part time as a New motorcycle builder at a Yamaha shop just a couple miles from my house. I noticed that nobody got out of that service department without something needing adjusted or repaired, even new bikes, swing arm adjustment, steering head, bearing adjustment, headlight. adjustment, he always got the customer for that extra charge. well, one day a customer brought in a Yamaha RD 200 that was given to him. It had been sitting out in someone’s backyard for a couple years. The customer brought the bike into the service department, and I was asked to do the job of getting it running, the customer. said” whatever it needs”.. it needed tires, tubes, chain, battery, seat, cover, Pistons, rings top end gaskets, bore job, Air filter, fuel filter, a couple cables. and it was still gonna look like it sat outside for years.. I used to have subscriptions to the four major motorcycle magazines at the time, and they were all very well thumbed by yours truely, Cover to cover.. on the very back cover of one of those magazines, there was a full page advertisement from Yamaha that said, you could buy a brand new leftover RD 200 for $595.. I showed that full page ad to the owner, and I suggested that we tell the customer to buy a new bike rather than put more than $595 into this old bike.. The owner sat back in his chair with a smile on his face, and said to me.. jody, the more it hurts, the more they like it..

i dont know if it could result in any damage. i ahve only read that this mod stops backfiring.. i could not really hear the popping with the stock mufflers on the machine,but my buddy said he could hear it every time i coasted to a stop off throttle.. when i put the harley mufflers on the venture, even i could hear the popping with my earplugs in.. it is is a little more than annoying..if this mod does not eliminate the popping, i will not use the hog mufflers at all..and that would be a shame,because the hog mufflers sound deep and mellow and full. i like em...

Yes i hear it on my bike. I got the 4" megaphone Harley mufflers on mine now. Love the deep sound. On a different not, do you have a video on changing the stator? That is on the list.

@@08soloblade I have never had to change a stater on any of my three ventures. But I do remember this from the gold wings. The plug on the end of the wire harness on the stator that plugs into the wire harness on the motorcycle, that is a point of high resistance, meaning, it’s not a very good connection, which was the reason for some of the stators failing on the gold wings back in the 80s many times. people add a lot of electrical load to their gold wings with devices and lights, and that stator never got a break.. The fix was, to bypass that plug from the stator to the wire harness completely. Cut both ends of the plug off and hardwire (solder) that connection. just a sidenote, the electric power coming out of your stator can kill you. There are a lot of amps flowing out of these stators. One other little thing. remove/clean, and reinstall the ground strap connection to your motorcycle frame. I have replaced wire harnesses on motorcycles that had a poor connection on the main ground strap from the battery to the frame. Causing all of the tiny ground wires connections inside the wire harness to act as the main- only ground… they could not handle the load and would end up melting the insulation off the wires in the wire harness, and eventually, shorting out to another wire in the wire harness. All because of a bad main ground strap to frame connection.. many times that is because there was paint on the frame at the connection, preventing a good ground.. I don’t know how much $ a main wire harnesses is today, but in the early 1980s they were $400 for a main wire harness on a relatively simple Yamaha XS 650twin..

@@Jodyrides thank you for the info 😀

The popping is caused by the partially unburned gas continuing to burn in the exhaust headers.. there is a system on these bikes that is vacuum activated. You’ll notice the popping happens when you let off the gas. that creates a vacuum, that opens the passage for air to be allowed to pass into the exhaust headers right at the head where the gas comes out of the engine into the exhaust system. It is not harmful, or helpful. It is just an epa thing… makes the exhaust cleaner, or at least it makes it more completely burned before it exits the rear of the exhaust pipe. They all do it… an exhaust leak at the head, where the exhaust pipe connects to the head can cause it to pop because if there’s a leak there, there is actually a moment after every exhaust stroke that there is a vacuum pulse there that will suck air in and continue the burn if the exhaust pipe is loose at the head, or where the muffler connects to the exhaust system. Exhaust leaks, cause that popping also. it is not harmful at all. Don’t worry about it. They all do it. The stock muffler on the bike makes it less noticeable. I had harley mufflers on my bike, and the popping was driving me crazy. I almost got it completely gone, but not 100%, so I took the harley mufflers off because they were too loud, just driving, and the popping was way louder than with stock exhaust.

My fuel cock was messed up, the shop did work on it while they did the rebuilt the carbs, but I've noticed everytime I get it out of the shop something else is wrong or they forget to do stuff like tightened nuts,bolts. But I'm learning how to work on my bike. Thanks for your help

Mine sure did. From new. Dealership dealt with it

@milesjohnson8927 my popping was caused by the fuel cock being clogged up. it's running good for now, so far.

I do not know exactly how it works. But there have been videos and comments on the Venture website that say to block those hoses, the large ones at the middle of the bike underneath, and at the front of the bike near the oil filter to stop the offer throttle popping. i’m getting a little aggravated by the fact that, when I first installed them with the copper plugs that I have wrapped with cloth friction tape. The bike did no popping for about the first half hour. Then slowly, it started popping again off throttle coasting downhill. I am not giving up on this. my thoughts are, that those plugs that I put in somehow got pushed out, so they are not fully blocking that air passage anymore. My next attempt will be, to secure the copper plugs I made in position with friction tape to the part I am inserting the plug. I don’t know if it’s positive or negative pressure on those plugs. They may have been pushed out slightly, causing the popping sound to return after the first half hour of no popping. I will let you know if that works… i’m hoping it works because the plugs more or less just sit in there, there’s no pressure holding them in position.. I have a complete Venture engine from an 80s 1300 Venture that was available back in the day out of a wreck. A buddy of mine gave it to me. I thought that maybe someday I may need to use the transmission or parts in the transmission or the stator or the shift shaft or the water pump or the starter. Anyway, that engine does not have those little air nozzles at the exhaust flange on each cylinder like the royal star venture’s have. my guess is, it’s some type of a pollution EPA required part, which pumps air into the exhaust header right after it leaves the exhaust valve in the head. That pump pumping air in makes the exhaust continue to burn in the header, and that’s what we hear as popping… I am guessing again, but the pump by the shock seems to be powered by vacuum. Since the popping only occurs when you let off the throttle. When you are off, the throttle completely is when you have the highest vacuum… I removed the vacuum hose from the vacuum diaphragm on that pump near the shock, hoping that would deactivate the system and eliminate the popping. I plugged in the small vacuum hose with a golf tee and plugged the vacuum diaphragm nipple. Then I took the bike for a ride in the popping was horrendous. So that system is what is causing the popping for the most part…

@@Jodyrides Thank you for your answer you really seem to know your stuff I also own a 1983 venture royale and it does not have any of that anti-pollution equipment on it if that bike was completely restored it would be my favorite motorcycle I loved that first generation venture ! And if only they had fuel injected the ventures ! First and second generation

Yamaha when they came out with that third-generation venture they should’ve stuck with the V4 water cooled drive shaft and made it fuel injected it seemed to totally flop with the V twin air cooled belt drive they only made it for a couple years before sales dropped off And they no longer offer it

@@altec19 you have the first generation 1200 CC engine. They say that that is the smoothest of all the Ventures.. baby second gear. Don’t take first gear RPMs up very high and then shift to second .. Many Yamaha’s had a second gear failure issue. The Yamaha XS 750 triples, 850 triples, the first generation Venture 1200s, the FJ 1100.. when they went to the 1300 ventures, they changed the clutch to a diaphragm type clutch that they used in the Vmax. They also change the style of the water pump for the 1300… it’s a good idea to keep changing the clutch fluid every couple years. I had an 86 Venture royale for 16 years. I carried a spare clutch slave cylinder seal with me at all times. You could change one using the tool kit on the side of the road, if need be. .. another change they made was they went to the top load, larger, saddlebags, and trunk on the 86 Venture. But I like the styling of the first generation bags better… I was working part time As a mechanic, builder, and finally a salesman in a Yamaha shop in the late 70s and early 80s when the Venture came out in 83.. those were the years of the greatest advancements in motorcycling ever. Water cooling, tubeless, tires, electronic, ignition, multiple valves, per cylinder, shaft, drive, integrated brakes, V fours, six cylinders,(Moto Guzzi invented that) Power valve on two strokes, even turbo charging.. motorcycling was advancing like it was on an escalator going up 100 miles an hour. In 1982, Honda had 52 different models available for sale. I know this because I was a Honda salesman that year, part time again, and we gave out decks of cards, each card had a different Honda model on it. I have some of those. decks of cards..

@@Jodyrides again Thanks for your advice ! I totally agree with you that 83 venture it is almost as smooth as a Honda GL 1800 Can’t say the same thing about my 07 Royal star venture