Hey all,

Have an 84 Yamaha Venture. Has this quirk where every so often when
firing up the bike - when the start button is pressed, the power to
the entire bike shuts off. Dash goes blank as if the battery had been
removed.

Popping the leads off the battery and then reconnecting solves the
problem and the bike then starts up fine.

Yesterday, however, power to the entire bike cut out without any
prompting from me while I was full throttle down the highway. Had to
coast onto a thin left shoulder of a busy bridge with cagers climbing
up my tailpipe.

Again, I popped the battery leads, reconnected and was able to start
the bike. Then went 300 more miles on the day without any trouble.

Before I start ripping things apart - does anyone have any ideas as to
what's going on?

Thanks,

DB

On Aug 20, 5:52*am, Mark Olson <ols...@tiny.invalid> wrote:
> Dan Barnhill wrote:
> > Hey all,
>
> > Have an 84 Yamaha Venture. Has this quirk where every so often when
> > firing up the bike - *when the start button is pressed, the power to
> > the entire bike shuts off. Dash goes blank as if the battery had been
> > removed.
>
> > Popping the leads off the battery and then reconnecting solves the
> > problem and the bike then starts up fine.
>
> > Yesterday, however, power to the entire bike cut out without any
> > prompting from me while I was full throttle down the highway. Had to
> > coast onto a thin left shoulder of a busy bridge with cagers climbing
> > up my tailpipe.
>
> > Again, I popped the battery leads, reconnected and was able to start
> > the bike. Then went 300 more miles on the day without any trouble.
>
> > Before I start ripping things apart - does anyone have any ideas as to
> > what's going on?
>
> Either an intermittent open inside the battery (is it a Yuasa by any
> chance?) or a loose cable connection, removing and reconnecting the
> leads is irrelevant- the key is you wiggle things around when you R&R
> the leads.

Take a look at the other ends of the battery cables.
If they respond well to wiggling at the battery end,
my bet is a loose connection at the other end.

On Aug 20, 6:47*am, Dan Barnhill <dan.barnh...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Have an 84 Yamaha Venture. Has this quirk where every so often when
> firing up the bike - *when the start button is pressed, the power to
> the entire bike shuts off. Dash goes blank as if the battery had been
> removed.

I would troubleshoot the battery buss (1), all the way from where the
buss gets power from the battery, through the main fuse, on through
the ignition key, and back to the ignition buss on the fuse panel.

Sometime the main fuze holder gets hot and oxidized and won't allow
much power through it.

Sometimes the ignition switch gets so hot it melts the solder off the
wires connected to it, and sometimes the switch contacts get all
burned and oxidized inside where you cannot see the problem.

(1) Clue: the battery buss is not yellow, but it's powered by the
battery...

On Aug 20, 8:47*am, Dan Barnhill <dan.barnh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Have an 84 Yamaha Venture. Has this quirk where every so often when
> firing up the bike - *when the start button is pressed, the power to
> the entire bike shuts off. Dash goes blank as if the battery had been
> removed.
>
> Popping the leads off the battery and then reconnecting solves the
> problem and the bike then starts up fine.
>
> Yesterday, however, power to the entire bike cut out without any
> prompting from me while I was full throttle down the highway. Had to
> coast onto a thin left shoulder of a busy bridge with cagers climbing
> up my tailpipe.
>
> Again, I popped the battery leads, reconnected and was able to start
> the bike. Then went 300 more miles on the day without any trouble.
>
> Before I start ripping things apart - does anyone have any ideas as to
> what's going on?
>
> Thanks,
>
> DB



Whatever is the problem, don't ride the bike until it's been
correctly fixed. Your highway experience was a warning.
Don't wind up in the morgue.

On Aug 20, 7:47*am, Dan Barnhill <dan.barnh...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> Have an 84 Yamaha Venture. Has this quirk where every so often when
> firing up the bike - *when the start button is pressed, the power to
> the entire bike shuts off. Dash goes blank as if the battery had been
> removed.
>
> Popping the leads off the battery and then reconnecting solves the
> problem and the bike then starts up fine.
>
> Yesterday, however, power to the entire bike cut out without any
> prompting from me while I was full throttle down the highway. Had to
> coast onto a thin left shoulder of a busy bridge with cagers climbing
> up my tailpipe.
>
> Again, I popped the battery leads, reconnected and was able to start
> the bike. Then went 300 more miles on the day without any trouble.
>
> Before I start ripping things apart - does anyone have any ideas as to
> what's going on?
>
> Thanks,
>
> DB

Buy the shop manual...the RTFM. Pay especial attention to the
electrical section.

On Aug 21, 12:29*pm, Mark Olson <ols...@tiny.invalid> wrote:
> Schiffner wrote:
> > Buy the shop manual...the RTFM. Pay especial attention to the
> > electrical section.
>
> That only works if the user has a good understanding of electrical
> circuit theory and some basic troubleshooting skills. *Otherwise
> it might as well be in hieroglyphics for all the good it will do
> him. *This is a viewpoint I have arrived at after years of
> trying to help folks troubleshoot simple electrical problems in
> vehicles. *Of course it will usually be helpful to the person
> who gets called in who finally diagnoses and fixes the problem.

Hey if I can stumble through a clymer book reading the eletrical
systems and sorting it out following the "tree" and troubleshooting
directions they give...anybody can do it and no I'm not joking...

On Aug 21, 2:24 pm, Schiffner <stevenkei...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hey if I can stumble through a clymer book reading the eletrical
> systems and sorting it out following the "tree" and troubleshooting
> directions they give...anybody can do it and no I'm not joking...

I much prefer Haynes for electrical troubleshooting.

My Haynes manual has color diagrams while my Clymer
is all black and white. Makes a world of difference.
The Clymer is way old, so this may have changed.

On Aug 21, 5:47*pm, Rob Kleinschmidt <Rkleinsch1216...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Aug 21, 2:24 pm, Schiffner <stevenkei...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey if I can stumble through a clymer book reading the eletrical
> > systems and sorting it out following the "tree" and troubleshooting
> > directions they give...anybody can do it and no I'm not joking...
>
> I much prefer Haynes for electrical troubleshooting.
>
> My Haynes manual has color diagrams while my Clymer
> is all black and white. Makes a world of difference.
> The Clymer is way old, so this may have changed.

and mine was written in the 70's and I was an inexperienced 16 y/o.
Got the headlights to work though...using a clymer no less. I consider
me lucky.

On Aug 21, 6:55*pm, Schiffner <stevenkei...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 21, 5:47*pm, Rob Kleinschmidt <Rkleinsch1216...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > On Aug 21, 2:24 pm, Schiffner <stevenkei...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Hey if I can stumble through a clymer book reading the eletrical
> > > systems and sorting it out following the "tree" and troubleshooting
> > > directions they give...anybody can do it and no I'm not joking...
>
> > I much prefer Haynes for electrical troubleshooting.
>
> > My Haynes manual has color diagrams while my Clymer
> > is all black and white. Makes a world of difference.
> > The Clymer is way old, so this may have changed.
>
> and mine was written in the 70's and I was an inexperienced 16 y/o.
> Got the headlights to work though...using a clymer no less. I consider
> me lucky.

Like I said, if you get the chance, treat yourself
to some color wiring diagrams. The whole picture
suddenly gets way clearer.

Clymer's artwork generally sucks. Haynes OTOH
pads their already skimpy manual with boilerplate.
My shafty BMW manual tells me all about changing
drive chains for example. The diagrams and photos
are way, way better though.

My bet on the Yammie is still a loose battery cable at
the end not connected to the battery.

On Aug 21, 5:47*pm, Rob Kleinschmidt <Rkleinsch1216...@aol.com> wrote:
> On Aug 21, 2:24 pm, Schiffner <stevenkei...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hey if I can stumble through a clymer book reading the eletrical
> > systems and sorting it out following the "tree" and troubleshooting
> > directions they give...anybody can do it and no I'm not joking...
>
> I much prefer Haynes for electrical troubleshooting.

agreed...there isn't much to a T-500 but they seem to leave one
hanging.

> My Haynes manual has color diagrams while my Clymer
> is all black and white. Makes a world of difference.
> The Clymer is way old, so this may have changed.

Not the one for my wing, only colour in it is me highlighting the
black and white(why aren't there 64 colors of highlighters?)