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By Lynx, on October 10th, 2010 Replacing a Yamaha V Star 650 pickup coil and stator:
For a bit of background story on how I ended up here, a new mechanic stripped the oil filter bolt that happens pretty easily on these bikes. Unfortunately, when fixing it he got metal flakes down in the engine!
One day the next week I went out to start it and crankcrankcrankcrankcrank. Oh great now what? It took a good 25 mins to get her started that morning on the way into work and nearly the same on the way home, the next morning she was totally dead and would not start at all. Following the diagnostics here: http://650ccnd.com/coil.htm I found my pickup coil was reading very high and was toast. I was planning on maybe cracking it open that weekend to fix the sticky clutch but now I had no choice but to break open both sides.
Pulling the stator cover.
Japanese engineering likes to use lots of bolts close together at lower torque than other manufacturers. Be sure to remember exactly which bolt went in what hole, as you can see below they are all different lengths.
Also remember how your shifter is set up. I took a picture so I could tell later where the dot on the shaft goes in relation to the bracket. In my case dead center in the gap.
Unfortunately the kickstand has to come off to remove the shifter. There is a nut on the back side of the frame you need to keep from turning, it would be better if you had a helper and another set of hands for this part. I was by myself and had to use another box-end wrench on the back of the frame and a breaker bar/ratchet with a cheater pipe on the front. Yamaha really doesn’t mess around with these bolts, they were a bear to get off. Once the wrench on the back turned enough to press up against the engine or my lift I was able to break the nut free.
With the kickstand out of the way the shifter will just slide off the shaft after you remove the bolt in the previous picture.
As you can see I also upgraded from my poor mans bike stand to one from Harbor Freight for this operation for a bit more stability and lift, I needed one for the BMW restoration anyway.
Follow the wiring back up the frame and cut the zip ties as you go and remove a few bolted on wire clamps. Its a bit of a struggle to get these connectors through the downtube, use one hand to press back the big main wiring harness and press these plastic connectors through one at a time. It takes a bit of patience but you can do it.
Continue reading V Star 650 pickup coil and stator replacement
By Lynx, on October 5th, 2010 I’ve had a lot of trouble with the V Star following our epic month long ride across the western United States and back. It all started with a simple oil change. You see, when I bought the bike I also got a service plan that included unlimited oil changes and all maintenence for 3 years. I can work on my bike as you can see but I’d rather not have to on at least one of my vehicles and with as many miles as I’ve put on in the last three years this service plan ended up being a great money and time saving deal for me. For years one of two techs has always done my bike and always done a good job, even cleaning it way better than I do most times. Every time that is until the last time, when they were both off. A small voice in my head warned me that I shouldnt hand over the keys to some tech I didnt know but I didnt listen. He really torqued down the oil filter screws and stripped the center one as is an easy newbie mistake to make.
The bike leaked slowly for 8000 miles and by the end it looked something like this where its really perfected the old Harley patina with oil slung down the whole side of the engine, all down the pipes and swingarm and on the front of the saddlebag. As RTWDoug has proved, a bike can go around the world with a nasty oil leak or dozen as long as its topped off regularly.
Unfortunately the only requirement for the primo bike parking on the sidewalk next to the door at work, no leaks!
Since they were the ones to break it they agreed to fix it at no charge but with this being New Mexico and as Ulysses Everett McGill would put it “a geographical oddity, two weeks from everywhere” it took a month to get my bike back from them due to waiting on parts. They ended up tapping the stripped hole and putting in a timecert. After I got her back I noticed right away the clutch was very grabby and sticky, so much so that trying to start it while cold with the clutch pulled in the bike would take off with you or lurch 5 or 6 feet when first putting it in gear. WTF? I immediately changed the oil and cut open the filter and just as I feared, they had gotten slivers of metal down in the engine while tapping it. #$%^&@!!!!
Continue reading V Star 650 oil change disaster
By Lynx, on August 8th, 2010 We hauled ass across Arizona to see Stickdog, blowing through a swarm of honey bees along the way. We hit about 40-50 of them in the span of about 2 seconds. I think both of us were in shock, wtf was that? The whole bike and us were splattered with dripping honey and anywhere we stopped more bees would start showing up and eating the honey, or flys and wasps. No telling what the bike would be buzzing with when we came out to the parkinglot. At a nice truck stop in Winslow, AZ I watched one lady park next to us, open the door and quickly close it and move a few spaces over.
Eating on a corner in Winslow Arizona… Yep, I had that blasted song going through my head for an hour.
Henry ( Stickdog ) graciously put us up in a nice motel in Show Low with some tickets he had won at a poker run. Thanks a lot man! You are the best!
All of us rode up to the Petrified Forrest National Park. Strangely I recognized lots of landmarks and houses and placenames but couldnt remember when I’d last been there, my dad said later that whenever we went to Flagstaff or the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas we always drove through the Petrified Forrest, from Southern NM thats the easiest way. So I’d been through those roads a lot of times when I was very little and just never remembered how we got there.
Anyone want a rock hard chair carved out of petrified wood? Only a mere $3500ish? Anyone?
Cool Park Ranger from Austria, he was riding along beside us through the arroyos along the road.
Former residents from the time when the forrest was a little wetter and less petrified.
Continue reading Petrified Forrest
By Lynx, on August 7th, 2010 Vegas Baby!
We got through all of Death Valley without the bike having any trouble at all. We were mostly travelling at 60+ mph through there and the temp gauge stayed at a steady 80-90c (175-190f) but as soon as we hit backed up rush hr traffic in Vegas the crankcase temp spiked up to 120c (250f) in 15 mins! Oh Sh!t! The bike was starting to knock a bit and I started shutting her down any time we came to a complete stop even if for just 30 seconds to a min at a time. We had to find a place to pull off and quick!
We took the nearest exit which happened to have a Motel 6 right across from the strip and an In and Out Burger down the street, Sweet! We got a room and noticed that we werent the only ones who had overheated, there was 3 more cars in the parkinglot with their hoods open and steaming. We got some lunch at my first In and Out Burger and waited out the heat of the afternoon watching a Dirty Jobs marathon and went to check out the town.
Cece took some pics while we rode down the strip. They came out somewhat ok considering we were moving and it was low light, the top pic is a 8 second exposure with mine from the motel parking-lot.
Continue reading Vegas Baby!
By Lynx, on August 6th, 2010 View from the parkinglot outside the museum for the area state parks and the reason why the area is so hard to get to. Those mountain peaks are at 11,000 feet and impassable.
I guess Nav-Air is a significant contributor to the museum and gets its own PR exhibit. These guys were going to be my employer straight out of college, they recruite a lot of NMT graduates along with the likes of competing weapon maker Raytheon. Did the interviews and filled out all the hiring papers and was set to move to CA and start working in a few months when they told me that after reviewing my transcripts I was 1 credit hr short on thier math requirement and I was disqualified. My recruiter and others at NavAir really wanted to hire me and tried to fudge the numbers by counting some CS and Physics courses as math related but that made other numbers short. They are really strict on the requirements and there was no way around them although everyone involved agreed I was much better qualified than other new hires and I probably would have been given a mid level position to start. Oh well.. How my life could have very easily ended up entirely different.
Down the road to Death Valley. Its actually a lot further away than I thought by looking at the maps. We left the state museum at the main highway at 8am and it was 9 by the time we got to the sign and entrance and further than that to get to anything else.
Glad we didnt have to worry about this problem. Hottest place on earth and oh by the way turn off your AC while going up hill so you dont break down.
Theres no phone service and the little station midway did not allow using their phones to call for tow trucks, because “the reason why your cell phone doesnt work here is the reason why our phone calls cost so much”. In short if you break down, and a lot do, you’re f*cked.
Continue reading Death Valley
By Lynx, on August 5th, 2010 Over Tioga Pass to Yosemite National Park!
The road was under construction and parts were stop and wait traffic backed up the steep roads. Not too fun on a motorcycle but with this scenery like this you couldn’t pick a better place to be in a traffic jam.
One of the alpine lakes at the top of the pass.
Continue reading Yosemite National Park
By Lynx, on August 4th, 2010 Back into California and into desolation along the eastern border. I was a bit surprised how fiercely the Californians protect their crops even out here in the middle of desolate nowhere. We’d crossed the border in 5 places now and had to go through 3 checkpoints to comfiscate any fruits or vegetables. Only the Lake Tahoe crossings didn’t have any which would’ve required a check point in the middle of a town. I heard from a coworker that the guards were not to happy that they had a stick sitting on their dash that the kids had found while getting gas in Arizona and it wound up in the car. Wouldn’t want some contraband like a twig making it into California!
There had been a line at all the checkpoints but thankfully they waved the motorcycles through each time. Ironically we had been carrying roadside plums and cherries in the bag just a week earlier.
They really have you by the short hairs if you end up needing gas out here, ouch!
The only gas has to be trucked in long distances around the long mountain chain, the short ways to civilization through Death Valley or through Yosemite do not allow trucks. I should have waited, we passed another station inside Yosemite about 40 miles away and it was 80 cents cheaper, the gas there comes from the coast the short way.
Mono Lake is a super saline basin lake like the Dead Sea outside Yosemite on the east enterance.
One huge hunk of obsidian. This is the biggest obsidian bomb I’ve ever seen.
Continue reading Mono Lake
By Lynx, on August 3rd, 2010 Lake Tahoe, not many pics from this day. We superslabbed it most of the way through central CA and there was not much to see except traffic.
On to Reno! I had originally wanted to come through Reno first then go up to Lake Tahoe and camp there, but with our shortcut we ended up at the lake first and Cece still wanted to go down the mountain to check out Reno instead of bypassing it.
Cece had never been to any place like this before and was fascinated by the spectacle. Her pictures as we cruised around town.
Continue reading Lake Tahoe and Reno
By Lynx, on August 1st, 2010 It’d been at least a week since I thought my bike was a dual sport cruiser and attempted to take it down somewhere it had no business being. What sort of an adventure would this be if we only stuck to the pavement.
We were attempting to get to a hidden valley of waterfalls and ferns up steep rock faces. Yeah not a good idea with this much weight on the bike, the road was good but in spots washboarded up to the frame and we got beat to death. Not to mention the trucks flying through here at 50 mph while we were going 5 at best, note the dust.
One of the Redwoods NP visitors centers
Now thats a saw!
More playing on the beach
Continue reading CA Coast Continued
By Lynx, on July 31st, 2010 Down the coast to the coastal redwoods in CA. We stopped by this privately run redwoods park because it had been advertising its ski lift through the tree tops for the last 50 miles.
The famous anatomically correct Babe the blue ox. Paul Bunion had a speaker somewhere and a guy hidden in the building with cameras to talk to visitors, the hand waves a few degrees.
These foxgloves outside were planted but this is what was growing thick up and down all the highways wild in Washington
Continue reading California’s Coastal Redwoods
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