My friends and I are taking a trip around Lake Michigan next week so I dropped off my bike at the Yamaha dealer this moring for new tires. While I was there I asked them to check on a worry I have had for some time. I posted before on this forum about my concern that the rear cylinder fires weaker than the front. You can tell this by putting your hand by the end of the pipe while the bike is idling and feel a stronger pulse on the front jug than on the rear jug (pipes are both the same length) I have a 2003 by the way.

...anyway, to make a long story short: I tell the dealer my bike is fully stock accept for the full length Cobra pipes. He says that I probably need my carbs jetted because it's too lean. He says these Road Stars come from the factory a little bit on the lean side!!! I say I heard just the opposite, that they come from the factory a little rich!!! He says I am wrong, but doesn't want to argue the point with me. He will just have a service tech look at it when they install my tires and test ride it and advice if there is anything wrong with how it is running.

Also, he said the weak firing on the rear cylinder may be a carb cleaning and he quoted me $300 to do that??? That seems a bit pricey.

Anyhow...that is my experience so far. The bike is due to be worked on this Tuesday. I'll let you all know what they say about the weak firing on the rear jug.

jeffgolem wrote:
My friends and I are taking a trip around Lake Michigan next week so I dropped off my bike at the Yamaha dealer this moring for new tires. While I was there I asked them to check on a worry I have had for some time. I posted before on this forum about my concern that the rear cylinder fires weaker than the front. You can tell this by putting your hand by the end of the pipe while the bike is idling and feel a stronger pulse on the front jug than on the rear jug (pipes are both the same length) I have a 2003 by the way.

...anyway, to make a long story short: I tell the dealer my bike is fully stock accept for the full length Cobra pipes. He says that I probably need my carbs jetted because it's too lean. He says these Road Stars come from the factory a little bit on the lean side!!! I say I heard just the opposite, that they come from the factory a little rich!!! He says I am wrong, but doesn't want to argue the point with me. He will just have a service tech look at it when they install my tires and test ride it and advice if there is anything wrong with how it is running.

Also, he said the weak firing on the rear cylinder may be a carb cleaning and he quoted me $300 to do that??? That seems a bit pricey.

Anyhow...that is my experience so far. The bike is due to be worked on this Tuesday. I'll let you all know what they say about the weak firing on the rear jug.

That $300 will buy you a mghty fine set of metric wrenches & the peace of mind you know you're getting the work done right.

And a carb cleaning costs about $7 a can at wal mart and a little bit of your time. I just love dealerships...

Hope it ends up being a positive experience, though!

RK

jeffgolem wrote:
Also, he said the weak firing on the rear cylinder may be a carb cleaning and he quoted me $300 to do that???

I agree with him 100!!! The Roadies are well known for this problem. The carb that feeds the rear cylinder gets dirty while the carb for the front stays clean. I would seriously doubt anything they tell you. And 300 bucks is nuts

You can get a new carb for 300 bucks . put a kleenex to the rear pipe and see if it gets sucked in ...Coug

would somebody tell me how cleaning a SINGLE carb feeding both cyl from the same single jet benefits one cyl over another????

I love these so called professionally trained people...

Sure Pop just ask any dealer the right side of the carb feeds the front cylinder and the left side feeds the back one .any more high tech question just ask me I watch Tool Time everyday...... man that Bob Villa can really break an engine down like nobody else...Coug

And yet we wonder if the YES plan is money well spent?

300 bucks three hundred bucks ouch

Musky wrote:
jeffgolem wrote:
Also, he said the weak firing on the rear cylinder may be a carb cleaning and he quoted me $300 to do that???

I agree with him 100!!! The Roadies are well known for this problem. The carb that feeds the rear cylinder gets dirty while the carb for the front stays clean. I would seriously doubt anything they tell you. And 300 bucks is nuts

OK, so you think the carb cleaning theory is plausible. I'm waiting for Tuesday to hear their official diagnosis, but already based on the $300 ballpark figure he gave me I'm inclined to tell them to hold off and I'll try and do it myself. Of course, that depends on what they say they think needs to be done to it.

By the way, I have already done a shock treatment with a can of Seafoam and a tank of gas. I rode the bike hard for the entire tank, then changed the oil. The oil really didn't look any darker after the treatment and the rear cylinder was still firing the same way. Oh well, we'll see what they say on Tuesday.

I hope all is well for my big trip!

Hey Jeff

I think he's feeding you an expensive line of BS. We don't have dual carbs. If the carb was dirty and affecting how the rear cylinder runs it would affect the front cylinder too. And 300 dollars is outright robbery. Just from what you posted here I wouldn't let them work on my bike other than straight forward stuff like changing tires where they can't try and feed you a line to line their pockets..