ADRIAN BOZIE , hello...yep these 1st Gen motor typically always have the grinding issue after it makes a couple of rotations which wears the gears and then leads to grinding as it tries to engage all the time. If you have one and want to see why it’s happening, you can take the oil fill plug off (disconnect the plugs so it won’t start) and shine a light in there to see the bendix gear that engages the flywheel. When it cranks you’ll see the gear engage and then probably see the gear get pushed back and try to disengage as the motor spins for parts of the rotation. The motor will out run the starters speed and it tries to disengage the gear. Having a good strong battery to rotate the starter fast as well as having the carbs adjusted and sync’ed really good helps it to start on the first couple of rotations so it fires before the gear gets backed up. I’m also going to see if adding a voltage stabilizer to the ignition module will help as I have read that the voltage drops too low when the starter is cranking and it stops firing the plugs so it takes even more rotations to get it to fire and the gear will disengage before it hits. Hope his helps, Steve
Hi Steve, asking a question on this video. I bought a 1982 Virago last summer and have been working on it since then. Your videos have been great. I have a question regarding oil. I drained the oil out of the bike, which was from the previous owner. I noticed it was very green in color. I didn't think anything of it, but is it possible it's from coolant getting on these bikes? Im not sure where the coolant would come from or how it would get in. Any answers would be appreciated.
Thanks man, glad the videos have helped some 👍. For the odd colored oil, there shouldn’t be any coolant in it as these are air cooled motors so that shouldn’t be a concern. For several of the bikes I’ve picked up (in various levels of broken or torn apart, lol) I’ve seen that the oil was odd colored as well, but these bikes had been sitting for several years. I’m not 100% sure what it is, but since the fuel can leak down into the oil when the floats get stuck and there is some kind of green algae or something that grows in gas when water is present, I’ve always guessed it to be that. The motor stirs it all up nicely and makes for some nasty looking oil, but if you drain it all out and fill it with fresh oil I’d say it would be fine as long as it wasn’t run with the funky oil in it. If it had been started with the bad oil, I would be sure to clean the oil pump pickup screen (it’s behind the flywheel on the left side) as it might be stopped up from pulling the bad oil up into the pump. Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
Thank you so much Steve. These videos are so amazing for me and I've been building my skills between your vids and a bit of help of a Clymer manual. I just want to let you know I really appreciate it.
![[Ep 02] Yamaha Virago XV920 Cafe Racer Project - Engine Disassembly](/img/n.gif)
Thank you so much for sharing this video, it made my job so much easier. I really appreciate it.
Thanks man ! Thanks for the positive feedback and glad the video helped some 👍. All the best ! Steve
nice work steve do you have any issues starting with the starter motor
ADRIAN BOZIE , hello...yep these 1st Gen motor typically always have the grinding issue after it makes a couple of rotations which wears the gears and then leads to grinding as it tries to engage all the time. If you have one and want to see why it’s happening, you can take the oil fill plug off (disconnect the plugs so it won’t start) and shine a light in there to see the bendix gear that engages the flywheel. When it cranks you’ll see the gear engage and then probably see the gear get pushed back and try to disengage as the motor spins for parts of the rotation. The motor will out run the starters speed and it tries to disengage the gear. Having a good strong battery to rotate the starter fast as well as having the carbs adjusted and sync’ed really good helps it to start on the first couple of rotations so it fires before the gear gets backed up. I’m also going to see if adding a voltage stabilizer to the ignition module will help as I have read that the voltage drops too low when the starter is cranking and it stops firing the plugs so it takes even more rotations to get it to fire and the gear will disengage before it hits. Hope his helps, Steve
Hi Steve, asking a question on this video. I bought a 1982 Virago last summer and have been working on it since then. Your videos have been great. I have a question regarding oil. I drained the oil out of the bike, which was from the previous owner. I noticed it was very green in color. I didn't think anything of it, but is it possible it's from coolant getting on these bikes? Im not sure where the coolant would come from or how it would get in. Any answers would be appreciated.
Thanks man, glad the videos have helped some 👍. For the odd colored oil, there shouldn’t be any coolant in it as these are air cooled motors so that shouldn’t be a concern. For several of the bikes I’ve picked up (in various levels of broken or torn apart, lol) I’ve seen that the oil was odd colored as well, but these bikes had been sitting for several years. I’m not 100% sure what it is, but since the fuel can leak down into the oil when the floats get stuck and there is some kind of green algae or something that grows in gas when water is present, I’ve always guessed it to be that. The motor stirs it all up nicely and makes for some nasty looking oil, but if you drain it all out and fill it with fresh oil I’d say it would be fine as long as it wasn’t run with the funky oil in it. If it had been started with the bad oil, I would be sure to clean the oil pump pickup screen (it’s behind the flywheel on the left side) as it might be stopped up from pulling the bad oil up into the pump. Hope this helps and all the best ! Steve
Thank you so much Steve. These videos are so amazing for me and I've been building my skills between your vids and a bit of help of a Clymer manual. I just want to let you know I really appreciate it.
@@kodymorland3678 thanks man 👍. Let me know how it goes once you get it back up and running again 👍👍👍