Motorcycle Repair: 1981 750 Yamaha Virago, fuel stabilizers, drive gears

Question
Bike Is Flooding, and has blue smoke, also starter kicks out while trying to start.

Answer
Hi Stephanie,

Flooding is usually caused by the float needle and
it's valve seat leaking. It is designed
to shut off the fuel when the carb is full
and allow fuel to fill the carb when it runs
low.

If the needle valve is dirty or stuck
or just worn out then the fuel will
overflow the carb and flood the engine.

You have to remove the carb float bowls
to get at the needle and it's valve seat.
Carb repair kits may be online.

You could try some fuel additive and maybe
it would help unless the needle valve
is worn out.

Carbs can clog up quickly if a bike
is sitting for very long.
There are fuel stabilizers that
can help if the bike is parked for long.

The blue smoke may be partly due to the
flooding condition, you may have fuel in your engine oil.
I advise changing your oil before it causes any engine
damage.

Blue smoke is usually due to worn valve seals and/or
worn piston oil rings.
Both of these require removing the head
of the engine for rebuilding.

The starter drives are known to be poor
in these bikes. The only cure
is replacing the worn starter drive gears inside
the clutch case and the spring clips that
hold the gears so they will engage the gear
on the clutch hub which turns the engine gear.

Here is a link to much information on the
starter drive slipping problems:
http://www.drpiston.com/81_83_Starter_Paper.html

The Virago is a good bike but because of
it's age the parts are getting more scarce.
You can check ebay, bikebandit.com,
cmsnl.com, salvage yards and your Yamaha dealer
for parts.

Good luck!
Wayne S.
--------------------------------------