The Yamaha Road Star Warrior Forum

So, I was wondering...each morning when it's cold out like in the 40s or below my bike takes a while to startup.  Then when it fires, the rpm's are lower than normal (around 700 or less) and it sorta putters a bit, has died on occasion.  Takes a while for it to warm up.  I thought that the bike would do better than that at start up with the fuel injection...am I wrong?  Or is there a sensor or something that needs to be replaced on my bike?

Sounds like the LCV(the thing that sits under the neck between the coils) is not functioning, this is a very expensive totally un-nessassary part I took mine off all together after a malfunction a few months back I just have to give it a little throttle for a few seconds after starting. Although it could also be a bad engine temp sensor. Have you run the onboard diagnostics?

 My bet is the cold weather. I have found that anything below about 50 degrees causes a little sputtering. I have not had these problems in cold weather when the engine has run for a while though, does this persist after you have run the bike or is it just on the first start up?

My diesel truck starts hard when it's cold because of the 20w 50 oil in it. Being that the bike uses almost the same oil I would think that it could be the oil being extra thick in the cold. If you plan to ride in the cold try using a little lighter weight oil or a synthetic to help things out.

I have never had any problems starting mine even with temps down in the 20s.

+1 use 10W40 to 40F and 20W50 above 40F maybe it'll help a lot.

Independent:

My diesel truck starts hard when it's cold because of the 20w 50 oil in it. Being that the bike uses almost the same oil I would think that it could be the oil being extra thick in the cold. If you plan to ride in the cold try using a little lighter weight oil or a synthetic to help things out.

brtn15:

 My bet is the cold weather. I have found that anything below about 50 degrees causes a little sputtering. I have not had these problems in cold weather when the engine has run for a while though, does this persist after you have run the bike or is it just on the first start up?

 

It doesn't act like that after I've ridden it for a little while and gotten it warmed up.  Just starting it.

warpig:

Sounds like the LCV(the thing that sits under the neck between the coils) is not functioning, this is a very expensive totally un-nessassary part I took mine off all together after a malfunction a few months back I just have to give it a little throttle for a few seconds after starting. Although it could also be a bad engine temp sensor. Have you run the onboard diagnostics?

 

I haven't run diagnostics yet...guess I'll do that next time I mess with it.  Is that ok to take off the LCV?  At what location should I remove it on each end?...and do I need to cap off the lines running from it?

I would remove each line going to the throttle body's and cap them off (I bought an assortment of caps from autozone) and used the clamps that came off the OEM lines. It is perfectly fine to remove the LCV but like I said I do have to give it light throttle while starting and for a few seconds after (to help the engine warm up and provide propper oil pressure durring this critical time) I've Benny running this way for about 2 months and churchkey has been doing it for 7 years so no problem. An added bonus is if you have a BAK it sounds much better without it! I've seen a lot of posts recently of symptoms that would indicate a bad LCV yamaha may have had a bad production run. Do I smell recall? Probably not since this isn't a safety issue, but you never know.

And oh yeah disconnect the LCV's elec. connector this thing sounds like hell when the hoses are off! Also if you're still running the stock intake be sure to plug the center line of the LCV (plug the line that is returning to the air box on the air box side).

 So I can pull it right off the frame and cap the throttle bodies?

**When I get my bike tuned I can just have the power commander startup enrichment tuned for starting right?

OldMan:

I have never had any problems starting mine even with temps down in the 20s.

 

Year?

Arizona Warrior:

+1 use 10W40 to 40F and 20W50 above 40F maybe it'll help a lot.

I typically run 20W50 in everything just because the Castrol version seems to make things shift with the most buttery goodness.  My 07 didn't have an ounce of trouble starting today in the mid 30s.  Ran a little lumpy and popped a bit for the first few minutes then it was as responsive as ever.

saddlebagus:

OldMan:

I have never had any problems starting mine even with temps down in the 20s.

 

Year? 

Mine is an 03.