My 500$ xii

[Joshn569]

Hey new member here. Picked this 86 up last weekend. She needs some work. Carburaters leak, turned out to be the orings on the fuel pipes. Got them rebuilt and the rack reassembled tonight and hope to get them back in sometime this weekend and get them dialed in.

Then I got to figure out why its not charging properly. I have another alternator, the previous owner put a used one in but its only putting out around 13.00v max.

Needs fork seals too.

This is my first voyager, first touring bike too. I'm definitely excited to have a full fairing bike with tons of storage. I could not pass this old girl up for the price! It's in decent shape over all. I rode it around the block when I got it home. Clutch felt nice, shifted through all the gears and brakes were good.

[triton28]

Welcome to the group.
You found a jewel for that price. The more one drives a well operating Voyager XII the more one comes to appreciate the ease of servicing and enjoyment of traveling the open road on it.
These bikes, if well maintained and serviced regularly, are bulletproof as you no doubt will discover.
Have an enjoyable ownership and try not to swear too much when reinstalling the carburetor to lower air box rubber ducts with their roll up springs.
Dave

[SgtSlag]

Welcome to the site/family! Gorgeous bike!

The OEM alternator is anemic, at best. You have some aftermarket Fog Lights, which likely draw 55 Watts, or more, each: 110 Watts, maybe more! That will put a drain on the charging system. Your best option is to convert all of the filament light bulbs, to LED equivalents, including the Headlight, and those Fog Lights. An AGM battery is also highly recommended, along with a smart Battery (Tender) Trickle Charger.

I swapped out every filament bulb, save those within the instrument cluster. My charging voltage rose to around 14 Volts, at highway speeds. I reduced/saved more than 50 Watts, as almost every LED is <= to 1/2 the amperage drawn by the filament bulbs they replaced, and nearly all have higher Lumen outputs (brighter than the bulbs they replaced)! My LED Headlight bulb maxes out at 35 Watts, instead of the factory 55 Watts, and it pumps out 1,800 Lumens, instead of the 700-800 Lumens of the factory filament Halogen bulb!

Check the Lumen output of every LED, comparing them to the Lumen output by the comparable filament bulbs -- you want equal to, or greater (brighter!), Lumen output... Not less (dimmer)! The MTBF of filament bulbs is typically 5,000-7,000 hours; the MTBF for LED's is typically 20,000 - 50,000 hours...

If you want a Headlight Modulator, they make them for LED's, as well as filament. Just make sure to get the correct type. The same is true for brake light modulators. Note that a Headlight Modulator will cause the Headlight Failure light to flash: this is normal, it is not an indicator that the headlight bulb, nor the Modulator, are failing. The Headlight Failure circuit expects a constant, high amperage draw, so it thinks the bulb is bad, when it is not. The Modulator works perfectly, in spite of the Failure circuit/light.

There are a number of upgrades most members of this site have made, but I'll let you read up on them, in the forums. You asked about the charging system's low voltage output, so I offered some advice for that. Cheers!

[GrandpaDenny]

Welcome to the AVA! Congrats on your purchase. I see you've already had the carbs apart. Look up "Gertrude" for my adventures with my $800 bike. Looks like your PO wasn't as much of a DS as mine was. I've put almost 50,000 miles on her in 3 1/2 years and I'm still finding and fixing issues from the previous owner. Even with her issues and problems, she has been remarkably trouble-free. Amazing bike.

You definitely want to check the date codes on your tires, regardless of visual condition. Over five years old you want to replace.

Enjoy!!

[Chris Cochran]

Cool. I got my '86 last May for $500, also. I'm still having trouble with the carbs as they only want to run with full choke on. But, to be honest, I rarely mess with it nowadays. It's still too chilly for me to spend time goofing with it.

Once the weather is warmer, and steady, I'll get back into it again. The constant rain doesn't help my disposition either. But summer will come again for sure.

[GrandpaDenny]

Bet it's air leaks, like rotten carb boots.

[Van Voyager]

I swapped out every filament bulb, save those within the instrument cluster.

I'm curious which specific headlight and turnsignal LED's you used. There are so many LED replacement options out there and any that I have tried have turned out to be crap, i.e. not as bright as incandescent bulbs.

[SgtSlag]

I'm curious which specific headlight and turnsignal LED's you used. There are so many LED replacement options out there and any that I have tried have turned out to be crap, i.e. not as bright as incandescent bulbs.

Well, to be honest, what I purchased are likely no longer on the market -- they update/replace offerings usually multiple times each year. The high-Lumen output LED market is ever changing.

The Headlight LED I bought was off the market within six months of my purchase of it! I went with one which had no fan -- moving parts seize up, fail, leading to over-heating of the LED, and complete failure soon after. Mine has woven copper bands for heatsinks: flexible, moldable, and no moving parts to clog up/seize up! That LED has been in use for 3-5 years, now, without failure. The heat-sink ribbons were easy to stuff inside of the OEM headlight housing. They get warm, but nothing more than that -- tested before I buttoned it all up.

The various LED bulb replacements were a hodgepodge of different types, from different makers. I never kept track of P/N's, makers, etc. I went through three different sets of 1157 LED's for the brake lights, before I found units which were brighter, in spite of the Lumens on their spec sheets...

I did the same for my motorcycle trailer lights: replaced the incandescent bulbs with LED's, went through a few sets on these, as well, before I found brighter LED's than the incandescent bulbs

One YouTuber discussed things to avoid in LED replacements: avoid any with wire/spring contacts; make sure they have some sort of heatsink, to dissipate excess heat, or they might melt/fail; be careful of size dimensions, as some LED replacements are bigger than the filament bulbs they replace, and they may not physically fit!

Be aware that you may need to also replace the turn signal flasher control, as the LED's lower current draw may make the OEM filament flasher module think that the turn signal bulbs are bad... On most cars, when a bulb goes out, the blinker controller will cause that side to flash unusually fast, to signal the failure.

A manual check of the signal lights/brake lights, is more critical with LED's installed, as the failure indicators may be absent. The only way you will know one of your LED lights has failed, is by visually testing, before each ride...


Loads of variables to juggle, but the higher Lumen output, for less wattage, is worth the hassles. The MTBF jumping from 5,000 - 7,000 hours, to 20,000 - 50,000 hours, is also worth the hassles. Cheers!

[GrandpaDenny]

Here are the items I used, and am very happy with:

- Adjustable LED turn signal flasher relay https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GW ... UTF8&psc=1

- LED headlight bulb. This was the I think third one I tried, and am VERY happy with it. Good flat-topped pattern on low beam, nice pattern on high. Very bright, even pattern. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B092S ... UTF8&psc=1

- Front turn signal bulbs (Yellow) (1157) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RQ ... UTF8&psc=1 The front lenses are more amber than yellow and these bulbs seem to be less effectivethan they should be. Between that and the brighter headlight, I think my front turn signals aren't as visible as they could/should be.

- Rear turn signal bulbs (Yellow) (1156) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JP ... UTF8&psc=1 These work REALLY well.

- Brake lights (Red) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LG ... UTF8&psc=1 These are flashing lights, and every time I hit the brakes they flash in a different pattern. I have the fender brake light as well, so it's really cool and visible. Combined with my flashing third brake light, cars stay well behind me at stop lights.

Bear in mind you have to use colored LEDs to match the lenses. If you use white LEDs the lenses will filter out most of the light and you'll end up with dim lights.

There is also a modification required to the wiring to the emergency headlight module. It's very easy and quick to do. This will prevent the headlight warning light from staying on. You'll have to do a search in the forums to find it, I wasn't able to.

[Nails]

There’s a post here somewhere about rotating/orientating an LED headlight the socket) to work better (purported) with old headlight mirrors. I’ve been disappointed and suggest trying anyone that seems too bright on the specs.
Also somewhere here: a post or two about dash lights, especially ones that yield a nice Kawasaki green. A bit of a PITA to change, but a good time to deal with a common temp-sensor ground and the battery light (I replaced mine with a nice voltmeter, posted here somewhere). Note that at least one bulb in the dash and some in the cruise crap don’t work with LEDs because the voltage in those circuits changes polarity (a MaKa weirdness to avoid using latching solenoids).
+++ on flashing brake light.

[Van Voyager]

Note that at least one bulb in the dash and some in the cruise crap don’t work with LEDs because the voltage in those circuits changes polarity

LED replacement 'bulbs' are often offered in bipolar versions, which work regardless of the socket polarity.

[Chris Cochran]

I find it a bit odd, yet sadly believable, that the bike has an "anemic" charging system. I am used to such a thing with my 750 Vulcan. You can't really add anything electrical to it unless you compensate by dropping the juice in other areas, such as lighting. I always attributed that to the thought that the bike wasn't really meant to be a long distance machine, necessarily, so a more robust charging system simply was not warranted. Or so was the thinking back in the early 80's when it only existed on a design board somewhere.

With the Voyager XII, regardless of if it was "on the board" in roughly the same span of time or not, I'd have thought that the engineers would have purposely had that more robust system in-place if for no other reason that it WAS designed to be a long-distance machine.

Then again, what accessories that seem so natural today were even thought of back then?

All this being said, does anyone know of an alternate/aftermarket alternator that can be swapped in and generate more electrons than the factory version? I mean, this is what is done in the automotive market on vehicles that have police versions. Higher output alternators are required for the more harsh realities of police usage. Are there any higher output ZG1200 alternators available?

[Joshn569]

Thanks for the welcome! The PO actually put a led head light and turn signal/ tail bulbs in already! I spent all day today trouble shooting the charging system. I found many issues. Bad grounds, broken wires, corrosion at various connections and so on. I think the biggest issue was at some point somebody put a scotchlock connector on the brown wire from the alternator at the the main connector under the lh fairing. The corrosion started long ago and there was only a couple of strands of wire left making a connection. I added a new frame ground to the battery and another ground from the frame to the motor. I traced out every wire cleaning and using dielectric grease along the way.

Also got the temp gauge and fan working. I added a ground after reading up and poking around this forum.

New plugs. New air filter.

Choke cable lubed

Carbs are back in, synced up and dialed in. #3 leaked on me. Tho it was a pain in the arse, I dropped the bowl with the carbs installed and made a float adjustment. Problem solved.

Changed the coolant tonight. It was super over due. Mud. The expansion tank was full of gunk and rust. Line to it was 100% plugged up. Flushed it with some water, cleaned the tank and filled her up and bled it.

Changed the brake fluid and clutch fluid as well. Again, mud. I got lucky here and after some serious cleaning with fresh fluid and a bleed they all work and feel great.

Scored some led fog light when I bought it. Started to install them.

Also started to give her the ol spit shine. Some of the chrome was pitted and rust. Some elbow grease and simichrome and she will come round.

Gonna try and get a plate for it this week and take her out for a proper test ride. I took it around the block today for a shake down and all seemed well. Also got to order some fork seals this week. Shinko tires arnt that old and don't have but a 100 miles on them, but not sold on them yet.

One question tho, why Rotella 15 40? Diesel? Ok for the clutch?

[Joshn569]

[Joshn569]

[Joshn569]

Cool. I got my '86 last May for $500, also. I'm still having trouble with the carbs as they only want to run with full choke on. But, to be honest, I rarely mess with it nowadays. It's still too chilly for me to spend time goofing with it.

Once the weather is warmer, and steady, I'll get back into it again. The constant rain doesn't help my disposition either. But summer will come again for sure.

Have you hard the carbs off for a thorough cleaning? Specifically the pilot circuits?

[SgtSlag]

There was a company posted in the forum who would rewind the alternator with thinner wires, which increased the Amp output. The downside was it would drain the battery at idle. No free lunches.

Shell 15W-40 Diesel oil is JASO rated for motorcycles: zero friction modifiers, which lead to clutch slipping. That, and it's a really great oil. The T6 15W-40 is full synthetic, too. Check the label's fine print before you buy. They make a number of variants today, and not all of them are JASO rated. Cheers!

[Nails]

LED replacement 'bulbs' are often offered in bipolar versions, which work regardless of the socket polarity.

The bipolar ones I tried, a 20-pack that plugged in elsewhere without regard to polarity, still didn’t work; but maybe others do. It isn’t whether the bulb lights, but whether it closes the circuit.

[Nails]

This bike sounds a whole lot like mine — no evidence of maintenance. Just wait until you see the fork and shock oil.
You can look forward to a nice ride this summer.

[SgtSlag]

Dexron ATF (yes, automotive transmission fluid) is 8W oil, used by many a bike manufacturer over the past 40 years, as Fork Oil. It is highly detergent, dissolving varnish, and other crud. Great stuff to use in a neglected fork system.

Fork Oils hold their precise viscosity, across their entire thermal range, never changing until they wear out. Dexron ATF does the same + high detergent.

Alternatively, you can add 1 Oz. of Seafoam to your forks, to clean them of crap, before you change it. Compression cycles are necessary for it to work its magic. I take caps off, add Seafoam, then manually compress the fork tubes, 5-8 times, lifting the front wheel, to circulate the fluids, mixing them. I did this once, to clean them. Then I loaded them with Dexron ATF. The Dexron VI, is full synthetic, lasting 2x as long as the non-synthetic... Cheers!