Gwbarm

I was thinking that is where they went to, so it appears that part of the harness is missing, they should continue back to the soloenoid and probably end up at the CDI for safety precautions, and probably your 2 relays are missing, i havent seen them in any of your photos or the CDI, is it there or also missing. They might have deleted them and wired it direct with the romex.

Good you had a drain, the one i was working on didnt have a crancase drain, and took forever to get it out with a syringe.

It sounds like you adjusted them too much , the shocks are designed to be able to adjust on the bike by clicking up to the next step, they really need to be attached to be able to do that, not familiar with your bike , but they are usually fairly easy to adjust on the bike by turning it. You said when you put them on they fit but were out of adjustment, were they too high or too low. If you get them back to the way they were and reattach to the bike and see if you can adjust to the right height.

This videa may help a little with your wiring:

Im looking at the plugs trying to see what they may be for, can you tell what the other end hooks to , i couldnt tell from the photo

The only yamaha i have to show photos of is a Big Bear and its 10 years newer than yours but may show where the starting componets hook up. T The battery and soloenoid and relaus sit on top of the plastic on this one, yours will be different but around your battery tray there should be brackets or something similar to hold the components. Black coming from starter to soloenid, red to battery, Plug in with blue, blue /white and red going to start switch 2 black boxes are relays. The other is fan controller. Behind aall that is the air box which i didnt see on your photos, mine was missing also.

I think the first thing i would do is evaluate the engine and transmission, make sure the engine has good compression. Then jack up the rear wheels where you can turn them by hand and make sure it shifts though the gears correctly. Of course they can be fixed also but i like to start with engine and transmission then see if it will run.

The small hose may be a vent hose, but that would not cause a leak, if you carb is leaking its usually a stuck float needle float not working properly or gasket failure.

Well it appears you have been busy. You definately have a project, thats a good thing if you like working on them. As far as the wiring harness goes yours looks fairly descent, you can professionally repair your existing harness easier than replacing it. What you have to do is study the wiring diagrams, very carefully to determine where the butchered wires go and what it connects to. The dangling down cable you were referring to goes into the carb, that is your choke cable. You may have somethings missing like the starter cutout relay i didnt see that which might have been cutout and wired together. You should have a plug next to the soloenoid that controls the power going to the starter, maybe. It looks like your air box is missing and the hoses that connect it to the carb. You can see diagrams of what all is missing by looking up your model on Babbits, or Partzilla. The white with red and white with green may go to your pickup coil im fairly familiar with Yamaha wiring, but havent worked on one that old in a while. The only problems you may encounter with your harness if you want to put it back to original is if plugs have been cut out or missing. Your in a good place a lot of us know these older bikes, look forward to helping you piece it back together. Where would you like to start. My advise would be , do not get overwhelmed, take it one piece at a time, one day at a time. It will eventually come together. I know iv been right where you are many times, a great learning expierience.

I think that would be the best solution. Good luck!

You may be right about the Moto 4 flaps being on the Big Bear, but what makes me think its a Moto 4 is the way the front fender wraps around the gas tank and the seat comes up and over that, the Big Bear didnt do that. Is it 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel Drive, all the Big Bears of that era were 4 wheel drive only.

Nice little rides, i think i like the Polaris the best.

It appears to be a Moto 4. I had the same trouble with their codes on my 400, YFM 400 can be Big Bear or Kodiak the letters after tells you more.

I havent tried premium instead of Non Ethynol maybe it s better, just as cheap, the non ethynol here only comes in one grade i think its 89.

Those are great machines good luck good luck with it.

I have had this happen before on a 2 stroke scooter, it had been sitting for 10 plus years, it did the same as you describe lock up engine, took me forever to get all that 2 stroke oil out of the crankcase, and it still fowled 2 or 3 plugs before i got it right. I took the hoses all off and drained the oil tank, ran it on premix. Couldnt really disable the oil pump without tearing the engine down it ran off the crankshaft, and was not really on my high priority list, After deleting the oil supply i realized that this pump wasnt going to pump very long without oil and it was always turning when ever the engine was running. So hooked the oil back up to the pump, but instead of rounting into the carb i routed it back into the oil tank. Didnt work well because oil was not getting into the crankcase VIA the carb it was from a bad seal at the oil pump. So my recommendation after all this howee is to replace the oil pump seal or pump itself, or dont store it with a full tank of oil.

I would only clean the sheaves with warm soapy water with a scotch brite pad no lube on the sheave itself just on the part that lets it expand and contract and i use thin oil no grease WD 40 would work but i generally use a very thin motor oil.

I can see the photos now and from what i can tell from the parts diagram it is part #1800388 Rear wheel axel bearing seat. Click on it and says part is no longer available. That may be a hard find, but i would look on ebay. You might also do an internet search with the part number and find a new old stock one floating around.

Sounds like sheaves may be sticking, it may also depend to what degree you want excessive power in high gear, generally when i want extreme pulling power i go to low gear and when i hear them clatter when in high gear under a load, i switch to low.

Interesting stuff it claims its smart nano technology and only sticks to bearing surfaces, but then it shows a photo of how it repaired scratched piston rings.

It is supposed to be 15 times stronger than steel, never tested it. I have one winch that has it on it, it is great rolls up better than steel doesnt rust. I like it very much. I dont use the winch that often and i still have several steel cable winches that work very well, for me i would not change the cable on my existing winchs, but when they wear out, i would only buy a winch with dyneema on it, it is so much easier to use.

That great you got it going, you have been busy, look forward to seeing the photos.

Yeah NGK plugs, and i usually usre Yamalube mineral oil for one this old, but there are a lot of good oils out there that is just what i use, its not that much more if you dont buy it from the dealer, problem is waiting to get it shipped. So if you need it right away wal mart has valvoline and Rotella that i have used in a pinch.

I have aa 2000 big bear and have some of the same problems you are describing, hard to get out of gear and the neutral light is iffy. Sometimes i can get it out of gear i know its not in gear i can roll it and the neutral light not on, other times neutral light comes right on. If you go all the way down with the shifter and then come up just a hare not too much or you will be in first, just a tickle, like cracking a safe, if still not out of gear try again. I have just kind of written it off as worn gear box and havent really tore into it to fix it. I can pull the break lever to get mine to start and just go from there, if i get tired of trying to get neutral light to come on, i can get it in neutral, but if light is not lite it wont start until you pull the brake lever. Yours might not be this bad but the one i got was heavily abused and neglected and im gradually bringing it back to life, as soon as i think i have it something else pops up.

You have been busy! Good you got it fixed