Clutch acting up a little

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MadRussian

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2014 FJR with 7800 miles.

Every morning, even after I let the bike warm up, it does not want to go into first gear, unless I give it a little throttle.

Once under way, that issue is gone.

Dealer did 600 miles service. At 4400 miles I did oil change with Motul 10w-40. At about 7000 miles I noticed that during the first 10-15 miles, when I pull the clutch in, it doesn't disengage for a few seconds. Once 20-30 miles away from home, everything is normal.

I'm thinking clutch soak is in order and stopped by local dealer to talk to them about it.

Mechanic says he never had that issue with FJR, but had to do a few FZ9s.

He also said that if the bike sits for a long time, that could cause that issue. I ride every day, so that's not it.

Have an appointment this Saturday for him to dig in and see what the issue is. He went ahead and ordered new gasket and will do a soak, while my redheaded girl gets new shoes.

 
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1) play with the clutch lever, make sure it's not something in the lever adjustment

2) hold the clutch lever in for about 5 seconds and see if that makes shifting into first easier

On my 2010 with 60,000 miles, I still have to hold the clutch in for 3 to 5 second at a light when I shift from neutral to first to avoid a clunk.

 
I have had the same thing happen on my '07, but not every time I first start in the morning. Usually cycling the clutch in neutral clears it.

 
Either cycle the clutch once before shifting or roll the bike slightly forward or backward. The reason it won't shift into first is that the gear dogs are aligned oppositely and, with the clutch fully disengaged (lever pulled in), neither side is moving.

This is NOT a symptom that requires a clutch soak. Just the opposite, a clutch soak is prescribed when the clutch is dragging, in which case the driven side of the clutch never stops spinning when the clutch is disengaged.

 
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OK, but was causing it to not disengage when coming to a stop during the first 15 miles?

 
I would bleed the clutch circuit first, if it then continues I would check for an internal leak (seals failing until cycled a couple times) in the master or slave cylinder.

 
Well, I will let mechanic deal with it, since it's under warranty.

Will let you guys know what he finds this Saturday...

 
Either cycle the clutch once before shifting or roll the bike slightly forward or backward. The reason it won't shift into first is that the gear dogs are aligned oppositely and, with the clutch fully disengaged (lever pulled in), neither side is moving.
This is NOT a symptom that requires a clutch soak. Just the opposite, a clutch soak is prescribed when the clutch is dragging, in which case the driven side of the clutch never stops spinning when the clutch is disengaged.

Well, sorry to say this, but you were wrong.

After taking clutch apart, mechanic found 2 plates totally dry. (1 on outside was wet, but the farther he went in, the drying they got)

After soak, it's like a different bike now and shifts are as smooth as butter.

 
Either cycle the clutch once before shifting or roll the bike slightly forward or backward. The reason it won't shift into first is that the gear dogs are aligned oppositely and, with the clutch fully disengaged (lever pulled in), neither side is moving.
This is NOT a symptom that requires a clutch soak. Just the opposite, a clutch soak is prescribed when the clutch is dragging, in which case the driven side of the clutch never stops spinning when the clutch is disengaged.

Well, sorry to say this, but you were wrong.

After taking clutch apart, mechanic found 2 plates totally dry. (1 on outside was wet, but the farther he went in, the drying they got)

After soak, it's like a different bike now and shifts are as smooth as butter.
After few kmiles the problem will come back...I did three times clutch soak and the problem came back after some kmiles unfortunately.The problem in all fjr from 2001-2015 is the bad design of the clutch housing.I really don't know why the mama Yamaha did nothing all these years for this problem as she did for some other models where she redesigned the clutch housing for these models...I had exactly the same problem in my other bike XTZ 750.So,i bought the new improved clutch housing and the problem solved.The new clutch housing has larger holes to passes more oil on the clutch plates,so all the plates now have plenty of oil on!

 
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Talked to my friend, who is a master mechanic.

He told me that some M109 owners with same issue drill a few additional holes to let more oil pass thru.

Next time it happens, that's what I will do.

Today's morning ride was a total pleasure.

Even while cold, shifting into 1st was smooth, no more clunk at stop lights when going into 1st and upshifts and downshifts are like butter.

 
Yeah, I was talking about the first symptom of the bike not shifting into gear from neutral. The not disengaging thing does sound like the plates were sticking. Weird that you would have two completely different symptoms like this.

Anyway, glad that you got it sorted out. My 2014 is still shifting like butter, much better than my '05 ever did. Doesn't even kerchunk into first gear after a cold start in neutral.

 
Since a lot of FJR owners had to deal with this issue, would it be worth it for all of us to contact Yamaha and see if there is some kind of fix they would be willing to provide for owners with this, due to bad design?

There is NO reason bike should require clutch soak in first year of ownership if it's getting enough oil to start with.

 
Your recourse will be to bring it in under warranty and they will oil the plates and put it back together.

It doesn't affect all new FJRs, just some subset, and what that fraction is we do not know.

 
Same problem to the extreme on a 2015ES. Simply would not unlock or disengage the clutch when cold. Took it apart and found 5 plates bone dry and full of crud (500 miles on the bike). Took all the plates and the pressure plate and put them into the trash can. Went to Barnett in Ventura and bought their spring pressure plate assembly and their new set of Kevlar plates. Installed it all and now, 7000 miles later, everything is still smooth like it should be. I use Motul V300 10W-40 as well.

 
Your recourse will be to bring it in under warranty and they will oil the plates and put it back together.It doesn't affect all new FJRs, just some subset, and what that fraction is we do not know.
What should the owners do once warranty is up? Buy YES just to cover this?

I think when it happens again, I'm going to follow Wemi's idea and replace with better unit.

 
I just posted this in another area...but I was amazed at what a clutch bleed did for me:

I have completely solved all my shifting issues by replacing the fluid and ensuring proper bleed in the process.

I was getting clunks going into first, sometimes the "clack clack clack clunk"..really embarrassing and doing damage I assume. I had done the "clutch soak" and was better for about a week. Well after getting a mityvac knockoff I replaced the clutch fluid and bled. Clutch felt the same to my hand but after two rides (I assume I was getting better plate spread?) it has shifted perfect. No clunks, no issues....like completely different.

Just wanted to point this out: if you aren't shifting smoothly - bleed your CLUTCH! I couldn't believe it...and unlike brakes you can't really tell based on feel or even the disengagement of the clutch. I tried rolling back and forth the soak, etc....the flush/bleed fixed it (the bleed has to be the important part here). Note that for full effect it was a couple rides. Worth a try!

 
I do not recall that many folks who had the clutch issues come back after they had disassembled, cleaned the plates up, and oiled them well for re-assembly. I know there have been a couple of reports, but not many repeated problems. I would guess that it would be more likely to happen if the bike was allowed to sit for a long time without use.

No, I wouldn't expect people to buy YES coverage just for the clutch soak issue. In fact, if I had the problem I'd probably just pop the clutch cover off and fix it myself. It's not a huge job and easier than the inconvenience of bringing it to a shop. Heck, you don't even have to drain the oil to do that on the side-stand. But as for YES, when considering the 3rd Gen FJR with all of its electronic control features, the cost of the YES from D&H seems like very cheap insurance indeed.

Also, +1 to Ptaaty's post. It is not that easy to get all of the air out of the clutch line because it is nearly vertical. If you don't bleed fast enough the air bubbles just keep rising as you bleed. One technique that sometimes works is to strap the clutch lever in over night (or longer) and tap on the clutch line from the outside. The idea is that the air bubbles may come up to the top of the line and then when you release the lever it will suck them up into the reservoir.

 
The Barnett clutch is somehow being branded as "better". Not sure that I would agree with that. Either unit will need oil and it is pretty clear that the Yamaha engine is not spraying enough for some although almost all are OK once they have had an initial soak. My clutch is smooth, doesn't take a lot of effort to pull and has been flawless for 140,000 miles; reliably transmitting 145 HP of power to the transmission and rear wheel. Friction zone hasn't changed since I bought it. No quality complaints here!

 
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