2013 FJR clutch engaged while starting

[Wlfman]

After starting the bike with it in Neutral. Pull in the clutch lever, slightly rev the engine then shift to first = NO CLUNK

15k+ miles on my '13 and no issues at all.

 

[ionbeam]

My point exactly. I would rather get rid of the bike and sell it to some other happy owner who can then do the "clutch soak" or whatever other cleaning, scrubbing, scraping he wants to do. Just a poor clutch design in my opinion...

OMG, what a piece of **** the FJR is. A known issue with a known cure but requires some interaction by the owner. Just cut your losses and give my your excessive burden and I'll suffer with the shortcomings.

 

[RossKean]

I do not buy new bikes to wrench on them, it would be back to the dealer. I love to ride dependable bikes, that is why I buy new. I also got the YES with my 2013.

My point exactly. I would rather get rid of the bike and sell it to some other happy owner who can then do the "clutch soak" or whatever other cleaning, scrubbing, scraping he wants to do. Just a poor clutch design in my opinion.

Now, if there was a good aftermarket, slipper clutch setup out there, that might make me want to keep the bike. Otherwise, unless it heals itself, as indicated in my previous post it's probably good bye for this steed.

Seriously? Probably a good thing that it isn't Friday.

A (very) minor annoyance that is easily cured with an hour or so of your time. Alternatively, you can get your dealer to do it on his dime but getting the bike there and picking it up afterward will take more time!

You will have to remind me why the Yamaha clutch design is so poor. Mine has 126,000 miles on it and it hasn't stuttered or slipped once in 7 years of maintenance-free operation.

 

[Geezer]

There are people who actually enjoy spending a rainy Saturday afternoon in the garage performing minor repairs and maintenance on their motorcycles, and there are people who either can't or won't turn a wrench and end up paying someone else to do the work.

If you have an issue with a new machine then simply take it to the dealer and have them repair it under warranty. Assuming that your dealer has competent technicians and you are willing to deliver the motorcycle and then do without it for some period of hours, or days, they should take care of it for free. Motorcycle service is not as customer oriented as automobile service departments.

 

[Bluedog]

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints. I have had this issue since new and only getting worse. I even recall my 2012 FJR doing the same. Sometime warm weather helps other times temps have no bearing on this... I hope my dealer can cover this under YES, or I may tackle this on my own, I better check my schedule. Good/bad I have to go back to my dealer to pick up what is left of a new FZ09 that my son laid down with 157 miles on it, I thought it would be a fun extra bike for us to share. Don't know if we will get an FZ or FJ 09. Thanks guys.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Bd - Find a local Tech Day or look up Smitty, there's bound to be some new friends to help out with the clutch process.

Thanks everyone for the helpful hints. I have had this issue since new and only getting worse. I even recall my 2012 FJR doing the same. Sometime warm weather helps other times temps have no bearing on this... I hope my dealer can cover this under YES, or I may tackle this on my own, I better check my schedule. Good/bad I have to go back to my dealer to pick up what is left of a new FZ09 that my son laid down with 157 miles on it, I thought it would be a fun extra bike for us to share. Don't know if we will get an FZ or FJ 09. Thanks guys.

Ouch, not the way to "break in" a new motorcycle! Hope he wasn't hurt too badly.

--G

 

[Fred W]

It is also worth considering that you may have some air in the clutch hydraulic line that is preventing you from getting full disengagement. The clutch on my 2014 is superb compared to my old 2005. Much less "kerchunk" when shifting into gear from a cold stat in neutral than the 1st Gen had.

Yours is clearly not right and it is still under warranty. Bring it to the dealership and describe the symptoms. Let them figure out whether it requires bleeding or clutch plate cleaning.

As for the folks buying new and not wanting to touch the bike with a wrench, I'm just the opposite. I fully expect to never let a dealership mechanic ever touch any of my bikes, regardless of the age. I'll let them do a recall or warranty work, but only if I can't do it myself (recall) or it is too expensive.

 

[Constant Mesh]

I always start the engine in 1st gear. Pull in the clutch and roll it backwards out of the garage ready to be started. Don my riding gear, hop on the seat, pull in the clutch, start the engine and launch.

The clutch is typically lightly stuck, but breaks loose easily as I roll the bike backwards 20 feet or so.

I never warm the engine. I just hop on, start it and go.

-----------------

Working on the clutch as mentioned above would be grunt work I don't want to do. Work I shouldn't have to do. One should expect that the clutch, a most basic device, operates correctly. If it doesn't, take it back and let the vendor make it right.

 

[HotRodZilla]

You know, after all the reading and complaining on here, I soaked my clutch a couple years ago. After it was all said and done, I probably wasted my time. Don't know that there was anything wrong with my clutch.

Some people just like to bitch. Some bitch and try to fix it, while others bitch and do nothing else. Waaaaah. Go buy a Prius. I heat they shift just fine...AND stop starting your stupid bike in gear. The cold thick oil is going to let the rear wheel move. Duh...If this can't be figured out, maybe walking is a better choice.

 

[Wemi]

You know, after all the reading and complaining on here, I soaked my clutch a couple years ago. After it was all said and done, I probably wasted my time. Don't know that there was anything wrong with my clutch.Some people just like to bitch. Some bitch and try to fix it, while others bitch and do nothing else. Waaaaah. Go buy a Prius. I heat they shift just fine...AND stop starting your stupid bike in gear. The cold thick oil is going to let the rear wheel move. Duh...If this can't be figured out, maybe walking is a better choice.

The cold thick oil moving the rear wheel is NOT THE PROBLEM. The problem is that the rear wheel won't STOP MOVING when you start the bike, wether you start it in gear or not. ( Assuming it is till on the center stand ). Anyway, I have contacted Barnett and they sell a complete replacement kit with spring pressure plate and all new Kevlar and steel plates. I will go that route. If I have to tear into that thing anyway I might as well throw all the factory stuff into the trash. Their claim is that it fixes just that issue with the coil spring conversion. We'll see if they are right.

 

[RossKean]

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the OEM system that a small amount of maintenance won't fix. If the problem is due to dry or crudded up plates, the Barnett coil spring conversion won't do a thing by itself. I doubt that the Barnett full system will have better (or as good) long-term reliability as the Yamaha OEM although it should work for you.

If you are planning to toss the Yamaha "crap" steels and fibre disks, I'm sure you can find someone local who will take them off your hands. Good luck with solving your "problem".

 

[08FJR4ME]

You know, after all the reading and complaining on here, I soaked my clutch a couple years ago. After it was all said and done, I probably wasted my time. Don't know that there was anything wrong with my clutch.
Some people just like to bitch. Some bitch and try to fix it, while others bitch and do nothing else. Waaaaah. Go buy a Prius. I heat they shift just fine...AND stop starting your stupid bike in gear. The cold thick oil is going to let the rear wheel move. Duh...If this can't be figured out, maybe walking is a better choice.

I think we can all agree that the one flaw in the FJR1300 is the shifting. It is not the most smooth transmission out there. That being said I am not bitching just stating a known fact. If you want a bike that shifts smooth go buy a Honda.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

I disagree. I have no problem with the shifting on either FJR I have owned or any of the other ones I have ridden. Yes, they do kerchunk into gear from neutral, but once in gear I've never had anything but fine shifting operation.

I had no idea the thread was about the rear wheel turning with the bike on the centerstand. Who gives a rat's ass about that?

 

[08FJR4ME]

Well I don't give a rats ass about the rear tire also.

Maybe I need a clutch soak then since mine has never been butter smooth. I know I can get on my XR and it shifts a lot smoother than the Feejer. Just my experiance so far. Not that I am any expert by any means. I even drove a hardly that shifted smoother than my Feej. I know, its hard to admit that. I will have to go into rehab now.

Dave

 

[Fred W]

Are you sure that you have all the air out of the clutch line? If you don't and have a few small bubbles stuck in there, it will still work but the slave will not move quite as far, and you will get some light clutch drag. I find it is very hard to get all the air out of the clutch because the bleeder is at the bottom and the bubbles want to rise as you drain the fluid. A cool mod for the clutch line would be to put a special banjo bolt on the master cylinder with a bleeder nipple threaded into the end of it to allow you to bleed the system from the bottom up. You'd also have to figure a way to draw new fluid at the bottom without getting any air.

Try ty-wrapping the clutch lever to the handlebar over night. The pressure compresses the air bubbles making them smaller so they will not stick inside the line with surface tension. You can tap on the line to help them to float to the top. Open the reservoir then remove the Ty-wrap and release the lever (slowly so you don't get a geyser) and see if you get any bubbles drawn back into the reservoir

 

[Wemi]

I disagree. I have no problem with the shifting on either FJR I have owned or any of the other ones I have ridden. Yes, they do kerchunk into gear from neutral, but once in gear I've never had anything but fine shifting operation.
I had no idea the thread was about the rear wheel turning with the bike on the centerstand. Who gives a rat's ass about that?

You might, as the OP correctly stated. If you take the bike of the center stand with the wheel spinning you will fall over, since it will not stop. Remember the clutch is not disengaged. Which is what this post is all about. If, however you don't have it on the center stand you in some severe cases cannot start the bike in gear since the starter motor cannot overcome the locked clutch, even though the lever is pulled all the way in. See the original PO.

And as you indicate, you do not have this problem and since most FJRs don't it is somewhat annoying for those of us who just spent 20 grand on a new bike.

 

[Wemi]

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the OEM system that a small amount of maintenance won't fix. If the problem is due to dry or crudded up plates, the Barnett coil spring conversion won't do a thing by itself. I doubt that the Barnett full system will have better (or as good) long-term reliability as the Yamaha OEM although it should work for you.If you are planning to toss the Yamaha "crap" steels and fibre disks, I'm sure you can find someone local who will take them off your hands. Good luck with solving your "problem".

IMO you are correct with you're assessment of the OEM parts, but what makes you say that the supposedly superior material and the industry wide use (except for the FJR. It is the only one with this type of setup according to the experts) of the coil spring setup won't do a thing by itself?

I believe the OEM setup is fine and I never had a problem with any of my previous 4 FJRs. The GENI I still own has never heard of anything like that and it's 12 years old! Yet this forum and even this thread discusses this issue a a " known GENIII problem". Since all this stuff is extremely close tolerance manufacturing I believe you will get some marginal ( not even saying bad) apples.

 

[HotRodZilla]

So you're saying if you put your new '15 FJR in neutral and start it cold, the rear wheel has enough push from the clutch that it will roll itself off of the sidestand? Every FJR I have ever seen will set the rear wheel moving when started cold on the centerstand. Mine does it until things warm up or until I stop the wheel. You currently have so much clutch engagement in neutral that you cannot stop the rear wheel by hand, or as asked before, it will roll the bike off the side stand? IF that is what's happening, you have an issue, and you should take the new bike to the dealer and get it fixed. If not, well, I don't know if it's really an issue, or just oversensativity to something the bike is going to do...

 

[RaYzerman19]

The FJR clutch system is such that all inputs have to be maximized. Also, if I understand it correctly, Yamaha returned to using the Gen 1 clutch slave cylinder, which has a larger piston, i.e., more lever movement than Gen 2. This requires your lever to be adjusted so the clutch disengages just before the lever hits the handlebar. Often this will result in a longer reach, particularly for those with shorter fingers. Next, there must be zero air in the clutch hydraulics, so regardless of when you bled it last, probably should do it again just to be sure. I'd recommend a Speed Bleeder in this case. After all this, for a constantly dragging clutch, one should remove the plates, clean then soak them, and reassemble. When you disassemble, you will not see a lot of oil on the plates. Some have seen contamination on the plates from factory.... if so, the cleaning will do the job. If it's under warranty, take it in.

I would stick with OEM clutch, I have found Barnett's to be a little grabby, although I have no experience with an FJR Barnett clutch. There is nothing wrong with the OEM parts.

It is also quite normal that until the engine oil warms up, there will be some drag but it should go away when warm. Make sure you are pulling the lever to the bar......... and yes, the rear wheel spinning while on the center stand is also quite normal, but you should be able to put a foot against the tire to stop it.

The clutch on my '07 with Gen1 slave does drag a bit when cold, may not be able to find neutral, etc. So I wait until it warms up a bit more. Using Amzoil, and when warm clutch works fine and shifts like buttah.

 

[art miller]

I have the same problem on my 2015ES. IT IS ANNOYING TO SAY THE LEAST. This is my 5th FJR and the first one to act that way. I always start the bike in first just to keep the crashing gear sound away when I would shift into first. The way I combat the sticky plates is to rock the bike forward or backwards while in gear, clutch pulled and off the center stand. After one or two stops it normally frees up and I than start the bike.Mine may not be as bad as yours, but I follow the same procedure even when the bike is warm as at times it even sticks a bit then. Now at that time the starter would easily overcome the block, but I have gotten used to it.

Like you, I have tried all possible oils form Mobil1 to Motul V300, all to no avail. Since the bike requires JASO MA there are plenty of choices, none of which will make any difference. The MA standard specifically defines the friction coefficient and that is what Yamaha wants. MA2 which has a lower friction coefficient than MA will most likely result in clutch slippage at high loads, speak high speeds or acceleration. So nothing gained there.

I have contacted my selling dealer and they are more than willing to tears the. Ike apart and replace/soak, the clutch assembly. I am just a little unwilling to have them tear into a brand new ( now at a little over 5000 miles) motorcycle.

It is possible for this condition to either get better or worse with increasing mileage. So I am willing to wait and see what happens. As my warranty still lasts until November 2015, aim good until then...

Good luck and keep us posted as this concerns many of us. Maybe you find a solution..

+1 on the tip. Before starting, pull clutch and rock bike back and forth until plates release.