Clutch not disengaging

[PA1195]

Hello all...my posts to this thread were mainly addressing the clutch sticking issue that I have had with my FJR's as they accumulate miles from new with Yamalube on board...good when new then gets worse even with changes with fresh Yamalube...changing from Yamalube to another motorcycle rated SG/JASO MA oil of 20W-50 viscosity eliminated the clutch sticking in two FJRs within 50-100 miles...the transmission whine is still there, but reduced at cruise, and it's probably due to the way it's built as others have described...I've not switched to a full GroupIV synthetic like Amsoil in a similar viscosity yet, but will at my next oil change to see if I can get the whine level down a bit on acceleration...at $5 per quart the Yamalube is not really price competitive and seems to promote clutch problems in my experience...on the first FJR I even later went to Suzuki branded MC oil that my Dealer also sells and the clutch sticking stayed disappeared...going back to Yamalube as a test brought back the clutch sticking before I traded the bike.

Gary in Fairbanks

 

[Haar]

:blink:

Here's my problem: have an '06AE with 1400 mi. and noticed when two up at around 850 miles, experienced like a clutch slippage when accelerating (sharply) on slight upgrade on state hwy. Thought this was "not broken in" problem. Had first service at 1100 miles and didn't mention to dealer. Don't think they had much experience with AE. Now with 1400 miles, accelerated tonight briskly (solo) and worrysome slippage happened again. Doesn't seem like a real slip but rather a lack of power getting to the rear (no rpm rise). Really wierd. Anyone out there with this fickle problem or should I wait til this sucker gets broken in. I haven't really wailed on this thing yet. . .should I? Really appreciate any help. Haar

 

[fjrchooser]

No breakin required, that sucker should be pulling your wings off when you ask it to... Maybe something else ?

 

[ELP_JC]

If rpms are not shooting up, no slipping going on. Seems like your engine is bogging instead, either by too low rpms, or maybe the 'surging' problem widely known on GenII. Did it happen right after climbing or descending a mountain? At which rpms? Give us more info buddy.

JC

 

[Haar]

If rpms are not shooting up, no slipping going on. Seems like your engine is bogging instead, either by too low rpms, or maybe the 'surging' problem widely known on GenII. Did it happen right after climbing or descending a mountain? At which rpms? Give us more info buddy.JC

I really can't relay any more symptoms/quirks as of now. Just know that something seems wrong and I get paranoid. I haven't done that much riding and able to find out if this problem is persistent or what the hell. I sure appreciate you guys' feed back and helping with others' problems. Hearing about the oils (yamalube not working?) makes me think bad thoughts about Yamaha in general. The fit and finish on the Yamaha and the overall engineering makes me like honda more and more. Sure seems to be a lot of nitpickin' going on with the fjr. I'd like to move bars to find my comfort zone but $350 for a whole triple tree mod. . .jeeze?! Oh well, I know, get off my rant and go ride and give her hell.

 

[murf]

Just took my 07 to the dealer for same problem, clutch not disengaging for a second or two after squeezing the clutch lever. Noticed the problem at approximately 1000 miles. Happens for the couple of stops I have to make to get out to the main highway despite three bars showing on the temp gage.

Will be interesting to see what transpires at dealership.

 

[ELP_JC]

I'm thinking it has to be the throw distance of the slave/actuator

That's exactly what I think too. The clutch BARELY disengages on every '07 I've ridden (too close to the grip), so a variety of otherwise perfectly normal conditons can point to clutch problems IMO, like excessive drag when cold (the colder it is, the thicker oil gets), and clutch plates 'sticking' when hot, due to thermal expansion. All the clutch needs is to be disengaged a bit farther and none of the above 'problems' would be there anymore.

The best solution is a slave with more throw, but if my bike develops the problem, I'd just add a shim to the slave cylinder's rod (a 1mm washer between piston and rod should do the trick), effectively enlarging it and therefore moving the clutch's engagement point away from the grip (middle of lever travel is ideal), and see if the problem goes away. If it does, which I'm sure it would, there's no need to touch the clutch. I'd then leave the shim and look for a new slave; maybe a GenI???? Take care.

JC

 

[alan sh]

I'm thinking it has to be the throw distance of the slave/actuator

That's exactly what I think too. The clutch BARELY disengages on every '07 I've ridden (too close to the grip), so a variety of otherwise perfectly normal conditons can point to clutch problems IMO, like excessive drag when cold (the colder it is, the thicker oil gets), and clutch plates 'sticking' when hot, due to thermal expansion. All the clutch needs is to be disengaged a bit farther and none of the above 'problems' would be there anymore.

The best solution is a slave with more throw, but if my bike develops the problem, I'd just add a shim to the slave cylinder's rod (a 1mm washer between piston and rod should do the trick), effectively enlarging it and therefore moving the clutch's engagement point away from the grip (middle of lever travel is ideal), and see if the problem goes away. If it does, which I'm sure it would, there's no need to touch the clutch. I'd then leave the shim and look for a new slave; maybe a GenI???? Take care.

JC

I have the gen1 slave cylinder in and it has the same problem when cold. I like the idea of the small shim - easy to try - I might give that a go next weekend (off on a long trip tomorrow, so I can't try it till then)

Alan

 

[murf]

I'm thinking it has to be the throw distance of the slave/actuator

That's exactly what I think too. The clutch BARELY disengages on every '07 I've ridden (too close to the grip), so a variety of otherwise perfectly normal conditons can point to clutch problems IMO, like excessive drag when cold (the colder it is, the thicker oil gets), and clutch plates 'sticking' when hot, due to thermal expansion. All the clutch needs is to be disengaged a bit farther and none of the above 'problems' would be there anymore.

The best solution is a slave with more throw, but if my bike develops the problem, I'd just add a shim to the slave cylinder's rod (a 1mm washer between piston and rod should do the trick), effectively enlarging it and therefore moving the clutch's engagement point away from the grip (middle of lever travel is ideal), and see if the problem goes away. If it does, which I'm sure it would, there's no need to touch the clutch. I'd then leave the shim and look for a new slave; maybe a GenI???? Take care.

JC

I have the gen1 slave cylinder in and it has the same problem when cold. I like the idea of the small shim - easy to try - I might give that a go next weekend (off on a long trip tomorrow, so I can't try it till then)

Alan

I never had a problem with clutch disengagement on my 04 FJR when cold. I would wait until two temp bars showed up, then ride off with no problems. On the 07 FJR I just got this past June, I can wait until three or four bars show up on the temp gage before riding off and the clutch will still not disengage for the first two or three stops I make to get out to the main highway.

 

[FJRocketMan]

I have the same issue but have found that before I start out I twist the throttle quickly (with clutch engaged in neutral) and it "frees" it up. After doing this, when I put into first, it goes in very smooth not jumping forward at all. I have also found that when I start downshifting (sometimes), I have to again do a quick twist of the throttle with the clutch engaged and it is then freed up for downshifting.

 

[otrfjr]

I'm going to sound whiny, but I shouldn't have to blip the throttle to get the [freaking] clutch & synchronizer to do their [freaking] jobs during normal/non-aggressive riding/shifting.

I have the same issue but have found that before I start out I twist the throttle quickly (with clutch engaged in neutral) and it "frees" it up. After doing this, when I put into first, it goes in very smooth not jumping forward at all. I have also found that when I start downshifting (sometimes), I have to again do a quick twist of the throttle with the clutch engaged and it is then freed up for downshifting.

 

[FJRocketMan]

Don't know about you but when I start my bike, I always give it a little throttle to make sure it's "warmed up" - I just do that with the clutch engaged. Not a big deal.

As far as downshifting, once out of 20 times I ride, I have the issue with downshifting where I have to do the same thing. I agree with you that we should not have to do that but my comments were more to let a new FJR owner know how to "free" it up when attempting to downshift coming to a stop when it just won't go. This was very scary the first time it happened to me because I sat at a round-a-bout in 4th gear and had no idea what the hell was wrong because it just would not downshift.

I'm going to sound whiny, but I shouldn't have to blip the throttle to get the [freaking] clutch & synchronizer to do their [freaking] jobs during normal/non-aggressive riding/shifting.

I have the same issue but have found that before I start out I twist the throttle quickly (with clutch engaged in neutral) and it "frees" it up. After doing this, when I put into first, it goes in very smooth not jumping forward at all. I have also found that when I start downshifting (sometimes), I have to again do a quick twist of the throttle with the clutch engaged and it is then freed up for downshifting.

 

[mike25]

I'm going to sound whiny, but I shouldn't have to blip the throttle to get the [freaking] clutch & synchronizer to do their [freaking] jobs during normal/non-aggressive riding/shifting.

There are no synchronizers in a motorcycle transmission.

 

[murf]

Just took my 07 to the dealer for same problem, clutch not disengaging for a second or two after squeezing the clutch lever. Noticed the problem at approximately 1000 miles. Happens for the couple of stops I have to make to get out to the main highway despite three bars showing on the temp gage.
Will be interesting to see what transpires at dealership.

Well, I had not heard a thing from the dealership despite them having the bike for seven days. Called today and spoke to the service dept. From the answer I got from the tech, pretty obvious they had not even looked at the bike.

Picking it up and it's going to another dealership.

 

[alan sh]

I have the gen1 slave cylinder in and it has the same problem when cold. I like the idea of the small shim - easy to try - I might give that a go next weekend (off on a long trip tomorrow, so I can't try it till then)
Alan

I had a look today. The rod fits into a sleeve in the slave cylinder - so just adding a blanking plate is not good - you need to either have a longer rod or have something down the hole - like a small ball bearing. Then, getting it out if it doesn't work may be problematic.

So, I have left it for now.

Alan

 

[ELP_JC]

or have something down the hole

That's what I meant, but not a ball bearing (too thick); it has to be a small and thin washer to begin with (hobby shops have them for sure, but rod is not that small, so maybe even Lowe's and such). I haven't taken the FJR's slave apart since I don't have the problem, but I have small washers and potent 'rod' magnets to remove them if needed (a scribe can also be used), so if I have a chance, I might play with it and let you know if it worked (engagement pushed out to the middle of the lever) or not. To find out if it works to solve your problem, however, it'd have to be tried on a problematic bike, so I'd offer to mail you the washer and magnet for you to try. But have so much crap going on (haven't used bike in over a month) that don't promise you anything.

Oh, by the way, did you already try synthetic oil? Just curious. Take care.

JC

 

[alan sh]

or have something down the hole

That's what I meant, but not a ball bearing (too thick); it has to be a small and thin washer to begin with (hobby shops have them for sure, but rod is not that small, so maybe even Lowe's and such). I haven't taken the FJR's slave apart since I don't have the problem, but I have small washers and potent 'rod' magnets to remove them if needed (a scribe can also be used), so if I have a chance, I might play with it and let you know if it worked (engagement pushed out to the middle of the lever) or not. To find out if it works to solve your problem, however, it'd have to be tried on a problematic bike, so I'd offer to mail you the washer and magnet for you to try. But have so much crap going on (haven't used bike in over a month) that don't promise you anything.

Oh, by the way, did you already try synthetic oil? Just curious. Take care.

JC

I haven't tried synthetic oil. That's somewhat expensive over in the UK.

Alan

 

[ELP_JC]

I haven't tried synthetic oil. That's somewhat expensive over in the UK.

No Walmarts there, huh ? Anyway, that's just a band-aid, but it reportedly 'fixes' the problem. Take care.

JC

 

[Jer]

I'm thinking it has to be the throw distance of the slave/actuator

That's exactly what I think too. The clutch BARELY disengages on every '07 I've ridden (too close to the grip), so a variety of otherwise perfectly normal conditons can point to clutch problems IMO, like excessive drag when cold (the colder it is, the thicker oil gets), and clutch plates 'sticking' when hot, due to thermal expansion. All the clutch needs is to be disengaged a bit farther and none of the above 'problems' would be there anymore.

The best solution is a slave with more throw, but if my bike develops the problem, I'd just add a shim to the slave cylinder's rod (a 1mm washer between piston and rod should do the trick), effectively enlarging it and therefore moving the clutch's engagement point away from the grip (middle of lever travel is ideal), and see if the problem goes away. If it does, which I'm sure it would, there's no need to touch the clutch. I'd then leave the shim and look for a new slave; maybe a GenI???? Take care.

JC

When I got my 2007 the clutch didn't release until if was almost at the grip. I tried the different settings of the five setttings until I found the one just right for me. It was on five, two too far away, three was better and four was just right.

Jer

 

[ELP_JC]

When I got my 2007 the clutch didn't release until if was almost at the grip.

Mine is at the farthest setting (big hands here), and still feels too darn close to the grip, but in reality it's about 1/3 of the way. I like it about halfway. Problem is the BMW I rode for 5 years had the opposite issue, so the FJR feels worse to me than most other owners. Will eventually get used to it as it's my only bike now, but still don't like it. But as long as I don't have disengagement issues, will leave it well alone. Just having put fully synthetic oil should help the situation, I hope.

Since all other '07s I rode were the same, don't think it's a bleeding issue, but will still bleed my clutch just in case a bubble or two are lodged in there. Just a little bit farther back would be fine with me. Take care.

JC