Clutch oil

[lucky]

Your not going to believe this one. I went to the local Yammy dealer to buy clutch oil. they were out so the parts gal told me to buy mineral oil at the drug store. clutch oil is $40.00 a bottle and mineral oil is less then $10.00 and its the same... Well I bought the oil but I'm thinking maybe I should order the real stuff. Watca think. <_< <_< <_<

Lucky

05 FJR ABS

01 GoldWing (Cause I'm old)

01 FZ1 (Cause I wanna stay young)

 

[Rickster]

based upon your response -- i would pay the dealer to do 100% of the service.

 

[Charlie Hoss]

Your not going to believe this one. I went to the local Yammy dealer to buy clutch oil.

You're right!! What is clutch oil?? :blink:

 

[Hotboot]

Kinda funny this clutch oil issue. Seriously, don't put anything other than brake fluid in those two boxy looking things attatched to the levers on your motorcycle.

Can you provide a part# for this dealer supplied oil ?

 

[Bearly Flying]

Well Your Forum Name say's it all...... Do You Feel Lucky... Punk(impersonating Clint Eastwood).....

 

[C&C]

In every Yamaha shop I've ever been in (it's been quite a few over the years), they always keep the clutch oil on the same shelf, and next to, the relative bearing grease. Yeah, that's where it is alright.

 

[Bounce]

In every Yamaha shop I've ever been in (it's been quite a few over the years), they always keep the clutch oil on the same shelf, and next to, the relative bearing grease. Yeah, that's where it is alright.

do they keep it separated from the muffler bearing lube so it doesn't get used incorrectly?

 

[Geezer]

Kinda funny this clutch oil issue. Seriously, don't put anything other than brake fluid in those two boxy looking things attatched to the levers on your motorcycle. Can you provide a part# for this dealer supplied oil ?

All the sarcasm aside, Hotboot has the right answer. Use DOT4 brake fluid in the clutch reservoir. I use Valvoline synthetic, mostly because it is conveniently available, but any DOT 4 fluid will be fine.

 

[Randy]

I'm gonna break the trend and not supply a smart ass response. Do you mean the rear differential fluid? If so, drain out the crap you put in (if you put it in) and put gear oil in. Plenty of topics already exist on this. Search on 'gear oil', 'differential fluid', or 'final drive lube'.

Now, if you mean the fluid that goes in the reservoir on the bars by the clutch lever, then that's a whole different ballgame. Consult the cap on the reservoir or your owners manual for fluid type.

I don't go to the Yamaha dealer for condoms and I'm not going to go to the drug store for stuff for my bike.

 

[Warchild]

Your not going to believe this one. I went to the local Yammy dealer to buy clutch oil. they were out so the parts gal told me to buy mineral oil at the drug store. clutch oil is $40.00 a bottle and mineral oil is less then $10.00 and its the same... Well I bought the oil but I'm thinking maybe I should order the real stuff. Watca think. <_< <_< <_< Lucky

Please tell my you're just trolling..... please tell me that.

If this truly, actually happened... can you tell us the dealership, please, so forum members can avoid that shop like the plague?

 

[markjenn]

There may be more to this than what appears on the surface.

While the FJR recommends DOT4 brake fluid for the hydraulic clutch, this is far from universal - many Euro brands (most Ducs and KTMs) do NOT use brake fluid in their hydraulic clutch systems. Instead, they use "mineral oil" for the clutch hydraulics.

This "mineral oil" term has been a big source of confusion. Some construe this to mean garden variety drugstore mineral oil, but what the Euro mfgs are actually recommending is a hydraulic fluid like you'd buy for a jack. Magaru (which makes most of the hydaulic clutch systems for Euro bikes) sells their own hydraulic oil called Magaru Blood which they pitch as required in their systems. But people who have tested it say it's just common everyday hydraulic fluid.

Why don't they use brake fluid? Because it is hygroscopic and absorbs water, thus requring regular changing. Hydraulic fluid is not hygroscopic and if your hydraulic clutch uses this, you can leave the fluid in indefinitely. Hydraulic clutches don't need the heat resistance of a brake system so they don't need the thermal properties of brake fluid. Most bicycle hydraulic disc brake systems also use hydraulic fluid rather than brake fluid because the thermal loads are much less. Here is a good discussion of this:

https://www.cyclingforums.com/t171138.html

So it's possible that dealer was making a recommendation for a different bike than an FJR. Or more likely, the person behind the counter is inexperienced and heard one thing for a KTM or Duc and extrapolated this to all bikes.

Regardless, for most Japanese bikes (and definitely the FJR), DOT4 brake fluid is what you use in the clutch and it needs to be flushed/changed at the same schedule as the brakes.

Cheers,

- Mark

 

[lucky]

I am not joking, I-10 Yamaha in the Palm Springs area was the dealer. I met a Brit yeaterday, he told me that is all he uses (mineral oil) in his BMW's. diff strokes.

Th auto store and dot 4 for me.

thankx all of you. I know this would be an interesting post.



Lucky.

 

[markjenn]

I am not joking, I-10 Yamaha in the Palm Springs area was the dealer. I met a Brit yeaterday, he told me that is all he uses (mineral oil) in his BMW's. diff strokes. Th auto store and dot 4 for me.

thankx all of you. I know this would be an interesting post.



Lucky.

Using mineral oil (either the drugstore variety of hydaulic fluid) in a system designed for brake fluid (and vice versa) is asking for BIG trouble. And I've never seen a BMW designed for mineral oil - I've owned several and worked on a bunch and they've all spec'd brake fluid.

Definitely a case of RTFM (and do what it says), not what you hear on the internet or from some yahoo behind the parts counter.

- Mark

 

[Mogan]

I recently did some clutch work on my '05 K12S and it is one of the bikes designed to work on "hydraulic clutch mineral oil." I bought this stuff from my local bmw dealer and the packaging clearly warns against using it in systems designed for dot4 fluid and visa versa.

Not sure what the stuff has in common with the drug store variety other than name. It's a wierd blue color.

 

[Afast03nNJ]

The only vehicles I know of that use Mineral Oil are Bentlys and RollsRoyce.

Both have mineral oil based hydraulic brake, steering and suspension control systems.

You cannot use mineral oil as a replacement for ATF, Dot x fluids or any other similar hydraulic system.