Possible transmission problems or?

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IMO: Before bothering with compression testing run Yamaha Ring Free or some other name brand ring and carbon treatment through the engine for at least a couple of tanks, it's the heat, soak, cool cycle that does the work.
I will run this through the system this week then.

You can call any Yamaha dealer and have the service department look up your FJR's VIN and tell you if any recall or TSB work has been done. If the TPS hasn't been changed it could be responsible for rough idle and rough running at specific rpm bands. It will require troubleshooting with a DMM. The TPS often only fails when hot, how does your FJR run cold?
It has had the TPS warrantied at 10k and some change. It has 44K now.

The FJR runs fine when cold idles at almost 2K until the engine gets 1 Bar then drops to 1K then back up to 1100

However when I first got it the RPM would jump up to 3K when cold. A quick idle adjustment resolved this.

As i've started before the previous owner dogged this bike so there is really no clue if he ever changed the oil.

The service record shows the following.

1. TPS sensor warranty at 10K

2. Fork seals replaced at 30K

3. TBS at 30K

4. Oil change at 30K

5. Luggage rack changed at 30K

Other than that the service records are a ghost. I'm highly doubting he/she ever did the valve check at 26K.

I will say this morning I noticed a nice metallic slapping noise coming from the right side. Possibly CCT on the way out?

 
If I bought a bike from a dealer and had an issue that hints at a bad transmission and I had the option to get a refund, I'd get the refund and look for another FJR.
+1 on that!! If the dealer does not agree to fix the problem at no cost to you, I would insist they refund you the price of the bike. There are plenty of good used FJR's for sale now at affordable prices. You may want to consider a later generation bike if you plan to use it for more than commuting.

 
Here's my '06 back when it would pop out of 2nd under hard accel before I fixed it.

Listen closely at the 11 second mark:



FWIW, if you do decide to repair the transmission yourself, all of the work you were planning on doing (valve shimming, CCT replacement) are CONSIDERABLY easier with the motor on a bench. You're probably looking at around $400 in parts to do it yourself, and while there's nothing particularly challenging, it does take a considerable amount of time and labor.

Walt (wfooshee) should chime in here with a link to when he split his motor, I believe his also was a 4th gear issue. He already made a very, very good writeup.

 
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Here's my '06 back when it would pop out of 2nd under hard accel before I fixed it.
Listen closely at the 11 second mark:


It sounds a lot like this :(

I did just get off the phone with the dealer. It is a third party warranty company. My responsible charges are as followed if the warranty company decides i'm responsible for tear down and they will pay for parts.

1. 10 hours @ $110 for tear down

2. 10 hours @ $110 for putting it back in

The tech is not 100% certain they will cover Shift Forks since it is worn due to abuse (even if it was previous owner, it is now my fault).

Just in tear down and rebuild i'm already at $2200 before tax.

He is calling the warranty company to see what they will say and see if i'm allowed to bring the motor myself (He doubts it).

The good news is!

I will get ~$900 dollars back if I cancel (my god didn't realize it was that much)

I will get the chance to rebuild the engine

I will have the chance to beef up the motor

I will have the chance to curse the previous owner to hell.

The bad news is!

Machine shops times around here minimum of 2 weeks for ANY work

Parts will be even more interesting to get

I'm guessing the bike will be down and out for a minimum of a month.

Let's cross our fingers gentlemen, but

 
Well got on the phone with the dealer.

Not good news at all gentlemen.

The tear down and rebuild is required to come out of my pocket.

My warranty only covers parts (Wtf? READ BEFORE YOU SIGN)

I am now in the process of cancelling the dumbest ******* warranty (pardon my language but i'm pissed off)

So it looks like the engine will be coming out of the frame in the next few months.

I will be replacing the following for sure and will have parts prior to tear down.

1. All the gaskets.

2. All shift forks + shift drum

In the future the dealership to NOT buy the warranty from is

Freedom Powersports (many but I used the one in Hurst Texas)

Please stay tuned for a new thread and updates along the way.

Thank you everyone for answering my questions!

 
Sorry to hear about the way your dealer treated you, selling a bike with serious issues and selling you a very expensive warranty that is basically worthless. Live and learn.

 
Sorry to hear this also...... hoping you're still getting your $900 back. Dumb question maybe, but what about buying a complete used motor, drop it in and sell your problem motor with disclosure of the issue?

 
Pig in a poke. Unless the buyer can talk with the previous motor owner and knows that the engine was properly maintained and has no known or suspected defects.

eBay/motorcycle recycler: 2005 FJR1300 Engine, 14,230 miles, was running flawlessly when removed from the frame, $850 plus freight. Then when you uncrate the engine you find it is an AE with no clutch, no stator, no starter, no starter gears, no cam chain or CCT, no VSS sensor and no water pump.

 
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Sorry to hear this also...... hoping you're still getting your $900 back. Dumb question maybe, but what about buying a complete used motor, drop it in and sell your problem motor with disclosure of the issue?
Thank you for the kind words.

I found a few, but the problem is they have more miles on them :( If I did an engine swap i'd want to go down not up. I did find one with 46K and had spot on compression no leak down test was performed, but they did say it shifted correctly.

I may in fact buy one and rebuild it while continuing to ride the bike so i'm not rushing (Last thing we want is to rush an engine + transmission overhaul).

Pig in a poke. Unless the buyer can talk with the previous motor owner and knows that the engine was properly maintained and has no known or suspected defects.
I agree everything is circumstantial until I do real test on the engine.

1. We know there is something wrong with the transmission this is obvious (even though the A+ Yamaha tech says it's normal).

2. I suspect the CCT is on it's way out the door (noisy chain - right side around 2k-4k)

Hopefully I will throw a compression tester on the engine and it holds great compression. Then do a leak down and have less than 10%. That is ideally. Given the nature of this bike so far it could at least throw me this bone. I'd love to only replace piston rings and clean the carbon as best I can without sending the head and crank off

Worse case it has more than 10% leak down and compression is on it's way out.

I will try the suggested Yamaha ring-free this week and probably into next week (I go through 1 tank a week).

After which I will leave the engine in the frame and do a valve adjustment and then perform compression and leak down.

If this goes bad I will then begin the motor pull process and get it out (assuming I haven't gone the engine swap route in which case I will buy a motor off eBay)

Crossing my fingers it only really needs minor parts + shift forks (I'm going to replace the top two - I am willing to bet the bottom one is fine).

I will bring this bike to life as I got a good deal in my opinion ($3500 for the bike). So even if I have to sink a grand into it i'm still in a somewhat green state with essentially new engine.

Only time will tell at this point however.

 
Pig in a poke. Unless the buyer can talk with the previous motor owner and knows that the engine was properly maintained and has no known or suspected defects.
eBay/motorcycle recycler: 2005 FJR1300 Engine, 14,230 miles, was running flawlessly when removed from the frame, $850 plus freight. Then when you uncrate the engine you find it is an AE with no clutch, no stator, no starter, no starter gears, no cam chain or CCT, no VSS sensor and no water pump.
Yeah.. That sucked.. On the other hand, I bought a 2008 engine with 5000 miles for $1200 delivered and it's been great.

 
There are people crashing FJR's and there are recyclers all over the country that don't use ebay.

I might dig around.

 
Anyone have any suggestions on the forks?

Will '08 shift fork fit in '05? I don't see why it wouldn't but I know sometimes it happens.

I certainly rather not use 05 if I don't have to since it appears from a search to be a known issue at hand.

 
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The shift fork issue is not generationally specific, as far as I know. It has happened on each / any. Don't think anything was done to them until the 6 speed for 2016

 
IIRC, it was around the '08 model where the higher gears got a dog count change and different shift forks. The '07 and older shift forks should be all interchangeable. Definitely check the P/N of the forks 'cause it changed.

 
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^^^^ I intended to mention that as long as you choose parts mix correctly the '08 gears are backward compatible. From THIS LINK you can get the P/N for all years FJRs. There will only be one P/N change and that happened in '08 (or '09 -- faulty memory
smile.png
). Once you are sure of what P/N you need then you can shop from other sites looking for price.

 
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I wouldn't buy anything until I had the motor split open in front of me and had inspected the parts. You won't know what you need until you put eyes on it.

 
I wouldn't buy anything until I had the motor split open in front of me and had inspected the parts. You won't know what you need until you put eyes on it.
Yea true. I'm trying to minimize down time as much as problem.

I should probably revert back to my original statement of not rushing this.

 
Pull out your warranty and read it. THEN call the warranty company and confirm what the dealer told you. They sound like turds, so I'd double check.

The Ford dealer we took my wife's expedition in 2014 is reputable, but the service guy was a bumbling idiot. He would tell me the warranty company said something, and a phone call would clear up what they really said. We came out on top of that shenanigan because I double checked EVERYTHING. Don't be afraid to call and record the calls.

 
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