Question for AE owners

[git-r-dan]

I have around 33k on mine. Not to turn this into an oil thread...but, I have tried different brands of oils (for some reason) until the time before last oil change. That one was Royal Purple. It was noticibly different in the fact that the clutch was slipping a lot more than normal and seemed to be more of a detergent oil. This is when a friend of mine, who works at oil refineries, took on the challenge of figuring out the way different motorcycle oils take on the task of wet clutch performance along with lubricating the engine and all the API certifications and what they mean. It is way over my head, but after that, I special ordered Castrol's full synthetic motorcycle oil at $50 gallon. I have to say that it made, without a doubt, a huge change in the shifting of the bike. I will never use another oil because I can feel an amazing difference. One last comment on the Royal Purple, it was probably too slick and not to mention no api certifications listed on the quart of oil (that's scarry). Someone on the forum mentioned using the K & N oil filter because of the ability to use a wrench on the welded nut on the end. Great combination. Oil purchased here.

git-r-dan :beach:

 

[JuiceMcGoose]

You will find the clutch soak works best with light cold weight oil like Rotella 5W-40.

If your gasket sticks to the cover plate, like mine and others have, you can leave the old gasket on and just use a light coat of gasket sealer. I like Permatex Aviation Form-A-Gasket.

 

[jameswilson]

Perhaps a stupid thought but, is the bike actually getting to first gear. I have had similar motions when I forgot to get all the way down to first gear. Bike has enough torque to take off in second but the clutch action is a little wierd. Perhaps when cold it is not actually getting to first, even though you told it to. . .

 

[pjpvt]

I'm just about 1k miles on my new 08AE purchased earlier this summer. Mine also exhibits the stuttering (3 or 4 pulses) engagement when starting off in the morning. It only happens the first move or two in the morning, cold or warm, then never again the rest of the day.

I did the plate soak at about 460 miles along with a change to Mobil 1 5w-40 synthetic. Plates were mostly dry with the first 3-4 that came off stuck mildly together. Post soak it's noticeably smoother, but the stutter engagement at first take off is still there. I've not yet altered the idle nor the auto clutch engagement RPM level via maintenance mode settings in the computer.

The G2 Throttle Tamer, though a nice addition, did not seem to help with this aspect. I wouldn't have expected it to unless it were an operator throttle control issue. Proper shifting RPMs also helps with an other lurching issues. I've found that shifting to 2nd at 2k, 3rd at 2.5k, and 4th at about 3k generally produce liquid smooth shifts for me. Attempts at throttle blipping and neutral point roll-offs I initially tried seem to be a red herring.

 

[dustyrains]

My 06 AE was really hammering the clutch in and out when cold, but then after a few miles down the road seemed to be ok. Then I started getting a "shift _ 26" error code when trying to start it from cold. The bike won't start when that error code pops up, but I found out that if I turned the key off and back on quickly, then punched the starter it would go and the error code would go away. Sometimes it would also not shift down from 3rd to 2nd or from 2nd to 1st when cold, without a delay of several seconds. As usual, these problems only seemed to occur with cold clutch plates. Took it to my dealer with a comprehensive written description of the symptoms. The first thing they did was take the swingarm off and replace the clutch hydraulic actuator fluid. After that they test rode it and the clutch still hammered violently when pulling away with cold clutch plates. Yamaha told them to soak the clutch plates overnight in oil. That did the trick. No more engagement problems, no more error codes, no more cold downshifting problems. I really don't know how clutch plates that run in oil can need an oil soak, but there it is. The clutch performance now is completely silky smooth cold or hot. And my YES warranty covered it 100%.

 

[bikerkash]

If the bike is at warmed up, at least two bars on the heat gauge, the trick to leaving from a full stop is is raise the RPM's to just below the point of clutch engagment. When you twist the throttle you will not feel the clutch engagment and you will make a smooth start. I have found the AE takes some time to learn the tricks to dealing with the auto clutch. I have also found very low speed turns are best done in 2nd gear and let the clutch slip as you would on a regular clutch bike.

 

[bigjimbiker]

I'm a bit late on this but I live in Florida, have an 08 AE, and this time of year we're always in the 80's and the motor warms up very quickly. Usually I start the bike, put on my jacket, helmet and gloves and, by that time, there's a couple of bars on the temp gauge and I'm ready to go. She moves away very smoothly

and I shift into second without rolling off the throttle. Third and fourth are shifted likewise-no roll off. I tend to travel around town in fourth and treat fifth as an overdrive for highway use. When I'm at a red light and it changes to green my acceleration is very smooth, almost like an automatic. My shifter friends are amazed how smooth it operates. You may have issues to discuss with your dealer.

bigjimbiker