need clutch help

[murph35640]

I dont know if this is in the correct place but I am having a problem with the clutch slipping on my 08 rsv. This problem only started after i changed the oil last week, went to the synthetic oil that the dealer recommended. I noticed it on the first ride after the change, it seems to only happen in 4th or 5th gear and is not real bad but it is bad enough that I can feel it. Are there any adjustments that can be made or does it need to just go back to the dealer for repairs? Thanks for any help.

MURPH

[BoomerCPO]

With the scoot being under Warranty and you letting the Dealer choose the oil for you I'd run that bike right back to the Dealer. If he put "Energy Conserving" oil in the bike THAT is causing the clutch slippage.

 

Many of the folks here use synthetic oil....primarily Mobil 1, Amsoil,or Rotella with no clutch slippage problems......

 

Regards.....Boomer.....who has learned to read oil labels very carefully.

[murph35640]

hey Boomer, I bought the oil at the dealer and I think it was called yamalube but I am not sure I know they offered two different brands. I will look in the shop tonight to see if the bottles are still there. the dealer is closed here on mondays so I will have to wait to talk to them tomorrow.

[BoomerCPO]

I have never heard of Yamalube creating clutch slippage problems. From what I have read at this Site and my own experience I do believe that "Energy Conserving" oil is not good for the wet clutch on these Ventures.

 

For the past year I have been using the Mobil 1 Racing 4T Fully Synthetic 10W-40 4 Cycle Motorcycle Oil and am very happy with it. Shifting is super smooth,no clutch slippage,and a good reduction in the "whine". The oil is a bit pricey and can be obtained via Amazon.com as well as the Purolator oil filter. I change oil and filter every 3K because I feel the bike is well worth it.

 

Changing your own oil/filter will save you time/money compared to having the Dealer do it. Its not a difficult job to do on the Venture.

 

Good luck and ride safe!

 

Regards.........Boomer

[Eck]

Murph,

Check the back side of the oil container and look at the "API circle".

Make sure it does NOT say "Energy Conserving" (which most do) as it is the additives in energy conserving auto oils that can cause problems with motorcycle wet clutches.

[BoomerCPO]

Murph,

Check the back side of the oil container and look at the "API circle".

Make sure it does NOT say "Energy Conserving" (which most do) as it is the additives in energy conserving auto oils that can cause problems with motorcycle wet clutches.

 

Right you are Eck! I'll bet the Dealer put the wrong oil in his scoot.

 

Boomer.....running hard and with the right oil.

[RedRider]

Murph,

 

I ran for a couple of years with synthetic oil and during a trip last fall was getting slippage in the higher gears. I was pretty well loaded (pulling a trailer), but not too bad. Running thru the mountains of West, by God, Virginia, it started slipping.

 

Only had 30k miles on the clutch. When I took it apart, all the friction plates and steels were within specs. However, some of the steels were blued.

 

Now, this is in no way to imply the synthetic lube caused this. However, I have gone back to dino oil after my latest clutch rebuild. As it is still winter, no testing yet.

 

Some other thoughts:

1) There are spring upgrades available that will increase pressure on the clutch plates making them less likely to slip. Search tech forum

2) There is a mod that changes out the inner 1/2 friction plate with a complete plate that is to improve clutch performance (I hope so - I did this mod). Search tech forum.

3) The clutch is not normally covered under warranty. Do not ride much with the slippage, as it will overheat and warp the clutch plates. This will NOT be covered under warranty.

4) Take this back to the shop and see if they will comp you some dino oil for a change out. See if this takes care of it, and if so, no harm no foul. Get a filter too.

5) Report back to us the results of your actions.

 

RR

[Squidley]

Murph,

I'm with Boomer 100% you probably recieved the wrong oil in the bike. I run the same as the Chief and I haven't had any issues with my '08 and it has 9300 miles on it. Change the oil out and put non energy conserving in it, it might take a couple of oil changes to completely get the slippage gone.

[V7Goose]

As everyone else has said, the problem sure sounds like it was caused by the wrong oil. But if you bought Yamalube as you think, that almost certainly was oil that met JASO-MA spec for wet clutches and would NOT have caused the problem. You really need to be certain about what oil, exactly, was put in. Even using energy conserving auto oil probably swhouldn't have caused the slippage as suddenly as you describe, but I would be at a loss to suggest another cause with the information you have provided.

 

If you did use energy conserving oil, then changing it out for JASO-MA oil may or may not solve your problem - the friction modifiers in the energy conserving oil probably will adhere to the clutch plates for quite some time, causing the slippage to remain.

 

So here is what I suggest:

First, since your bike is so new and you bought an oil specifically on the recommendation of the dealer, try to make him do whatever is necessary under warranty to stop the slippage.

 

If for some reason you are left to fix this yourself, then changing the oil is a logical first step. If the slippage continues, you might try removing the clutch pack and thouroughly washing each plate in karosene. But the real solution would be to change out the weak stock clutch spring for a PCW Racing spring. The kit will cost you about $85 and is very easy to put in (about 20 minutes). It may seem like you shouldn't have to replace anything in the clutch so soon on yoru bike, but I personally recommend that anyone that is going to put over 30,000 miles on an RSV put in an upgraded clutch spring ASAP - you are going to have to do it sooner or later, so the sooner the better.

Goose

 

BTW - I am moving this thread to the 2nd Gen tech forum - I will leave a redirect in the Watering Hole for a week in case some folks are looking for it here.

[RedRider]

 

If the slippage continues, you might try removing the clutch pack and thouroughly washing each plate in karosene. But the real solution would be to change out the weak stock clutch spring for a PCW Racing spring. The kit will cost you about $85 and is very easy to put in (about 20 minutes). It may seem like you shouldn't have to replace anything in the clutch so soon on yoru bike, but I personally recommend that anyone that is going to put over 30,000 miles on an RSV put in an upgraded clutch spring ASAP - you are going to have to do it sooner or later, so the sooner the better.

Goose

 

 

Just an added note - you can change out the clutch pack, install springs, etc. without draining the oil. Just set it on the sidestand and the oil runs to the other side. It really is a 20 minute job. Make sure you use a new gasket. Also, you will find pulling the clutch plates to be much simpler by using inexpensive mechanics pics available at Sears for about $7.

 

RR

[murph35640]

Sorry it took me so long to report back,

Here is what is going on so far, the dealer said he had never seen this problem after switching to syn oil but the bike is still under warranty so he suggested that I ride it for about a hundred miles and if the problem is still there bring it in for repairs. The only problem I have with this is that if the clutch is wearing out and stuff is getting in the engine oil it is probably doing even more damage, plus I dont really think that this problem is going to heal itself. I dont have the old oil containers since the trash was taken out the day after i changed the oil and I cant even find my reciept from the purchase. Im sure they can tell me which oil it was when I get back to them. I will try to keep info coming when we decide which way to go with this.

[kj4v]

When I rode a few weeks ago I noticed my clutch slipped on my 07 but the problem was my clutch lever was to tight and did not extend all the way out when I let it go. Yamaha puts a locking nut on the shoulder bolt so it can be backed off if it gets to tight. Funny about someone saying the clutch was not covered under warranty because my dealer said to bring mine in at 30,000 and he would put me in a new spring plate at no charge. So that is just something else to check also and you might not even notice the clutch lever not going to the farthermost extended position. ......Ken

[Cougar]

Is one of these any better then the other?

 

---Mobil 1 V-Twin Motorcycle 20W50 Motor Oil----

---Mobil 1 Racing 4T Fully Synthetic 10W-40 4 Cycle Motorcycle Oil----

 

Or has anybody tried the V-Twin Stuff yet? (about $56.00 for six Quarts) (amazon)

 

Though about trying something different this summer.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Freebird]

I haven't seen him on here in a while but I think that Spud used it in his RSV. He liked it but I think I'll just stick with the 4T.

[Cougar]

Thanks Don,

 

Well, gunna give the ---Mobil 1 V-Twin Motorcycle 20W50 Motor Oil----

a try.. just ordered a 6 pack ,free shipping on Amazon.

 

I will let ya know what I think of it.

Jeff

[BuddyRich]

If you have put 25k or more on the bike it may be the clutch spring. Mine started sllipping aroun 24k . I did the PCW upgrade and is been fine since. Same symptoms as yours. Only slipping in 4 or 5th

[hig4s]

Thanks Don,

 

Well, gunna give the ---Mobil 1 V-Twin Motorcycle 20W50 Motor Oil----

a try.. just ordered a 6 pack ,free shipping on Amazon.

 

I will let ya know what I think of it.

Jeff

 

The V-twin stuff is really for low HP, high torque, low reving, air cooled engines. I use the Racing 4-T myself or the equivalent Castrol full synthetic motorcycle oil. But I doubt it would hurt any thing as even though the RSV is a water cooled 4 cylinder, it does not develop that much HP, and most people don't rev them anywhere near redline.

[murph35640]

guys I know this is gonna sound whacko but I went out for a quick ride yesterday with my wife onboard also, when I left home the clutch was slipping so I just eased around on it, went about 5 miles and stopped at a tire dealer for a few minutes and when we started back home I could not make the thing slip at all. I mean I really romped on it several times and never was able to make it slip at all. Now I really dont know how that could be but it is.

[Sylvester]

When I rode a few weeks ago I noticed my clutch slipped on my 07 but the problem was my clutch lever was to tight and did not extend all the way out when I let it go. Yamaha puts a locking nut on the shoulder bolt so it can be backed off if it gets to tight. Funny about someone saying the clutch was not covered under warranty because my dealer said to bring mine in at 30,000 and he would put me in a new spring plate at no charge. So that is just something else to check also and you might not even notice the clutch lever not going to the farthermost extended position. ......Ken

 

The clutch lever is connected to a hydraulic resevoir, I am trying to understand why the lever was tight and would not release all the way. The rest of the clutch linkage is totally hydraulic and "never" needs adjusting.

[murph35640]

ok,

It looks like the clutch problem is solved for now, It started slipping again after the bike cooled down overnight so I decided to go back to the regular old motor oil instead of the synthetic stuff. I changed it cold so that i could test it and when I first started out it really slipped if I tried to accelerate very hard at all, then after less than two miles it completely stopped slipping. This was yesterday and I have been riding about thirty miles today with no problems. I guess I will stick to the dino oil in the bike.

[RedRider]

Thanks for the update. I have been waiting to see what happened to your clutch. Sometime over the next few weeks I might even be able to get out and test mine.

 

Ride safely and ride often.

 

RR

[Freebird]

Did you ever find out what kind of synthetic oil they put in it? I always find these reports of slippage after changing to synthetic oil a bit puzzling as I've been running it for almost 10 years in two different RSVs with no problems.

[OutKast]

I would like to post my theory on syn oil / clutch slippage.

 

I switched an older CM400t to syn with no problems.

 

I switched on older GL1200 interstate with no clutch slippage. However, the oil drip behind the water pump quickly went from a drip to a leak requiring repair.

 

A few time when cold (winter riding below 40 deg) I thought I noticed a slip in 4 or 5, but none when shifting or launching. It definately got worse after switching to syn, but I feel it was there before the switch.

 

I feel certain my engine revs quicker with the syn. I believe the stock clutch spring is just barely adequate. so barely adequate that the few extra HP you pick up with the syn puts you over the line if your clutch spring is even slightly weakened.

 

We do know that many have reported clutch slippage and upgraded the spring that have not used syn.

 

I have not seen any reports of clutch slippage when using syn AND the upgraded spring.

 

I definately have no slip now, and definately accelerates more with syn / upgraded spring than it did with dino / stock spring.

 

Maybe FREEBIRD could make this a poll to test my theory.

 

If you have experienced clutch slippage in 4th or 5th gear, what were you running?

1. dino oil / stock clutch spring

2. Dino oil / upgraded clutch spring

3. Syn oil / stock clutch spring

4. Syn oil / upgraded clutch spring

 

I am reporting condition 1 and 3.

[footsie]

I have been using mobil 1 15-40 in mine with no problems, its got 58,000 miles on it and never had and clutch problems. except whine.

[davecb]

Hi Jason,

 

Al Harper, the Regio,al Service Manager said that the best oil to use in a Venture is Yamaha's semi synthetic oil. I have had no problems using it. I trust what Al says because he seems to have a great knowledge about these bikes.