dream bike yamaha royal star

[WOMD 1970]

Good day people.

I bought a 97 royal star 1300 as a project not running.( Sorry long story i just want to give all the info). So pulled tank and carb , plugs. Cleaned and replaced what was needed. K so bike is running. Changed all fluids . Break , clutch , Oil and rear oil in drive shaft. Go for madden voyage, put bike in gear hear and feel bike go in gear. Let out the clutch and nothing happens. NOTHING. the back tire was spinning when up in the air. So my buddy says clutch plates are done so replace them. I get new Barnett clutch plates and replace. Again go for ride bike moves clutch seems fine. After about 15 min when i try to speed up engine revise up up i don't go any faster then slowly gets worse limp home in first. about 2 min was at end of my street. Google it , google says for the most part wrong oil or clutch springs tired. so I replaced with Barnett clutch spring conversion kit. I also replaced the clutch boss because I found a flaw. Put in new Yamaha oil in again bled the clutch and went fr a ride. test clutch in drive way hold and feels super strong . Again 15 min driving around my block and clutch starts slipping again. I am not a mechanic. this was supposed to be my project to build my dream bike. I am so frustrated . I can not afford to just drop my bike at the shop. Anyway any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks WOMD

[XV1100SE]

Several mechanically inclined people in the Burlington area who might be able to help you and know the clutch system.

 

With the oil you used....NO friction modifiers, right? Several of us use Rotella T6. It doesn't have friction modifiers, is rated for motorcycles and works great....plus cheaper than other oils and it is synthetic. Canadian Tire or TSC have it on sale occasionally.

[Flyinfool]

If you used an inappropriate oil that caused the clutch to start slipping, it takes a while to flush it all out from between the clutch plates. Also when you do an oil change there is a fair amount of oil that remains in the transmission, so the bad oil will then mix with the new oil. What kind of oil did you use the first time? Most oils that are made for cars are not compatible with a wet clutch system. If the oil advertises anything like friction modifiers or low friction, it is not compatible with the wet clutch.

 

When you drain out the old oil because there is a problem with it, there is a second drain plug to drain the transmission, it is the bottom bolt on the middle gear cove and has a copper crush washer on it to seal the oil hole. It is not necessary to pull this plug for a normal scheduled maintenance oil change.

 

When you bled the clutch, what did the fluid look like, it should be water clear, if not then you need to flush the system.

[CaseyJ955]

Rotalla is a great choice, very commonly used in Ventures and I use it in my Vmax as well (also Yamaha V4) and that clutch gets pounded fairly often. I use the non-synthetic Rotella 15-40, clutch and trans seem to like it. Try the drain and fill method outlined above and see how that works. Definitely keep us posted and ask all the questions needed so we can help. Sometimes older bikes need a little extra love and patience but you should be rewarded with a really decent road bike when its done. Its no accident that the V4 is so loved here.

 

Welcome and congrats on the new steed!

[camos]

Put in new Yamaha oil in again bled the clutch and went fr a ride. test clutch in drive way hold and feels super strong .

Sure seems like an oil issue but probably the oil he was using was OK.

 

If the clutch problem was there when the bike was purchased, perhaps the oil pan, galleries and clutch plates need to be cleaned better than just draining the old oil out.

[venturesome]

I had a similar problem once with a Goldwing. When I began the ride, clutch was OK. After a few minutes the clutch started slipping. Turns out the small hole in the clutch fluid reservoir that lets fluid "return" after releasing clutch lever was stopped up. As the clutch and fluid warmed up, the trapped fluid expanded, causing the clutch to begin releasing. You can determine this by checking the play in the clutch lever when the clutch starts slipping after a short ride. If there is no play in the lever, chances are this is your problem.

[camos]

I had a similar problem once with a Goldwing. When I began the ride, clutch was OK. After a few minutes the clutch started slipping. Turns out the small hole in the clutch fluid reservoir that lets fluid "return" after releasing clutch lever was stopped up. As the clutch and fluid warmed up, the trapped fluid expanded, causing the clutch to begin releasing. You can determine this by checking the play in the clutch lever when the clutch starts slipping after a short ride. If there is no play in the lever, chances are this is your problem.

That makes sense and led me to wonder if the same symptoms might be caused by trapped air which could also heat up and pressurize the system.