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Clutch slipping when giving gas

13K views 33 replies 11 participants last post by  Lono 
#1 ·
Seems to have a bike built on a very early monday morning.

Bought a k7 half a year ago with 42000 km and only after 2000 km I had to replace the throttle body assembly for around 1000 euro. Now I seem to have problems with the clutch.

When the bike is warm and I push it and give full gas I hear the engine rev up to 10k rpm but the clutch is slipping so the acceleration is kind of "smooth". Its almost like a scooter feeling. It happens mostly on gears 3 to 6 but also on 2nd gear.

I suspect the clutch is worn down, but I am surprised I must say. It has not done many km, so I can't understand why. And the clutch cable is adjusted to its most released position, the adjustment screw is all the way in.

Any ideas?

Johan
 
#2 ·
clutch

Clutches don't last forever and you have no idea how the bike was ridden before you bought it.

Do yourself a huge favor and pull the clutch early rather than wait till it gets worse. If you do it early you may only have to replace the friction plates and not the steels, lots less money that way. Ride it long enough with a slipping clutch and you will burn the steels to the point that they arn't useable anymore and have to replace all of them. Almost doubles the cost.

Bill H.
 
#3 ·
Assuming you have the correct amont of free play at the clutch lever, and your cable isn't super-tight, and your clutch pushrod thingy is adjusted right as well, then yes, it sounds like your clutch is slipping.

But check those things out first...
 
#6 ·
first thing to do is adjust the clutch

don't just fiddle with cable freeplay

the clutch adjustment is under the sprocket cover

98% sure that's your entire problem, the clutch on the Wee is very robust and should easily last 100,000 or more km



 
#7 ·
Wrong oil?

Ok guys, many thanks for all the comments.

I did an oil filter and oil change quite recently but what I cannot understand is how that can affect the clutch. I did put in a 10-40 oil according to the manual, but I did not have the 80 euro to buy the 5 liters I wanted so I went for a cheaper 20 euro bottle. But how does this thing work actually, how can the oil affect the clutch?
 
#18 ·
Ok guys, many thanks for all the comments.

I did an oil filter and oil change quite recently but what I cannot understand is how that can affect the clutch. I did put in a 10-40 oil according to the manual, but I did not have the 80 euro to buy the 5 liters I wanted so I went for a cheaper 20 euro bottle. But how does this thing work actually, how can the oil affect the clutch?
10-40 car oil is not whats making yer clutch slip, if you used 0w20 , maybe a little

yer clutch is out of adjustment



 
#8 ·
Don't want to turn this into an oil thread but in a nutshell our motorcycles have a wet clutch where the clutch plates are immersed in oil. Some oils make the friction plates in the clutch slippery so that the clutch doesn't engage properly when shifting gears, or the clutch slips when the engine exceeds a certain torque. Some oils contain friction reducing chemicals. One element of the JASO-MA standard is a friction test designed to determine suitability for wet clutch usage. An oil that meets JASO-MA is considered appropriate for wet clutch operations. Oils marketed as motorcycle-specific will carry the JASO-MA label

edit: most of the above was borrowed from wikipedia
 
#12 ·
Well I must admit I pressed the send button before I found the same description on wikipedia...

I have changed the oil now and will take it for a ride and hopefully the problem will be gone. It only happened 4-5 times and just for a few seconds each time so I hope the clutch has not been too damaged by it and that the new ELF oil will clean out whatever was there of the wrong oil.

I will report back...
 
#10 ·
Oil change again then...

Ok, I did some "studying" as well, so I've realised my mistake now.

Went to find some ELF 10-40W oil meeting the standards for bikes with wet clutch (it even says "reduce clutch slipping") and will replace the oil this eve. I intend to just drain out the old oil, take off and empty the oil filter and then fill up with the new oil.

Would that do it or have I done more damage to my clutch, ie is it sufficient to replace the oil or will I have to take it to a dealer to clean it out?
 
#16 ·
:disclaimer: :this worked for me, but your results may vary, widely. try at your own risk:

I had an 82 suzuki GSX1100G that i did the very same thing with, with similar symptoms. What I did was: drain the oil completely, fill the crank case up with kerosene and let it sit over a weekend and then drained that overnight and re-filled it with proper oil. It worked well for me.

I made sure that before i even thought about starting the bike the oil level was proper and fogged a bit of oil in each cylinder by removing the spark plug.

I put another 10k on that bike before selling it with no issues and the current owner has experienced no issues that i am aware of.

it is something to think about, at least as a last resort before taking it to a dealer.
 
#17 ·
Too much

:disclaimer: :this worked for me, but your results may vary, widely. try at your own risk:

I had an 82 suzuki GSX1100G that i did the very same thing with, with similar symptoms. What I did was: drain the oil completely, fill the crank case up with kerosene and let it sit over a weekend and then drained that overnight and re-filled it with proper oil. It worked well for me.
Well this seems to be a little too much for me right now. I will take it to the dealer on Friday to let them sort the things out.

I did around 100 k today, 50 km to work and then back and it works but I still have the problem, maybe even a little bit worse this eve than in the morning, possibly because the engine was warmer. It seems to get worse when it is warm. So probably I ****ed it up all by myself and cannot fix it.

Have a couple of other problems as well, so I will just let them sort it out.

Thanks for all help though...
 
#21 ·
Car oil with the friction modifiers can indeed make the clutch slip.

There's lots of evidence of this. Car oil without the modifiers though won't bother it.
That's it exactly. A Quaker State 4X4 & SUV oil that is 10W-40 but rated energy conserving is the only exception I've seen so far to the general rule that all oils with friction modifiers unfriendly to wet clutches are lighter than 10W-40. I doubt the oil used in this case is the problem.
 
#23 · (Edited)
The clutch adjustment is done with numbers 3 and 4. All threads are right hand so lefty loosey. righty tighty applies. With a cold engine, loosen #3 a few turns while holding #4 to keep it from turning with #3. Then lightly tighten #4 until it contacts the pushrod beneath. It's done by feel. Without contact, it's easy to turn. Upon contact, resistance to turning begins. It can still be turned but it takes more effort because the clutch springs are getting compressed. Find the point where contact occurs. Then loosen #4 1/4 turn to allow room for the pushrod to lengthen when the engine heats up. Finally, hold #4 in place with a screwdriver to keep it from turning while you tighten the #3 lock nut. #5 and #6 are used in combination with the clutch lever adjusters to get the right free play and engagement point in the hand lever.


 
#24 ·
Here is the info from the service manual with my edits...

1. At the clutch lever Loosen the lock-nut and turn the adjuster all the way into the clutch lever assembly

2. Remove the front sprocket cover

3. Loosen the lock-nut and turn out the adjusting screw out (counter clockwise) two or three rotations.

4. From that position, slowly turn the adjuster screw in (clockwise) until it starts to feel resistance..do this carefully till you just feel the resistance.

5. Turn the adjuster screw out (counter clockwise) 1/4 rotation and hold it from turning while you tighten the lock-nut.

6. At the clutch lever, turn the cable adjuster to obtain10 – 15 mm (0.4 – 0.6 in) of free play at the clutch lever end.

7. Tighten the lock-nuts at the clutch lever.
 
#32 ·
I'm having a similar issue... even with doing the adjustment, the clutch will barely engage and I can only manage to get the bike to move at a crawl. Time for new friction plates? It's only got 23k miles on it, but it spends a lot of time in stop and go traffic.
 
#33 ·
Did you do the adjustment at the snail cam next to the front sprocket as outlined as well as the cables?
 
#34 ·
yep, did both of 'em, and it feels as if the plates aren't fully engaging. I can get the rear wheel to spin on the center stand, but it'll barely move the bike under load.... it's better than it was last night tho when I had to have the bike trucked home. I'm not afraid of doing the clutch... I've done 'em on other bikes before, but I'd rather not spend the 130.00-ish bucks on the plate kit and the gasket unless I have to.
 
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