Clutch Drag

superyellow · Dec 24, 2008

when I bought my mille I had a little clutch drag which became worse after driving it for a few months . 4 days ago added some oil from a friend's garage 10-40(yamaha oil)I think. a day later my shifter pedal became so hard It was like using it without the clutch and next day it had some drag and the shifter wasn't hard. yesterday my bike was okay and the shifter became hard again and I noticed the clutch drag became so much worse I couldn't even go up to 15 mph going through gears cannot figure out why the bike would even hesitate to take off while revving it to the red line. anyway I noticed the engine temperature was 205 degrees fahrenheit. I stopped the bike while shopping and getting harressed by the store managers became I have a backpack! (yes in California Bikers get discriminated illegally, we-bikers need to sue this ******* corporate store chains) anyway so I was able to ride the bike a few blocks away @ 160 fahrenheit. and oh **** when I made it to the gas station there is no juice on the bike it's all clutch baby! so my friend helped me to tow the bike to the garage. I soon will check the bike again. So what's the problem fellas please someone tell me it's the oil and it's not my clutch plates. I browsed through the forum could it be that faulty clutch valve or maybe the breather hole or maybe freeplay on the clutch(i also recently dropped it infront of my garage because of the ridiculously short kick stand)? what should I check to fix my baby? Cat and Spoonz and other fellas please give me some tips.:dunno thank you in advance.

amb67 · Dec 24, 2008

superyellow said:
when I bought my mille I had a little clutch drag which became worse after driving it for a few months . 4 days ago added some oil from a friend's garage 10-40(yamaha oil)I think. a day later my shifter pedal became so hard It was like using it without the clutch and next day it had some drag and the shifter wasn't hard. yesterday my bike was okay and the shifter became hard again and I noticed the clutch drag became so much worse I couldn't even go up to 15 mph going through gears cannot figure out why the bike would even hesitate to take off while revving it to the red line. anyway I noticed the engine temperature was 205 degrees fahrenheit. I stopped the bike while shopping and getting harressed by the store managers became I have a backpack! (yes in California Bikers get discriminated illegally, we-bikers need to sue this ******* corporate store chains) anyway so I was able to ride the bike a few blocks away @ 160 fahrenheit. and oh **** when I made it to the gas station there is no juice on the bike it's all clutch baby! so my friend helped me to tow the bike to the garage. I soon will check the bike again. So what's the problem fellas please someone tell me it's the oil and it's not my clutch plates. I browsed through the forum could it be that faulty clutch valve or maybe the breather hole or maybe freeplay on the clutch(i also recently dropped it infront of my garage because of the ridiculously short kick stand)? what should I check to fix my baby? Cat and Spoonz and other fellas please give me some tips.:dunno thank you in advance.

Superyellow, this has to be a classic case of your clutch slave cylinder having air in it or lack of fluid.

1st shot has to be to bleed the clutch, plenty of threads on this forum explaining how to do this. It's not a straight forward as you may think so read the threads carefully.

I fitted an MPL which i bought off Spoonz when we did a forum group buy, best mod I've done to date. Makes the clutch action so light it's a doddle.

superyellow · Dec 24, 2008

I did very useful info . I just want to clarify that my RSV is 99 and has 9500 miles on it. And last night there was not Power/Torque at all . I will check it again I hope it's the air like you said because that makes sense when the bike dropped itself(crap worse than you dropping it can't even catch it from far) the air possibly went in there and the temperature got warmer yesterday which might affect the air condensation.. anyway so I hope that's what it is. one more question so if you accidentally damage or cut the clutch hose would it cause the same symptom? excuse my ignorance I'm not familiar to hydraulic clutch.. thanks

superyellow · Dec 26, 2008

oh crap it didn't work. what's next the clutch plates? What's the specs for the clutch plates to work? how many lbs or torque to use on the wrench? is there a tread about fixing your clutch? thanks

amb67 · Dec 27, 2008

Hi mate, you had me a little confused at first.

First you said you had clutch drag and it was making your clutch lever hard to operate and now you have lost all drive?

Is that correct as I don't want you to strip down the bike if it's not required.

Just to clarify the two so that they are clear:

Clutch drag - occurs when you pull the clutch lever in completely and the plates fail to clear. This results in a distinctive clunk usually followed by a lurch forward when selecting 1st gear. This happens because the engine is still partially driving the gears in the gearbox due to the clutch friction plates still being clamped together.

Clutch slip - This occurs when the clamping force or friction material on the clutch plates has become ineffective. This could be due to wear and tear or incorrect oil added to the engine causing excess slippage. As the clutch friction plates wear down the clamping force applied by the springs becomes less and less, thus causing slippage.

I am wondering if the clutch slave cylinder is sticking and causing these issues, it's not unheard of that these units cause problems such as drag. I suppose it could be stuck in the fully operated position causing the clutch to be actuated at all times.

Got to be worth yanking it off and checking this out first, just three bolts on the side of the engine behind the fairing.

PS. If you go to the file vault you can download the workshop manual, or try this link - Click Me

Let me know how you get on.

Mick Oliver · Dec 27, 2008

Clutch drag and poor gear selection can some times be the wrong oil being used the sort of things you can do is easiest first try acomplete oil change for a semi/fully sinthetic and if that does not cure the problem either replace the clutch plates not for getting to soak them in the oil you are using in the bike.
I a bike is left to stand to long the plates dry out and cause clutch drag I have in the past taken the plates out and soak them in an oil bath and refitted which is job done all depends on how much money you have to spend.
But the clutch relies on the oil to let the plates slip between each other to allow it to be free enough to engage gear withou crunching.
Mick

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