Overheated bike and fried clutch

[CactusValk]

Hey guys,

A few months ago I bought 97 standard and went through it doing small maintenance and repairs. I've put about 1k miles on it and the bike rides great.

For valentines day weekend, I decided to take my girl to a national park. The trip out there was great, about 250 miles. The park was SLAMMED with people and we ended up in crawling traffic in line to enter. After about 25 minutes of crawling, I felt the engine get hot, I could feel it getting a little sluggish and I was just about to turn around and tell me girl we might have to visit the park another day because the bike is starting to overheat in the traffic.

Just as I was deliberating, the cap on the reservoir tank popped and coolant spewed everywhere. I pulled off the road as best I could and turned the engine off. We let it cool for over a half hour. I planned on limping the few miles back into town and checking it out form there, and to my dismay the clutch was gone. I ended up getting rescued by a family member with a trailer.

So I'm back at and trying to figure out my next step. Obviously the cooling system and clutch both need attention. I just don't know where to start. After some digging I've learned that the clutches for these bikes are much more of a production to service than other bikes I've had.

Anyone have experience rebuilding the clutch at home? Any thoughts or words of encouragement would be helpful, this sucks haha. I bought this bike to go two up with my lady and this happened on our first big trip. I'm willing to try and fix it myself but I don't want to throw a ton of money at it if it's a sinking ship. Thanks for reading!

[Valker]

Sounds like your cooling fan was broken. Can't help with the clutch. Mine are all still stock ones.

[Skinhead]

The clutch isn't too difficult of a job.  The tech board and search are your friends.  There are plenty of posts about the clutch rebuild, and there may even be YouTube videos on it.  What year is the bike?  98s are notorious for damper plate River failures, I bought one with that issue and repaired it with a clutch from a bike with a bad motor.

[98valk]

the clutch is fine. put some rotella in it. fix why the fan didn't come on, check thermostat replace if needed, take any decorative radiator covers off, put correct coolant in it, burp the system.
go ride

[Pluggy]

When the clutch fails to engage or disengage, a lot of owners want to remove the clutch friction parts.  Often, the hydraulic parts are the cause of problems.  Fluid, master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder have shown to be problems.  Checking these items is an easy first step.

[CactusValk]

The clutch isn't too difficult of a job.  The tech board and search are your friends.  There are plenty of posts about the clutch rebuild, and there may even be YouTube videos on it.  What year is the bike?  98s are notorious for damper plate River failures, I bought one with that issue and repaired it with a clutch from a bike with a bad motor.

It's a 97. I'm coming around to wanting to embrace the challenge of the clutch job. Thank you for your reply!

the clutch is fine. put some rotella in it. fix why the fan didn't come on, check thermostat replace if needed, take any decorative radiator covers off, put correct coolant in it, burp the system.
go ride

How can you be so sure the cluctch is fine? The bike already had rotella in it haha. At this moment, the bike with idle in gear with the clutch completely out. And it will creep a tiny bit if I gas it. I am going to go throught the cooling system but I'm pretty certain the fan does come on. Thanks for your reply!

When the clutch fails to engage or disengage, a lot of owners want to remove the clutch friction parts.  Often, the hydraulic parts are the cause of problems.  Fluid, master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder have shown to be problems.  Checking these items is an easy first step.

I will def recheck these, but I rebuilt the master and slave a couple months ago. I could have messed something up, but the clutch not working after overheating like that really makes me feel like the friction plates a burnt up. Than you for your reply!

[HayHauler]

Like Pluggy said, validate that the master cylinder and slave are working properly before falling back on a clutch job.  There is a brass bushing in the clutch lever that has been known to cause strange issues like you are experiencing.
Also, inside the master cylinder, under the little stainless clip, make sure that tiny hole is not plugged up.  My front brake was totally rusted shut and the front brakes would lock up on my and not "release" due to that small plugged hole.  If that tiny hole in your clutch master cylinder is plugged, the pressure will never equalize, and therefore your clutch will never release.

Just my $.01825.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[98valk]

The clutch isn't too difficult of a job.  The tech board and search are your friends.  There are plenty of posts about the clutch rebuild, and there may even be YouTube videos on it.  What year is the bike?  98s are notorious for damper plate River failures, I bought one with that issue and repaired it with a clutch from a bike with a bad motor.

It's a 97. I'm coming around to wanting to embrace the challenge of the clutch job. Thank you for your reply!

the clutch is fine. put some rotella in it. fix why the fan didn't come on, check thermostat replace if needed, take any decorative radiator covers off, put correct coolant in it, burp the system.
go ride

How can you be so sure the cluctch is fine? The bike already had rotella in it haha. At this moment, the bike with idle in gear with the clutch completely out. And it will creep a tiny bit if I gas it. I am going to go throught the cooling system but I'm pretty certain the fan does come on. Thanks for your reply!

When the clutch fails to engage or disengage, a lot of owners want to remove the clutch friction parts.  Often, the hydraulic parts are the cause of problems.  Fluid, master cylinder and the clutch slave cylinder have shown to be problems.  Checking these items is an easy first step.

I will def recheck these, but I rebuilt the master and slave a couple months ago. I could have messed something up, but the clutch not working after overheating like that really makes me feel like the friction plates a burnt up. Than you for your reply!

the clutch is well know to go over 350+k miles in fully loaded Goldwings while pulling a trailer. in '97 Honda upgraded the clutch plates in all GL1500s to support the higher power of the Valkyrie.
so unless as others mentioned the damper plate failed which happened to my '98 at 50k miles, the clutch should be fine.
now if previous owner was abusing the scoot (burnouts, wheelies, etc.) and its clutch and/or using cheap oil and/or rarely changed the oil then the clutch could be gone.  bad oil and/or oil changes can gum up the plates, rotella would clean them up over so many miles, usually two oil changes, why I mentioned it.
 
Good Luck.

[SPOFF]

First year Valkyrie clutches will rarely suffer from loose rivets. Given the problem came with overheating I'd look into the hydraulics first. You may have a 30-year-old bike still using the factory brake fluid.

[John Schmidt]

Have you looked at the function of the slave cylinder mounted on the clutch? If the engine overheated it may well have affected the slave. I agree with others...check all the easy stuff first, pulling the clutch isn't a Saturday afternoon event.

[CactusValk]

I appreciate all of the replies guys. Today I removed and inspected the slave cylinder, replaced and bled the line. New oil and coolant. No luck.

The clutch has a little bit more power, if I open the throttle the bike will creep. I feels like it's operating at about 10% power. I also noticed that the engine is not idling as strong as it was before, and starts to bog and the RPMs drop.

All this leads be to believe the clutch needs a full rebuild, or perhaps the dampener plate needs to be replaced. Either way, it looks like I'm going to have to pull the clutch.

[TTG53#1717]

If you “replaced” the line with a brand new one, can I ask which one you used and from whom you purchased it ?

I’m getting ready to do this task myself.

Thanks

[98valk]

I appreciate all of the replies guys. Today I removed and inspected the slave cylinder, replaced and bled the line. New oil and coolant. No luck.

The clutch has a little bit more power, if I open the throttle the bike will creep. I feels like it's operating at about 10% power. I also noticed that the engine is not idling as strong as it was before, and starts to bog and the RPMs drop.

All this leads be to believe the clutch needs a full rebuild, or perhaps the dampener plate needs to be replaced. Either way, it looks like I'm going to have to pull the clutch.

sometimes the slave is hard to get all the air out. many times the clutch lever has to be tied to the grip over night to bleed it fully.

FYI

https://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,45805.0.html

https://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,3572.0.html

https://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,70995.0.html

https://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,47621.0.html

https://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,30038.0.html

[Jims99]

The Valkyries are a different animal than most all bikes. I’ve had and fixed bikes for over 40 years and didn’t know anything about Valkyries (thought I did) until I met these folks on here. There’s a world of knowledge and experience from these people, take their advice and try the simple things first. Most of them know what they’re talking about. Lol. It will save you a lot of headaches.

[CactusValk]

If you “replaced” the line with a brand new one, can I ask which one you used and from whom you purchased it ?

I’m getting ready to do this task myself.

Thanks

Sorry for the confusion, but I only replaced the brake fluid.

sometimes the slave is hard to get all the air out. many times the clutch lever has to be tied to the grip over night to bleed it fully.

FYI...

I did the overnight trick and there seems to be  a little more grab, but still very low. Thanks for rounding up those links!

The Valkyries are a different animal than most all bikes. I’ve had and fixed bikes for over 40 years and didn’t know anything about Valkyries (thought I did) until I met these folks on here. There’s a world of knowledge and experience from these people, take their advice and try the simple things first. Most of them know what they’re talking about. Lol. It will save you a lot of headaches.

Believe me, I know! I have used this incredible site countless times to fix smaller things since I got the bike. The rear end maintenance slideshow made that job a breeze. Can't tell you how grateful I am for the posters here.

 At this point though is there something I'm missing?

I have replaced fluids, pulled the slave and made sure it's working properly. Did the overnight trick to make sure it was bled all the way.

If the clutch wont grab all the way when the lever is out, that would indicate the plates are slipping right?

If the slave didn't have enough pressure in the line, the clutch would have trouble disengaging, not engaging?

[Hook#3287]

My guess is the dampener plate is totally toast and just spinning cause all rivets failed.

Also, can't remember very many overheating's that the rad cap blew off. 

Would overheating cause a rivet fail or is it just a coincidence?

Removing the rear engine cover is not difficult and maybe you'll see rivet pieces in the bottom of the clutch area.

[Hook#3287]

Did a little research and a symptom of a failed dampener is a slipping clutch, although I can't remember that symptom ever being stated about the Valks clutch.

Checking the service manual, a cause of a clutch slip includes a bad or compromised clutch spring, but that seems few and far between also, if at all.

So, is the clutch issue related to the overheating or coincidence?

How could overheating cause it?

I would think the boil temp of the Dot4 is to high to be affected by engine overheat, but maybe, or maybe a rubber seal was/is comprised and introduced air in the system.

But it does seem the system could be air locked.

Could overheated oil cause damage to the clutch?

Looking forward to the resolution of this issue.

Another question is, what's the pinion and cup look like?

[Dirty Dave]

First year Valkyrie clutches will rarely suffer from loose rivets. Given the problem came with overheating I'd look into the hydraulics first. You may have a 30-year-old bike still using the factory brake fluid.

Not trying to be a jerk. Just sayin' that rivets gave way on my 97 clutch at the 60K mile mark.
All depends on how hard you beat it I guess.

[CactusValk]

Looking forward to the resolution of this issue.

Another question is, what's the pinion and cup look like?

I haven't looked at it recently, but I did the rear end service just a couple months ago and it looked fine.

I'm going to pull the cover this weekend and see what I see. I triple checked the slave cylinder and I noticed that when I slide the push rod that actuates the clutch back into it's place, there's a very slight "gritty" noise. Another indication that the clutch is in trouble.

[Hook#3287]

CactusValk, good luck

It's been over 20 years since I've removed a rear case cover, but I think getting the bike high enough to get under it is important.