Clutch Question

[donaldcc]

  '97 Tourer with 19K miles.  Got it in May with 11K.  Clutch and brake fluid looked pretty dark so I changed all.  After bleeding clutch 1st time I had no clutch function and figured air in lines so I repeated bleeding and after it seemed to work fine.

   Now with about 7K on the new fluids clutch continues to function without problems.  No slipping with hard acceleration and seems fine when I am stopped at neutral.  No problems shifting between gears.  Friction point where it engages and disengages is about 1/3 of way to completely open lever.

   Last week I had bike on lift with tank off to check petcock.  When all was reinstalled I started bike on lift in neutral.  When throttle was opened over 1000 rpm the back tire would begin to slowly rotate.  If I put my shoe on tire it stopped with no problem.  It did not seem to happen at idle, but if I opened throttle - - slow tire rotation that speeded up some with more throttle.  Again easily stopped with light pressure from shoe.

   Fluid level in reservoir is fine and there is no apparent loss of fluid since changing 7K mi ago.  Changed engine oil and filter about 1500 mi back with high quality synthetic and level seems fine.

   So my question - Is this a problem??  

Should I worry that I have air in hydraulic system?

Should I rebleed and if so I guess I should use new DOT 4?

Or, should I just forget about it and go out and have fun riding?

[Jeff K]

It's not a problem. It's a wet clutch, you get some friction in the clutch with the oil between the plates. This is normal.

[R J]

No problem there good buddy.

As the engine is turning, it is splashing the oil around in the transmission.  This will make the rear wheel turn at higher rpm's without it being in gear.   This is basically how an automatic tranny works, spinning propellers.

Jack your car/truck up on one rear wheel, put it in neutral, give it some rpm's and the rear wheel will turn on it like on the bike.

Now get it off the jack and go for a ride.

[98valk]

No problem there good buddy.

As the engine is turning, it is splashing the oil around in the transmission. 

the trans gears are lubricated by a second oil pump.

[donaldcc]

      thanks guys!  As has been said before this board is great for people like me without a lot of experience working on Valk.  Before I got bike I got a shop manual to page through and started at the last page of tech board and tried to work backwards for a few months learning about the bike. 

    it has made me appreciate this machine much more and I really like being able to know that I can do things to it myself and turn to this board for answers and advice. 

[Ricky-D]

Beware Don!

Answers are not always based in fact or reality, and

Advice is usually "opinion" from the same gene pool!

Merry Christmas

***

[donaldcc]

Advice is usually "opinion" from the same gene pool!

   Thanks for the ADVICE Ricky-D.  I take ALL advice in my life with a "grain of salt" but am happy to seek out opinion of others with more experience than myself before making decisions.

Happy Holidays to you as well and to the rest of the "gene pool"

[John Schmidt]

Don, if you went with synthetic fluid you may be developing a problem. Before going to full syn brake fluid, the system usually needs a good flush and scrubbing. Reason....synthetic and non-syn don't mix and there is always some residue left over from the non-syn. There really is no need to use synthetic on these bikes, I've used nothing but DOT 4 with no problems, fade, etc.

And FWIW, that comes from experience, not opinion. 

[donaldcc]

  John,  i used regular OEM DOT 4 for brake and clutch.  Mobil 1 - full synthetic 20w-50  for oil change only, so shouldn't be a problem.

[98valk]

....synthetic and non-syn don't mix and there is always some residue left over from the non-syn. There really is no need to use synthetic on these bikes, I've used nothing but DOT 4 with no problems, fade, etc.

And FWIW, that comes from experience, not opinion. 

they are compatiable. Dot 3/4 with Dot 5 are not.

syn brake fluid increases brake feel and doesn't allow water to accumalate as fast allowing longer interval btwn changes. another plus is the higher boiling temp of synths, which helps with moisture issues.

some good info, http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/bf3.aspx

[John Schmidt]

  John,  i used regular OEM DOT 4 for brake and clutch.  Mobil 1 - full synthetic 20w-50  for oil change only, so shouldn't be a problem.

Don....I went back and read your original post and DUH!!! You're right, it was synthetic oil you were referring to. Not sure why I saw it as syn hydraulic fluid. Maybe too much eggnog!    The next post is right though, don't mix the DOT 3/4 with 5.

[Chillerman]

Beware Don!

Answers are not always based in fact or reality, and

Advice is usually "opinion" from the same gene pool!

Merry Christmas

***

So very true Ricky, so very true!      Oh, the irony is overwhelming!!!!