clutch problem...FIXED!

[biguglyman]

FINALLY got the phat gurl out for the first ride of the season. Fired right up (as usual). Went to pull in the clutch and felt little to no resistance. Works if I "pump it up", then slowly loses what I pumped up. Never acted up before and was fine when I put it away for the winter. Disappointing to say the least. Master cylinder or something?

[Hook#3287]

Can you see any fluid level in the eye glass?  If not, and you have no visible leaks, could be the slave leaking.

Best attack is to pull the cap, fill and bleed with new fluid, and keep an eye on it.

[Hook#3287]

That's assuming you get the pressure up again.

[biguglyman]

Yeah, there's fluid in the eye glass

[Hook#3287]

Try bleeding the system. 

[redripper]

I offer this for consideration. I recently started to change out the fluid and discovered the following:
1) The reservoir had some sludge in the bottom probably from moisture. The clutch was working.
2) When attempting to change and bleed the system, all of a sudden the lever had no resistance for most of the travel. I discovered the master cylinder return spring was broken into 4 pcs.!  Was weird because the clutch operated before I started the fluid change???

Good Luck.

[Tfrank59]

I offer this for consideration. I recently started to change out the fluid and discovered the following:
1) The reservoir had some sludge in the bottom probably from moisture. The clutch was working.
2) When attempting to change and bleed the system, all of a sudden the lever had no resistance for most of the travel. I discovered the master cylinder return spring was broken into 4 pcs.!  Was weird because the clutch operated before I started the fluid change???

Good Luck.

Yep, this type of thing can happen with any hydraulic system when bleeding, as things have to stroke much further than in normal service, sometimes ruining seals, springs, etc.  Got to be extra careful bleeding, and even at that sometimes stuff just fails.

[biguglyman]

Went out and bought a mity-vac and a big jar of brake fluid. That clutch bleed valve is a bit of a pain to manipulate while operating the mity-vac but...SUCCESS! That fluid isn't supposed to look like caramel, is it?