Overheated bike and fried clutch
CactusValk:
Quote from: Skinhead on February 19, 2025, 07:07:03 PM
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!
Quote from: 98valk on February 19, 2025, 07:18:19 PM
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!
Quote from: Pluggy on February 20, 2025, 04:57:08 AM
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 8)
Jimmyt
98valk:
Quote from: CactusValk on February 20, 2025, 10:20:59 AM
Quote from: Skinhead on February 19, 2025, 07:07:03 PM
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!
Quote from: 98valk on February 19, 2025, 07:18:19 PM
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!
Quote from: Pluggy on February 20, 2025, 04:57:08 AM
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.
:cooldude:
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.
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