Premium Member Trambo Posted June 30, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted June 30, 2015 I'm extremely unhappy right now. I was riding home from work tonight, and had just made it to the very last traffic light 1/2 mile from my driveway when my clutch decided to stop working. My FJ only has 1,150 miles on it, I did the oil & filter change at 550 miles as per requirements, 10W-40 standard (non-synth) oil, and have had zero issues until today. While I was waiting at the light, I had slipped the gearbox to N and let the clutch lever out. I saw the cross street light changing, so I pulled the lever in and shifted into 1st; the bike lurched forward and stalled. WTF?! I immediately pulled the lever in and thumbed the starter, and the bike jerked forward with the starter, like I didn't have the clutch pulled in at all. FACK. Sure enough, the light changes and the dude behind me is looking a bit impatient; So I grabbed the lever once again and hit the starter... the FJ just starts jerking forward, and by some miracle STARTS. So I give her some gas, shift to second (Nope, lever STILL not doing a damn thing) and ride her the last 1/2 mile to my garage. Once I pull in the bike stalls again, lever is completely ineffective now. I look it all over. The thing that really bugs me is, the clutch lever is good, and operates the cable to the starboard side of the motor just fine. You can pull it & see the little shaft on the clutch pack turning A-OK, but the clutch will NOT disengage. I'm pissed. And confused. I'm gonna have to trailer my almost brand-spanking-new FJ to the damned dealer now, I guess. Thank goodness for warranties!! So.... Any ideas, kiddies?!? 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member ULEWZ Posted July 1, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 I'm extremely unhappy right now. I was riding home from work tonight, and had just made it to the very last traffic light 1/2 mile from my driveway when my clutch decided to stop working. My FJ only has 1,150 miles on it, I did the oil & filter change at 550 miles as per requirements, 10W-40 standard (non-synth) oil, and have had zero issues until today. While I was waiting at the light, I had slipped the gearbox to N and let the clutch lever out. I saw the cross street light changing, so I pulled the lever in and shifted into 1st; the bike lurched forward and stalled. WTF?! I immediately pulled the lever in and thumbed the starter, and the bike jerked forward with the starter, like I didn't have the clutch pulled in at all. FACK. Sure enough, the light changes and the dude behind me is looking a bit impatient; So I grabbed the lever once again and hit the starter... the FJ just starts jerking forward, and by some miracle STARTS. So I give her some gas, shift to second (Nope, lever STILL not doing a damn thing) and ride her the last 1/2 mile to my garage. Once I pull in the bike stalls again, lever is completely ineffective now. I look it all over. The thing that really bugs me is, the clutch lever is good, and operates the cable to the starboard side of the motor just fine. You can pull it & see the little shaft on the clutch pack turning A-OK, but the clutch will NOT disengage. I'm pissed. And confused. I'm gonna have to trailer my almost brand-spanking-new FJ to the damned dealer now, I guess. Thank goodness for warranties!! So.... Any ideas, kiddies?!? Has the shifter recall been performed (if your bike qualifies)?. Maybe a simple clutch bleed? Please let us know for future reference. FWIW, I feel bad for you. A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Bikes: 2015 FJ-09, Seat Concepts seat cover and foam, Cal Sci medium screen, rim stripes, factory heated grips, Cortech Dryver tank bag ring, Modified stock exhaust, FlashTune with Graves fuel map, Cree driving lights, Aux power socket. 2012 Street Triple type R (Wifes) 2007 FJR1300 (Sold!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Yes, recall was done before delivery. I'm stumped. Never had this happen on any previous bikes before. 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brmidd Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sorry that happened to you, but any dealer I've ever dealt with will come get the bike on their own trailer. Give them a call and talk to the service manager outlining what happened and ask when they can come pick it up, not if they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sounds like an issue with the clutch cable, or the lever on the top of the right side of the engine case is not engaged. I suspect easy fix. Extremely annoying and unacceptable, but easy fix. Working fine, then sudden failure is the main clue. Problem is 95% likely to be outside of the cases. (IE, lever at handlebar, cable, or lever at engine) 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sounds like an issue with the clutch cable, or the lever on the top of the right side of the engine case is not engaged. I suspect easy fix. Extremely annoying and unacceptable, but easy fix. Working fine, then sudden failure is the main clue. Problem is 95% likely to be outside of the cases. (IE, lever at handlebar, cable, or lever at engine) Well the clutch cable and lever all working, moving as normal. No noticeable issues, see pic: 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sorry that happened to you, but any dealer I've ever dealt with will come get the bike on their own trailer. Give them a call and talk to the service manager outlining what happened and ask when they can come pick it up, not if they can. Yeah, I'm calling the service manager tomorrow and requesting an immediate fix on this, and I like your idea of asking when they will pick it up. Think I should also mention to him that I have not yet sent in my Yamaha Customer Satisfaction survey.... P-) 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted July 1, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Well the clutch cable and lever all working, moving as normal. No noticeable issues, see pic: That has the feel of a slipped cable to me. Given that the cable is pre-sized, I'd wonder if perhaps the cable wasn't slotted into the lever properly, then eventually worked its way into the slot and now has too little tension to fully disengage the clutch. I mention this because I managed to do that when swapping my clutch lever, although with the cable properly adjusted all that did was ensure that the bike weren't goin' nowhere. :-) If it had been done wrong when the recall work was done, and adjusted to the too-tight position, you might get the behavior you saw. Mind you, I don't think this is very likely, and an alternative possibility is that one of the knobs on the end of the cable has detached from the cable (if so, it'd be at the lever -- the one in the pic looks fine) but it's at least easy to rule out a cable problem: Try disengaging the clutch by pushing the lever arm in the photo above directly. That takes the lever and cable out of the picture entirely. Put it on the centerstand, start the bike while in 1st, then push it as far as it will go and see if the clutch disengages. The wheel will likely turn even if it's properly disengaged, but you'd be able to slow or stop it by dragging your (gloved) hand on the tire. (You'll need two people to do this safely.) If you can do that, you know it's in the cable or lever somewhere and it might just be a maladjusted or broken cable. If you can't get it to disengage that way then you know for sure it's inside the cases. I don't know enough about the guts of the clutch to even guess what that might be, if so (I've always sold my bikes before the clutches died, so I've never had a reason). OTOH, if it's a cable problem it'll be cheap and easy to fix, and if it's inside the case then it's hard to believe it wouldn't be a warranty issue. So, you might consider getting it to the dealer and letting them figure it out. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Everything external appears to be functioning OK. Clutch hand lever, cable, all the way to the case-mounted lever (pics show it's all intact & good), cable, etc. all of it moves in unison as it did previously, which leads me to believe it's inside the case. Dealer is gonna have to do surgery & fix this, methinks. 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipperT Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Sorry this happened to you, Trambo. Just so I understand you clearly: when you pull the clutch lever to the grip, you can watch the lever on the RH engine cover move at the same time? You have said "look at the photo, everything is ok" but I want to know if you can watch that lever on the clutch cover move in harmony when you pull in the clutch. Do you have any free play in your clutch lever? Another words, is there some measurable "slop" before you can feel the cable start to do work and pull? The width of a coin is usually close, on the tight side if anything. If the answer to all my questions is "yes", then your suspicions are correct. My guess would be pressure plate failure, or the ratchet/gear mechanism has failed that pulls the presure plate toward the RH side//clutch cover when the cable is engaged - thereby disengaging the clutch. the failure of any of these items would be quite unusual and probably covered under warranty. If your engine oil stinks and you've smoked the clutch plates - that's another matter entirely. But that doesn't sound to me like what you are describing Good luck. Report back. Sorry this happened to you. It's a freak thing. -skip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Warranty issue. There is just not much to go wrong inside the case (inside the clutch cover actually) related to the clutch. The cable moves the arm #16 which is fixed to the shaft #25. Hard to see in the picture, but the bottom of shaft #25 has a flat side where part #15 rests. As the shaft turns, it pushes #15 and spreads the clutch apart while compressing the springs that hold the friction disks (#4) to the steel disks (#5). If shaft #25 rotates as intended when the lever #16 moves, my best guess is that something is wedged between the clutch plates somehow or shaft #25 has broken. Very odd. Worn out clutch friction disks usually slip, not fail to slip. Contaminated oil could conceivably cause the friction disks to swell so they won't disengage, but I've never seen that. 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Just so I understand you clearly: when you pull the clutch lever to the grip, you can watch the lever on the RH engine cover move at the same time? You have said "look at the photo, everything is ok" but I want to know if you can watch that lever on the clutch cover move in harmony when you pull in the clutch. Correct, they move in harmony, which is why I think it's internal. Warranties are a good thing. The clutch isn't 'smoked', I'm not hard on clutches; no burnouts, excessive slipping, etc. I'm 30 years experienced rider and my last 5 streetbikes never toasted a clutch over 100,000 miles of riding... I'm baffled as to what happened here. I means, sh!t happens sometimes, mechanical things fail, I'm just curious to know WHAT failed and WHY... 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Trambo Posted July 1, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 Warranty issue. There is just not much to go wrong inside the case (inside the clutch cover actually) related to the clutch. The cable moves the arm #16 which is fixed to the shaft #25. Hard to see in the picture, but the bottom of shaft #25 has a flat side where part #15 rests. As the shaft turns, it pushes #15 and spreads the clutch apart while compressing the springs that hold the friction disks (#4) to the steel disks (#5). If shaft #25 rotates as intended when the lever #16 moves, my best guess is that something is wedged between the clutch plates somehow or shaft #25 has broken. Very odd. Worn out clutch friction disks usually slip, not fail to slip. Contaminated oil could conceivably cause the friction disks to swell so they won't disengage, but I've never seen that. GREAT info!! Thanks for all that! I'm calling the dealer this morning soon as they open to get the bike towed in for service. I'm anxious to see what the problem is. I'll most definitely report the findings here so others may benefit from this... 2015 Stealth Grey FJ-09 Pilot Base of Operations: Chesterfield, VA Farkels? Lots, nothing flashy, but all functional... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member ULEWZ Posted July 1, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted July 1, 2015 I would put my money on a loose bolt (9). They used an impact wrench to remove it on my bike, and also to tighten it (didn't follow the procedures to hold the clutch pack and use a torque wrench!). A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Bikes: 2015 FJ-09, Seat Concepts seat cover and foam, Cal Sci medium screen, rim stripes, factory heated grips, Cortech Dryver tank bag ring, Modified stock exhaust, FlashTune with Graves fuel map, Cree driving lights, Aux power socket. 2012 Street Triple type R (Wifes) 2007 FJR1300 (Sold!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipperT Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 Warranty issue. There is just not much to go wrong inside the case (inside the clutch cover actually) related to the clutch. The cable moves the arm #16 which is fixed to the shaft #25. Hard to see in the picture, but the bottom of shaft #25 has a flat side where part #15 rests. As the shaft turns, it pushes #15 and spreads the clutch apart while compressing the springs that hold the friction disks (#4) to the steel disks (#5). If shaft #25 rotates as intended when the lever #16 moves, my best guess is that something is wedged between the clutch plates somehow or shaft #25 has broken. Very odd. Worn out clutch friction disks usually slip, not fail to slip. Contaminated oil could conceivably cause the friction disks to swell so they won't disengage, but I've never seen that. Close. As the 25 shaft rotates, it engages 15 and PULLS it toward the outside of the engine which spreads the clutch pack apart. 25 has "cogs" on the lower part of the shaft which grip "teeth" on 15. Stronger design. (Usually) Skip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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