Clutch Hydraulic Problem While Riding

Benesesso

Benesesso

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Discovered a clutch problem during a ride today. Went to pass a car (6th gear) and just cracked the throttle a hair (nowhere near any turbo boost), rpm jumped up a thousand before the clutch grabbed. Hmmm, never did that before. As the ride progressed, the problem got worse.

I didn't let the clutch slip a lot, but finally it wouldn't engage at all. The lever pull never changed. Parked it at a safe location and got a ride home. Took my truck back to pick it up, and gave it a short test ride. Clutch was normal again.

So, which end of the actuator hydraulics should I check first? The bike has an aftermarket slave cyl. anti-dirt gadget.
 
Are you using motorcycle oil?
Some auto oils will cause slippage due to all the detergents etc.
How many miles are on the clutch?
 
I'm running non-auto motorcycle oil. The clutch has a lot of miles (40,000), but it doesn't slip even under turbo boost when the hydraulic actuator works correctly.

It's not a disk/spring problem--it's either the master cyl., the slave cyl. or rod, or possibly the hose, as I read on a different thread. Just wondering which one is the most likely culprit before I start taking things apart.
 
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If it is slipping, the rod is not coming back out all the way.
I would try and take off the slave, push the piston in all the way, reinstall it, and bleed the system. That may fix it.
 
Managed to get the sprocket cover off w/o cracking the fairing--worst part of the job. Have never seen such an involved fairing mounting system. Cracked the bleeder valve open a bit, no residual pressure.

Clutch pushrod is as new--ends are fine, still shiny, light coating of grease that I had put on when I installed an 18 tooth sprocket. Slave piston and cylinder appear fine, moves as it should.

Now I'm wondering if the problem is in the master cyl. At least that one is easy to get to.

Photos to follow.
 
OK, found the problem. While squeezing the slave piston as hard as I could by hand, I repeatidly worked the clutch lever. Noticed the piston did not return, but continued to move out.

Now to find that thread here where someone went inside the master cyl. and replaced a seal or something.
 
If you don't slip an oil clutch much, they last forever. I have over 40k miles on my old '88 ZX10 Ninja clutch too.

Oh yeah, most of the miles are after the turbo installation, but I seldom use any boost at all.

I just put a small "C" clamp on the slave piston to squeeze it back in all the way. No strong force, but the master cyl. simple will not allow the fluid back in.

Looks like I need the internal spring assembly #3, but first I'm going to pull the master apart and see just what happened.
 
Pulled the master cylinder apart; nothing wrong found. Was pretty clean inside, but cleaned the bore with paint thinner anyway. Now what?
 
Put it all back together and bleed it well (especially if you used thinner to clean it).
I'll bet it will be fine.
 
Right, and one change I'm going to make is to either stretch or shim the spring to help it move the seal back beyond the reservoir port in the bore. I don't mind a slightly stiffer clutch lever--I just want it to always allow the clutch disks to get the full squeeze.

I did notice while riding that there was no free play at all in the lever--now I see why.

Thanks to 8Daytona8 for his posts way back in 2006 or so on this master cyl. spring issue.

I wonder why Suzuki used that crude-looking spiral device on the pressure side of the moving assembly--certainly not as a flow-limiting device.

Update--Just stretched the spring from 5.0 cm to 5.6. We'll see how it works.
 
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UPDATE

My stretched spring worked for a while, but yesterday the clutch slippage returned. The disks are fine--the problem is the clutch master cylinder.

Found the stretched spring had returned to almost its original length of 5.1 cm. The factory spring isn't a "good" spring--the steel is relatively soft for a spring. If the spring was a simple cylinder I'd just use a high-quality spring that wouldn't return to it's non-stretched length. I looked thru my box of springs but didn't find one that would fit.

In the interim, I found a hex nut that just fit inside the cylinder bore, and put it all the way down the bore. It's ~1/4" high, and so far seems to help the weak spring move the seal past the oil return hole, so the clutch can release and squeeze the disks.

Hope it keeps working, but I'm also going to find a high-quality spring that will fit.
 
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so what ended up fixing i, I have an 01 with very simular issues. I've bleed and cleand everything and it's not allowing the fluid to flow back into master cylinder to fully disenguage the slave cylinder. ( i believe) there is zero free play in clutch lever which causes the plates to slip as soon as I roll on gas then the clutchs fully enguages and wont slip anymore. I'm lost is it the slave cylinder or master cylinder and what is the fix. Thanks oh Im justin btw from amarillo tx
 
I just noticed that bensesso hasnt posted in a long time....... does ANYONE have any ideas please. Thanks in advance!
 
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