Clutch woes

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the duke
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Clutch woes

#1 Post by the duke » Sun May 13, 2007 2:02 pm

Just got my new tyres on and an oil change for cadwell this friday and went out to scrub them in.

Bugger the clutch has started slipping. Only flat out but still no help with a track day coming up.
I've taken the plates out and had a look at them, can you see if they are worn as the little bumps around the friction plates are still there but quite low.
when it's worn out, do they disappear completely. I cleaned up the steels with a grinding stone to see if it would help.

I thought it could be the oil but as i bought it from an Aprilia dealer it should be the right stuff.

Also bled the system to try to improve things.

Went out today and it seems alright although was hard to give it full welly in the pissing rain. So will still see if i can get one

How much do they cost roughly and whats the best place to get them from quickly. Will try Lincoln Aprilia tomorrow but they might not have one in stock.

Pointless going on the track and only being able to use half throttle. What an arse.

At least the weather should be ok

Ben

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Falco9
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#2 Post by Falco9 » Sun May 13, 2007 3:19 pm

Stick a Barnett in it and end of clutch problems forever I reckon, never had a problem with mine once swapped over anyway

F9 :smt006
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#3 Post by the duke » Sun May 13, 2007 3:37 pm

Thought about it, but where can i get one for thursday?

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#4 Post by loafersmate » Sun May 13, 2007 3:37 pm

Same issues here, just ordered a full barnett (steels, friction, springs) from MCRR for £150 delivered. PDQ and Jays performance all do them for the same price.
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Fausto
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Re: Clutch woes

#5 Post by Fausto » Sun May 13, 2007 5:09 pm

the duke wrote:Just got my new tyres on and an oil change for cadwell this friday and went out to scrub them in.

Bugger the clutch has started slipping.

Ben
Surely too much of a coincidence - new oil and clutch slip :smt017

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#6 Post by Pierre » Sun May 13, 2007 6:16 pm

£150?? I paid £170 i think :smt012

Maybe they put fully synth in ? I've done a trackday on a slipping clutch and its no fun. Not cos of the performance loss but cos of the 'told you aprilia made automatic scooters' remarks

You could always throttle off and welly it into gear. No clutch used :smt003

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Re: Clutch woes

#7 Post by Thumper » Sun May 13, 2007 7:17 pm

the duke wrote:Just got my new tyres on and an oil change for cadwell this friday and went out to scrub them in.

Bugger the clutch has started slipping. Only flat out but still no help with a track day coming up.
I've taken the plates out and had a look at them, can you see if they are worn as the little bumps around the friction plates are still there but quite low.
when it's worn out, do they disappear completely. I cleaned up the steels with a grinding stone to see if it would help.

I thought it could be the oil but as i bought it from an Aprilia dealer it should be the right stuff.

Also bled the system to try to improve things.

Went out today and it seems alright although was hard to give it full welly in the pissing rain. So will still see if i can get one

How much do they cost roughly and whats the best place to get them from quickly. Will try Lincoln Aprilia tomorrow but they might not have one in stock.

Pointless going on the track and only being able to use half throttle. What an arse.

At least the weather should be ok

Ben
Try these guys had good service from them in the past think you will have to pay around £150 + post. If you can't get a clutch in time for your track day you could try a few washers to increase the clutch spring tension as a stop gap.

http://www.motorcycle-road-and-race.co.uk/
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#8 Post by the duke » Sun May 13, 2007 8:42 pm

Well i've just looked and i've been sold silkolene comp4 oil which is fully synthetic. The semi is super 4. It looks like i've been had and been sold the wrong stuff.

I'll have to go back in tomorrow and have a word, but i think that could well be the reason of slippage. At least it will be cheaper than a new clutch kit.

So much for main dealer advice....

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#9 Post by Thumper » Mon May 14, 2007 10:43 am

That would do it :smt003
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#10 Post by Falken » Mon May 14, 2007 12:15 pm

:smt001
Hi Duke, What is the viscocity of the Silkolene, it may be 10w40, as the 4 denotes 4 cyl engines.
This happened on my first service many moon back, never used it since.
You want 15w50 in try Putoline. They do one.
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#11 Post by the duke » Mon May 14, 2007 2:39 pm

Aha got the answer i needed.

Went to the dealer and said i was unhappy at the oil saying synthetic and the clutch slipping.
His answer was that silkolene comp4 oil is synthetic ester based which means it's only a semi synth (complicated i know) and to prove it he showed me a silkolen poster on his wall that said the same and also that they had taken out the friction reducers to eliminate clutch slip, showing it was all genuine.

This was also backed up by another local bike shop and they said exactly the same. Even though it says synthetic on the tub it only means synthetic esters and the rest of the oil is untouched rendering it a semi synth.

This means that by coincedence of changing old crap oil for new, an already borderline clutch has started to slip (28000 miles old as well). Thankfully the dealer had a set of genuine friction plates and springs in so i bought them for £75 (not to bad i thought). I didn't get new steels as I'd had a look at them and they were fine so didn't need the extra cost.

So the lesson is oil doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin :smt017

Ben

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#12 Post by Fausto » Mon May 14, 2007 3:49 pm

the duke wrote:Aha got the answer i needed.

Went to the dealer and said i was unhappy at the oil saying synthetic and the clutch slipping.
His answer was that silkolene comp4 oil is synthetic ester based which means it's only a semi synth (complicated i know) and to prove it he showed me a silkolen poster on his wall that said the same and also that they had taken out the friction reducers to eliminate clutch slip, showing it was all genuine.

This was also backed up by another local bike shop and they said exactly the same. Even though it says synthetic on the tub it only means synthetic esters and the rest of the oil is untouched rendering it a semi synth.

This means that by coincedence of changing old crap oil for new, an already borderline clutch has started to slip (28000 miles old as well). Thankfully the dealer had a set of genuine friction plates and springs in so i bought them for £75 (not to bad i thought). I didn't get new steels as I'd had a look at them and they were fine so didn't need the extra cost.

So the lesson is oil doesn't do exactly what it says on the tin :smt017

Ben

.........Erm...... unless of course the new one still slips :smt002

No - only kidding (I hope)

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#13 Post by the duke » Mon May 14, 2007 4:15 pm

Well you do have a point :smt019

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#14 Post by HowardQ » Tue May 22, 2007 12:40 pm

Last time the my dealer put fully synth in mine (Putoline at 10,000 miles), it slipped on the way home. Took it out for a long run and was a bit worse. Just accepted that my clutch was cooked and started pricing up a replacement. Next time I took the bike out it was better, so thought I'd see how it went. 250 or so miles on and was not too bad.
Changed oil to semi synth 2500 later, didn't clean plates or anything, has never slipped since and still on original clutch with just over 20K on clock.

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#15 Post by Gio » Tue May 22, 2007 3:39 pm

I've got the Silkolene stuff in my bike, got from a 'prilia dealer, 700 miles and no probs at all.

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