Slip, shudder, whoosh.

I'm fairly new to scooters in general and I don't know the different messages my SW is telling me.

At take off, the clutch (or belt or whatever) is slipping for a bit longer than it used to. As whatever it is reaches 20-30km/h there's a shudder through my old creaky plastics and it grips up and drives properly. There doesn't appear to be any slip as I give it beans at higher speeds.

I've never liked the action of the clutch; it needs too much engine speed to engage and when slowing, it cuts at too high a speed. Low speed manoeuvrability really suffers.

Edit: There's about 45,000 miles on it and I see no mention of a clutch in the service history. Belt is less than 5,000 miles old.

First things first, take the clutch apart for a look-see. It might just want a clean and sanding of the shoes or it might need a full strip clean. If none of that works you might be into the dark arts of spring weights and stuff... but I'd bet it just needs a clean.
What speed is the clutch dropping out? Mine is about 10mph on a closed throttle, so for slow speed stuff its balancing rear brake and throttle to keep things balanced.

steve_h80 wrote:

First things first, take the clutch apart for a look-see.

I'm a 'never do today what you can put off til tomorrow' sort of mechanic. I'd rather not get into the gubbins of anything unless I think something really bad might happen. I've a Ducati Pantah asunder in the workshop and I'd rather not have another bike opened up unless it needs it now.

This is more of a 'do I need to plan for a clutch job' enquiry. Is this what they behave like as they begin to go?

Clutch is dropping out at up to 20 mph but usually 12-15. I prefer to look inept than trail the back brake. That technique doesn't make enough difference to seem worth it to me.

You could try an "Italian" tune-up. Hold the brakes on and give it some revs for a few seconds, that will start the clutch engaging and you will heat up the shoes and (maybe) burn off any glaze there. When you get that familiar hot brake shoes smell you (and your clutch) will be done.

It certainly does sound like your clutch needs a little love; if you have a variator holder and some sockets, it's one bolt to pull the belt off then the clutch is out with one more bolt. Maybe your clutch shoe pivots are stiff and not opening out to engage nicely as they should. Or the shoes may have not much friction material left, or the surface is glazed over.

(Sorry, Italians!).

’ey, fuggetaboudit

The clutch on my 08 SWing engages and disengages at 2,000 rpms. It doesn't really matter at what speed I'm going but slowing down or taking off it is 2,000 rpms.

Actually that makes more sense than my statement because the clutch engagement is revs and speed dependent, not just speed.
Except going up Hardnott Pass, or anything equally ludicrous, when there are a lot of revs, much clutch slipping and a lovely, expensive smell!

I loaned the SW to a friend for a couple of months while his BMW was out of action and the slip is becoming a problem. I'll be pulling the belt and probably the clutch out in the next couple of weeks. The V-light has come on.

Edit: as an experiment, I'll reset the v-light and see how quickly it re-lights.

The V-light is a service reminder, not a fault indicator. If you just reset it the light will not come on till the next service is due. It's time for a transmission service. Change the belt (OEM is best), clean and inspect clutch parts and lube the torque driver bearing.

sc00ter wrote:

The V-light is a service reminder, not a fault indicator. If you just reset it the light will not come on till the next service is due. It's time for a transmission service. Change the belt (OEM is best), clean and inspect clutch parts and lube the torque driver bearing.

There is plenty of commentary about other behaviour of the v-light on these pages. I thought I'd find out something for myself. Odometer is currently just short of 47k miles - not a service interval that I was aware of. Belt and pulleys replaced about 7000 miles ago.

smellybeard wrote:

(snip)I've never liked the action of the clutch; it needs too much engine speed to engage and when slowing, it cuts at too high a speed. Low speed manoeuvrability really suffers.

If you drag the rear brake while keeping the rpms up you’ll find that it is more manageable at low speeds.

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

smellybeard wrote:

(snip)I've never liked the action of the clutch; it needs too much engine speed to engage and when slowing, it cuts at too high a speed. Low speed manoeuvrability really suffers.

If you drag the rear brake while keeping the rpms up you’ll find that it is more manageable at low speeds.

I've tried that technique and dislike it. As I've said above, I'd rather look inept. It's not a nice bike at low speed and putting up with that is part of appreciating a silverwing.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, my SW spent the winter with a friend who had his R1150 go bad. When I got it back, the yellow light was on on the dash and the nasty clutch action had mellowed dramatically. With the improved clutch and new tires, low speed handling has improved substantially.

I haven't the numbers to hand but the belt is fairly new in it. Maybe the clutch is on the way out but I'm happy for now.

Reading thru this whole thread, the input I have is either your clutch/belt is worn and slipping, you have a gearbox oil leak causing belt and/or clutch to slip, either condition won't "self heal", the "V" light wil continue to come on as long as there is slippage in the CVT system, if you have a oil leak and deplete the gearbox, you will do $$$ damage to gears and/or lock up the rear end !!.  Running a slipping clutch for a long time will "Blue" overheat/damage your clutch bell and literally burn the shaft seal, etc., etc., .... = $$$$$. 

 You need to take a look, is very easy, several videos on you tube for DIY.

zrx212 wrote:

= $$$$$. 

No. It'll go in the bin.
I'm not worried about it. It rides much better than it did when I got it and it's not obviously slipping now. Application of extra power at speed does not provoke any perceptible slip - just the glug, glug, glug sound from the fuel tank and that certainly does = $$$$$ or in my case €€€€€.

Maybe it's the calm before the storm or maybe it needed some hard living to bring it back to life; I don't know. It's a useful bus but it's '04 and too thirsty to enjoy with fuel at €1.50/litre.

Somehow I think somebody's new Intrgra, Forza or X-DAV is waiting to come my way in the next year or so.