I Learned A Lesson

For the last few weeks I was noticing a very slight - something...........? - I didn't know what to call it, upon accelerating off the line. The Swing was just not quite right; not like it had been for years, that is, smooth. There was a little......hesitation, bumpiness, something, in the acceleration from a dead stop.

This is a time of year that I tend to do some routine maintenance: change the oil and filter, think about changing (and buy in preparation) the drive belt and rollers since the bike is getting closer to 32K miles, etc. So I was looking over my maintenance log to see what I'd last done and when, and I noticed that I hadn't drained and changed the final drive oil for three years. The prescribed interval, I looked up, is two years, so I realized I was late.

Not a difficult thing to do, so I did it. And lo and behold, that funny thing I had been noticing went away. Now I guess I know what to call it: transmission slippage. So I learned an important lesson. That final drive oil, which I think is something a person could easily forget about, and put off indefinitely - like bleeding the brakes - is important! And if it's either too old, or not full enough (I think in my case it was the latter), there will be consequences.

I'm glad I caught it while those consequences were minor and mild. It pays to pay attention to what might be considered small differences in performance, but might be quite important.

When I started reading your post I was thinking the clutch needed a clean up.

I do a lot of start/stop slow riding in traffic and found after a while I can hear the belt slapping about unless I gun it a bit on the take off. When it gets real bad I hold the brakes apply some throttle (3000 to 4000rpm ish) which gives the clutch a good warming as suggested on here which goes some way to cure it but a long drive (10+ miles) sorts it out. I believe the process burns off the loose clutch dust and the drive clears the dust from the drum.

Just this weekend I had the clutch out to inspect and it was fine. I de-glazed the shoes and while I was there I too changed the final drive oil.

I was hoping that the de-glazing would cure the belt slap from occurring but again slow riding in traffic I heard it beginning to come back. Its not a problem just annoying...

Nonsense...sorry.

Final drive oil,3 years old is fine.
If the level is ok , there will be no dramatic things happen.

Of coarse, it's recommended to do change according Honda.

But...transmission slippage ?
Nonsense.
The final transmission is just a number of gears, in a oil bath.

Too much imagination.


Eddy

I also think the transmission oil change has absolutely nothing to do with the disappearance of the problem.

Scientifically it just doesn't fit.

OK, then what might it be? All I know is that whatever I was experiencing disappeared immediately after changing the oil, so I just made a causal inference. It's ok with me if there's no scientific basis for my conclusion, and there can't possibly be a connection between the two. Pray tell, oh you of the far more informed understandings, what might actually have happened?

In any case, I'm happy with the outcome, even if my connecting dots A and B is unfounded.

No idea!

Wait a minute, how about the transit of venus?

Hey Neighbor Matthew, Robert over here in Sun City,Az., as long as you are happy how things turned out, that is the only thing that matters, keep up the maintenance on your S/Wing and enjoy riding it. Ride Safe.

oldgoat: yes, I think you're right. I like the transit of Venus idea. I think that's what did it.

Robert: Howdy neighbor. I plan to do both of those things. And ride safe yourself.

Matthew,
In the for what it's worth category, it is possible that the oil level was low enough that a partial seizure was happening. Not enough to totally lock up the final drive, just enough to cause the lumpiness that you felt.

Jon

I have found the final drive takes just the amount of oil that is left in the last quart of oil when I do an oil change. So I go ahead and change the final drive oil at the same time and use it up. Perhaps it is to soon but it dozen't hurt any thing. Just my 2 cents for it is worth.

Jon: That does sound like what might have happened. I'm pretty sure that what drained out was less than what I put back in, although I didn't measure it. It makes sense to me that if the oil level was too low that it would have some negative effect, and possibly just what I was experiencing.

model28a: better safe than sorry I say. I agree: I'd rather do it too early than too late.

My point in all this was just that changing the final drive oil, at least for me, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same for others, is one thing that could be overlooked, and that my experience seems to say that it shouldn't be. FWIW.

If the oil level was so low that the scooter was acting weird, then you have serious problems.

The gears were damaged in such a way that new oil will not fix it.

Eddy

Well, that doesn't seem to be the case, so....................?