After thrashing around Brands recently, my 1098 doesnt want to go into neutral. The clutch fluid is, well, black and I'm assuming that this is the problem. I just wanted to confirm my suspicions. On a sep note the bike was just awesome, but I keep mullering my magnesium toe sliders
The clutch fluid went black very quickly on my 1098 too. I flagged it up at the first service and the dealer said it was normal. Mark
I agree with Nelson probably needs bleeding. I had the same problem, thought it was something more sinister, when it went for a service they said it just needed bleeding, and that cured it.
jack the rear ride height up a bit..thatll cure it. not much tho..5mm might even be enough to cure that problem
As was explained to me with the D16, the clutch pushrod on many Ducatis has a habit of spinning (apparently), which causes heat, which boils the clutch fluid causing bubbles, which need to be bled out. On the D16 this is always at the master end of things and just needs the nipple on the master cracking, allowing a little fluid out and re tighten. Has worked every time.
Black clutch fluid is - according to Mr.Oberon - due to the rubber seal's rubbing on the alloy slave & master cylinder body's, similar to a cloth going black when rubbed on alloy... I always thought it was just getting too hot & pissed off, but hey. :biggrin: +1 on giving your fluid a bleedthrough.
When I have some time I shall break out the spanners :biggrin: She's not used everyday, so there's no rush. Next trackday is in August so as long as she's ready for that one
I have the same problem after Brands on Monday, had to keep adjusting the lever throughout the day, have an Oberon master cylinder and it was red hot to the touch, much hotter than the components around it, was thinking of going back to the wrist busting original...
Did that, bled the clutch through both ends and also checked the clutch plates, they were pretty knackered, wonder if a little bit of slippage caused some extra heat? Will chuck some new plates in an see how it goes...
Steve Ducati redesigned the clutch pushrod to have a pin towards the slave cylinder end. That pin prevents it from spinning around even if your pressure plate bearing is gone. Do not know if D16 has it but I would guess yes. I know that pin is there as bought new push rod and to be able to retrofit it to older bikes I had to remove that pin, what a pain! Slave should not get that hot as it might boil the seal. As above pull the rod out and check if you have said pin going across the push rod towards the slave cylinder end. If not it might be that your pressure plate bearing is going which leads to problem of push rod spinning around and acting against slave heating it up. Just take it out and clean it before you buy new one. I had dust build up in clutch on SS which made it slip until I cleaned it.
