Hi, So I made the stupid descision after sitting in London traffic for 5hrs Thursday to take the 996 yesterday. After my best filtering efforts and the bike running at over 100 degrees the clutch became very vague with much reduced bite on the lever. I stopped at a clients for it to cool down for an hour then all has been good since. Is this anything to worry about or is the clutch just getting low ? Thanks in advance.
Check the bearing in the preasure plate is running freely, if it's tight it can spin the clutch rod resulting in the fluid overheating and losing efficiency. Steve
Thanks Steve, I have just had a major service on the bike and the clutch pushrod was changed as it had snapped where the o ring sits. So hopefully it's not that and it's just a simple fluid change "which wasn't done on the service". Worth a check though, nice one.
Isn't there a mod you can do on the clutch rod to stop it from spinning. I recall later 748/966's having a T shape on the end of the rod to stop it rotating?? Was the clutch slipping or dragging. Dragging might suggest hot clutch fluid... Slipping would not. IMHO Bob
Hi Bob, I did fit aftermarket brake and clutch levers recently. Whilst riding to the MOT station the same thing happened and almost lost the clutch altogether when it got warm. turns out I had the clutch lever actuation pin screwed in way too much."Doh" Luckily borrowed tools and vice at the workshop and wound the pin back out and regained clutch! Since then only done 100 miles with very little use of the clutch. I'm wondering if I have still got the pin in too far and the London trip with lots of clutch use has highlighted this ? When 1st out on a ride and giving it beans don't notice any clutch slip. Cheers Paul
Paul, Yep, that sounds like it was the issue, yet if it was only happening when the clutch was getting warm then you may have another issue that you may be able to tweak. Using racing rated clutch fluid would be a quick fix as it works better at higher temperatures (standard fluid can start to "boil" when hot). The clutch rod modification I have seen on my mates 2000 748 (my 1999 748 did not have it). The mod, as I can recall, is the clutch rod has a T shaped piece that fits into the clutch slave and stops the rod from spinning; which I guess would cause heat to be transmitted to the fluid via the slave end of the rod rotating. You need a clutch slave cylinder unit that can accept the T piece. Some newer after-market slaves have it (such as Oberon) but weirdly my standard 848 slave didn't; so perhaps the issue has been dealt with in another way for the newer bikes... Another issue to be aware of (as I found on the 848) is not making the clutch action too easy in too many ways. Brembo RCS clutch masters can be set for an easy action (more lever pull is required to get same movement on clutch rod) The same can be achieved by fitting an Oberon clutch slave cylinder. I fitted both to my 848, and whilst the action was very light, it was very hard to set it so that the clutch would actually disengage. I stuck with just using the replacement Oberon slave cylinder and put the RCS unit to standard setting... Just one to watch for... Regards, Bob
