Hi there, have an ongoing issue with my dry clutch. A while back the clutch fluid started turning black and I lost use of the clutch intermittently and then completely. Several visits to the local service centre and finally a new Oberon clutch slave fixed the problem for around 500kms or so, now its started happening again. I'm guessing the clutch slave was not the issue (!), any help much appreciated, thanks!
Don't worry about the clutch fluid going black. It does that. I don't believe that it has any bearing on the performance of the clutch. I had problems with the clutch on my M1100evo. It needed bleeding every several thousand miles. The one on my M1100 was better, but still needed bleeding between services if I wanted the biting point to stay in the same place and not gradually work its way towards the bars. As you have changed the slave cylinder and it didn't fix the problem then my thought would be that the master cylinder was at fault. That was what we thought was the problem with mine. Unfortunately I crashed the M1100 and M1100evo before getting around to fully investigating the clutch issues. My suggestion would be to start practicing clutchless gear changes. It'll come in handy.
Thanks - clutchless riding isn't too hard I've had enough practice already ......but getting it off the line from stationary aint that easy!
Why not take @SunEye 's approach and crash the bike thus solving the problem?? Sorry, crap attempt at humour. I have an M1100S and the clutch is fine so it's not a bike specific issue. Black fluid is not a problem...all Ducati's do that. Is the needle bearing at the end of the actuator rod ok? If it is seized it will make the rod spin which can overheat the fluid and lead to loss of effort.
That might be it, it does lose power/effort completely whilst riding but it returned after sitting unused for a day - then the problem returns whilst riding. :-(
Take the clutch pressure plate off and pull the rod out. Greases the rod at the ends and at the two o rings and slide it back in. While it is out, take a look at the needle bearing where the rod exits from the bore into the basket area to see if it is ok. Then put it back together, do not over tighten the pressure plate spring bolts.
Aha! Could well be due to your sharp new, unworn tabs binding in the slightly notched old basket slots, As the motor warms up, the tabs expand and really jam, so the plates can't separate, so the clutch doesn't work. As you say, it's not changing gear that's the problem, it's stopping and starting again. For me, the cure was to put some of my old friction plates back in at the top of the stack. However, if you had the job done for you, you're probably not going to have those old plates to put back in. For you, the cure might be a new basket or filing the notches out.
Cheers, all the feedback is really helpful. When it goes, the clutch leaver loses all tension completely, then comes back again, then goes again...
Hmmm, that doesn't sound like my experience with the plates binding in the basket slots, so it looks like you need to check on the pushrod spinning. A big advantage of the Ducati dry clutch is that you can whip the cover off and actually watch the clutch. So, warm the bike up and watch as you pull the lever. If the pressure plate doesn't move, it's a hydraulic problem, probably caused by the pushrod spinning as suggested by the others.
Just got round to sorting this today. You were spot on it By By the way you were spot on it was the bearing - easily fixed. Thanks again!
