Finding neutral

[smaytum]

Yesterday was the second time in the last month that I could not get neutral on my F800GS.

Nice hot engine after a motorway run.
Pulled off to use my mobile phone.
Kicked down to first as i pull over.
Gears "are" tighter then normal (strange?). Missed neutral, but hit second.
Missed neutral again and hit first.
Missed neutral again and hit second
Missed neutral again and hit first.
.... and so on.

Let the clutch out a bit to move the gears/bike.... no change.

In the end, stalled the bike to cut the engine. Did my calls etc (2 mins). Start the engine again with the clutch in. Drove off. Stopped 30 seconds up the road and all is well. Found neutral first time.

Anyone else seen this?

 

[ILMV]

Yea sometimes, I don't think it's anything to worry about, happens to me on occasion. I tend to try and find neutral whilst letting the clutch out slightly if it's giving my agro.

It might be something to run by your local dealer when the time comes

 

[everywherevirtually]

Yeah mine does the same. You have to try and select it really gently. Then it sticks so you give it a bit more pressure and it either jumps up or down a gear. Bloody annoying.

Like you the gear selector is getting a bit sticky. It takes a good press with the foot instead of a flick of the toes. It's just come out of a service but then again they wouldn't be looking at this I suppose.

 

[sijohnston]

yes, i am a little worried about my clutch. i think that come next march, i'll be leaving the bike at the dealers for a week and will be requesting a full check over - including clutch plates, to make sure that it looks good, as i don't want any of these headaches to keep happening after warranty.
noticed my rocker gasket seal has just gone again. if it wasn't such a bloody nice bike to ride and it didn't check all the 'riding requirements' for me, it'd be long gone!

 

[Buz]

I have a 650 and had this occasionally, (assume this would be the same clutch etc) last bike was a 125cg and that was a nightmare so as the 650 aint that bad i've never thought anything of it.

Instead of stalling the engine would it have been less strain on the engine to use the 'kill switch'

 

[smaytum]

yes, i am a little worried about my clutch. i think that come next march, i'll be leaving the bike at the dealers for a week and will be requesting a full check over

My friend has an F650GS single cylinder and did pretty much the same at Battersea last week. Got them to do a full check of the steering, starter and a few other bits. Got it back a few days later...

... "no problems found", bill was £700 !

 

[chrisjk]

Try changing your oil. As oil gets older/used it can have quite an influence on the clutch.

 

[smaytum]

Just want to open this thread up again because my bike is booked in for this weekend.

Went into London last weekend and there was a lot stop / start amongst the traffic. It became almost impossible to find neutral in the end.

This only happens when the engine is hot. Very hot.

Anyone else seen this? Or had it fixed?

 

[Greggers]

Easy stuff first...

Check your clutch adjustment - if the motor is really hot and you've got too much slack at the lever it might start to drag a little, making it hard to find neutral.

Other than that it's +1 for what Chris says, you might need fresh oil. If your gearchange starts getting a little 'notchy' then that's a good indicator that the oil is not doing its job fully ...

G

 

[smaytum]

When you say oil, do you mean engine oil? Or is there separate oil in the transmission?

 

[Greggers]

You might be interested in the Do Your Own Maintenance workshops I'm holding soon ...

There's only one lot of oil, and it lubricates gearbox, clutch,valve-train ... everything. In a bike like the 800 it has quite a hard life, and when it starts getting towards the end of its life it will start to lose some of its lubricating qualities. The most obvious sign of this is the gearbox losing some of its 'slickness' with notchy changes. Fresh oil will, in a lot of cases restore this slipperiness and give you back a nice smooth gearchange.

Oil threads can generate a huge amount of opinion, dino or synth, brand by brand... but given BMW's corner cutting demonstrated by the poor quality of some of the components fitted to the 8, them specifying a 'cheap' oil wouldn't come as any great surprise to me.

Let's start an oil thread hahahaaaaa...

Greg

 

[Biking Viking]

You might be interested in the Do Your Own Maintenance workshops I'm holding soon ...

There's only one lot of oil, and it lubricates gearbox, clutch,valve-train ... everything. In a bike like the 800 it has quite a hard life, and when it starts getting towards the end of its life it will start to lose some of its lubricating qualities. The most obvious sign of this is the gearbox losing some of its 'slickness' with notchy changes. Fresh oil will, in a lot of cases restore this slipperiness and give you back a nice smooth gearchange.

Oil threads can generate a huge amount of opinion, dino or synth, brand by brand... but given BMW's corner cutting demonstrated by the poor quality of some of the components fitted to the 8, them specifying a 'cheap' oil wouldn't come as any great surprise to me.

Let's start an oil thread hahahaaaaa...

Greg

Hmmmm Greggy great idea am I invited to the workshop?? YES how about an oil thread, NEVER USE MOBILE1 that will be my only input to such a thread

 

[Richie3264]

Yesterday was the second time in the last month that I could not get neutral on my F800GS.

Nice hot engine after a motorway run.
Pulled off to use my mobile phone.
Kicked down to first as i pull over.
Gears "are" tighter then normal (strange?). Missed neutral, but hit second.
Missed neutral again and hit first.
Missed neutral again and hit second
Missed neutral again and hit first.
.... and so on.

Let the clutch out a bit to move the gears/bike.... no change.

In the end, stalled the bike to cut the engine. Did my calls etc (2 mins). Start the engine again with the clutch in. Drove off. Stopped 30 seconds up the road and all is well. Found neutral first time.

Anyone else seen this?

Yeah I have occasionally encountered this but not to your extremes.

I support all the above suggestions but I have found on previous bikes that when my chain was ready for adjustment I would miss gears when changing up or down

just my 2p

best of luck

Richie

 

[Greggers]

Eythorrrr...

I'm ALWAYS open for you ...

haha..

G

 

[GunZenBomZ]

Yep, I get this occasionally also.

 

[Malcolm Leick]

Without wishing to turn this into an oil thread...here I go...every time I get my bike back from a BMW service, the oil level is way over the max line on the dip stick. Is this a problem? The bike is on a flat level surface on the centre stand when I check the level.

Malc

 

[WoodWorks]

Without wishing to turn this into an oil thread...here I go...every time I get my bike back from a BMW service, the oil level is way over the max line on the dip stick. Is this a problem? The bike is on a flat level surface on the centre stand when I check the level.

Are you checking it cold? If so, it will read high. The manual calls for checking the oil after "a long trip." If that's not possible, then you should run engine until the fan kicks in. Then shut the engine off, put it on the center stand, and then check the oil with the dip stick.

If you already knew all this, then I guess that they're probably overfilling it.

David

 

[smaytum]

Also, don't screw the dip stick in when testing.

Hot engine, centre stand, unscrew the dip stick, wipe clean, insert to the thread, remove. If you screw the dip stick back in, then it will read high.

 

[Malcolm Leick]

Thanks for the advice guys. All new to me so much appreciated.