power loss

[cocciag]

the symptom... (started about 1 week - 500 miles - ago)

1150GS @ 80 mph, 6th gear, 4.5K rpm. Gave it a handful to overtake and rpms went up to 7K very quickly, but no noticible increase in speed. Then rpms fell back to about 4.5K again...

The effect was reproducable, but got rarer as the bike got warmer.

Eventually, the problem disappeared (and giving a handful got it to pull like a train - and the rpms didn't go up much beyond 5K), but it's obviously not satisfactory as it stands.

Bike has K&N, y pieve and remus genesis can.

Any thoughts on the cause and solution ?

ta,
cocciag

 

[gavin]

Clutch slip?

 

[cocciag]

certainly feels like it....

clutch slip was my first thought. I'm hoping it's not and wondered whether there might be any other causes...

The bike's just had it's 12K service (3 weeks ago) and this is the first time it's happened over the year I've had it.

ta

 

[Madmountainman]

Got any black gunk...

Coming out of the sides of the engine behind the injectors or the rubber boot to the final drive? If so you've got a crank seal gone which is contaminating the clutch causing it to slip.

 

[cocciag]

hmmm, looks like that...

Madmountainman,

I think you've hit the nail on the head. There is a bit of splattered gunk behind the injectors...

Shame the dealership is closed on Mondays.

thanks again for the info.

cocciag

 

[adamski49]

I think this is a 'luck of the draw' sort of thing. Some people experience clutch slip early on after seeing a weeping seal while others go 20k+ without problems.

I've done 8k so far but I made the dealer aware of the leak and potential clutch problems a week after I bought it. He wasn't keen to strip the bike down in the his busiest workshop period (summer) so we agreed to let it runs it's course. I hope to get it sorted for free when/if it fails or at the very least 50/50.

Adam

 

[needlongerlegs]

Happened to Moi

My post with Costs ect

Hi guys it happened to me

Graham

 

[adamski49]

total £375.07

So did you get any goodwill from B*W or did it cost the full amount shown above?

Adam

 

[The Mechanic]

Clutch slip

Cocciag have you got too much oil in the engine? The reason I ask this is because with too much oil the rear crankshaft oil seal will be overwhelmed and start to leak oil out onto the back of the flywheel. Centifugal force than does the rest by flinging the oil to outer edges of the flywheel, where upon it gets onto the clutch cover (pressure plate) and thence the centre plate (friction disc) and hey presto clutch slippage.

Make sure that the crankcase breather circuit is not restricted as this will pressurise the crankcase and literally blow excess oil out of the most convenient place, usually the rear main seal.

If this is the case with your bike and its out of warranty, try this but only after carrying out the checks suggested above.

1 Either disconnect the battery or very carefully remove the main power feed (thickest wire) WITHOUT touching any earth point.

2 Remove starter motor, this is to gain access to the flywheel housing. (not a difficult job)

3 Liberally spray brake cleaner onto the flywheel so that it cleans the oil off and make sure (if you can) to aim cleaner onto the pressure plate.

4 Put the bike in gear and with ignition OFF rock the engine forward approx. hakf a crank revolution and repeat the cleaner spray action

5 Fit the starter motor back on and reconnect wires.

6 Start and run engine with clutch lever held in.

7 After a few mins, helmet up and go for a delicate ride.

If the problem was too much oil you need to find out the reason, if it was just your pouring then thwack your self hard, on the other hand you could have a fuelling fault causing the engine to make oil. Does the oil smell of fuel? that could be caused by either mods or a leaking fuel injector.

New and newish bikes should not have leaking oil seals, there appears to be quite a few reported on this site and at dealers, even the Woolaston demo bike I tried 2 years ago was peeing oil out of the flywheel housing.

 

[cocciag]

ta Mechanic...

...for all the details.

The bike is in warranty so, thankfully, I won't need to try the procedure you described. I say thankfully, because I must admit, it scared the sh*te out of me...

Took it to the dealers yesterday, but they couldn't reproduce the problem - typical.

I'll keep an eye on it though.

Thanks again,
cocciag

 

[cocciag]

update...

ok, the clutch slip had been getting progressively worse and was easily reproducible on 4th, 5th and 6th gears at moderate rpms.

So, took bike to dealers and they agreed to open it up...

Surprise, surprise, it seems that the clutch had started to slip following 2 separate oil leaks. In time, this slip had caused damage to the clutch plate coating so the whole clutch had to be replaced. Oh, and 2 new oil seals were fitted (not exactly sure which seals went though...)

Credit to the dealership (one that has come in for a bit of a knocking here in the recent past); they turned the bike round in a day and a bit and everything was (quite rightly) covered by the warranty.

Thanks for all the helpful info, guys - it now pulls like a train

cocciag

 

[Ming]

If the dealer in question has been recieving bad press on this site and you have found otherwise .

dont you think in the name of fairness you should name them ???

credit where credit is due !!

i used to be in the motorcycle trade and i dont think good service (only when deserved of course) is reported enough .

besides which i am sure the other members would like to know ?

 

[cocciag]

update...

fair point ming; and my apologies for not naming them sooner.

Thanks to Sawbridgeworth for getting this spinning clutch sorted.

cocciag