The clutch on my '07 GSA has slipped occasionally and randomly. It always happens at high speed and full throttle but it doesn't do it all the time, only once in a while. I suspect that the common oil leak from the crankcase onto the clutch plate is the culprit. So last year I decided to change my oil from Mobil1 15w-50 to Pennzoil 10w-40 high mileage. The high mileage oil supposedly has seal conditioners that can help reduce gasket weeping. It seems to be working, I have been trying to induce slippage at high speeds I have not been able to do so. I changed the oil & filter today at 55,000 miles and I know that I'm just buying time until the clutch needs to be replaced but in the meantime I'm riding.
Stay close to home. These are the types of maintenance gripes that keep me awake at night until they are repaired, to me a bike that has a clutch problem (regardless of the cause) is virtually useless. I would only do thing to buy time if I were on the road trying to get home or to a repair shop, otherwise I would fix it at the very first chance I had.
I might have a similar issue... What are the most obvious symptoms (apart from the nasty burnt clutch smell after high speed riding)?
I know it sounds stupid but check your hand guards.. they can rotate and depress the clutch lever and cause it to slip. It happened frequently enough that BMW actually issued a recall that consisted of sticking alignment stickers inside the hand guards so you could easily see where they should line up.
Would removing the starter just allow you to check for oil or would you be able to determine if the clutch is indeed toast?
You can measure the thickness of the clutch disk with the starter removed. Checking the hand-guard for clutch lever interference is actually a darn good idea, especially since the OP is reporting occasional and random slipping.
I suppose that is what I'm looking for. The bad news before going the starter remove route. Photo is from front of brake lever and above manifold joint.
This may seem really elementary but worth a look. I hade an 1150 with clutch slip random occurrence , it turned out to be simply the hand guard on clutch side had loosened and rotated down enough to sometimes catch the end of the clutch lever preventing it from completely returning. Boy was I feeling stupid when I figured it out, and relieved as well
Also, as our hydraulic clutches wear, the fluid level in the reservoir rises and if too full, may not allow the clutch to fully engage. Check the clutch fluid reservoir and remove some fluid if too full. The brakes are the opposite.
My 1150 that I put away 3 years ago and rode about 3 hours since then to burn thru the gas and stabil and refresh once a year has had a problem on this years ride and that sounds like this. Need help to determine where to look first. I rode an easy 10-15 miles and when I went to downshift it started slipping bad, then thru all gears it felt as if the clutch was pulled in 90%. I tried some other gears and it ended up worse. So now I pull in clutch and everything is good and it shifts fine. I let out clutch and it goes ker clunck chunk etc over and over and does not move. I checked my clutch fluid and it was higher than it should be, top of big circle. Bikes not at my house, some I'm stirring up ideas to check when I get to the bike. I'll start with fluid, but does it sound like clutch? final drive? My buddy said sounds like noise is coming from back of fd, but symptoms I felt where clutch? Experts? I need some help. Thanks Brian Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
