Clutch slipping after long(ish) storage

[nateschisler]

Hi there friends - after a cross country move and starting a new business, my 2009 R1200RT with 21k original miles went 9 months without being ridden. It was on a battery tender, filled the tank with E0 and fuel stabilizer - just wasn’t expecting it to go this long.

I was pleased when it fired right up on the first crank. Let it idle a while, then took it out on the road. Up and down through all the gears, brakes got warmed up, everything all sorted. Then at about 45 mph I shifted up to 6th gear and twisted the throttle and could repeatedly make the clutch slip. I don’t know what inspired me to try this. But was super disheartened when it happened. I’m wondering if this could be symptomatic of the long hiatus? The bike has had the 20k service (twice actually, long story) and nothing was mentioned about clutch wear and I’ve never experienced this type of slippage before.

[Tenequip]

Nateschisler
Check the clutch adjustment at the handbag and make sure the engine oil is at the correct level.
Tenequip

[David.]

I've not experienced this problem myself but have a couple of thoughts.

Although only 21K miles, the bike is 14 years old. There is a crankshaft oil seal at the rear of the engine which may have deteriorated with age and allowed oil to leak onto the clutch causing it to slip.

The clutch release mechanism may be faulty (sticking). Could this be a function of lack of use for 9 months.

[Doctor T]

12k is a very, very low mileage for a clutch to wear out but i think David may have nailed it

[Tenequip]

My RT has a wet clutch and I think the older ones probably do also, so an oil leak is probably not the problem.
Tenequip

[David.]

A 2009 Hexhead has a dry clutch.

[nateschisler]

The oil is low (known jug leak) so topping that off. I’ll check the handle adjustment but it feels right to me. I’m curious how low oil level could impact clutch performance? And if it is the seal as suggested, would that oil burn off the clutch or is it permanently contaminated?

[David.]

Is there any evidence of an oil leak between the engine and gearbox. (Check the gearbox oil level too).

Replacement oil resistant clutch plates are available. This may suggest that once the original clutch is contaminated with oil, it needs to be replaced.

[nateschisler]

There’s no evidence of leaks anywhere on the bike beyond the known center seal leak on the left cylinder jug. I did add about 3/4 of a quart.

[michaelc2710]

You can get additives to add into the oil that softens rubber seals. If the bike has been stood for a long while the seal could of gone hard.
Read up on the additives and pour one in, use the bike and if the clutch plates do have oil on it will hopefully burn off.
Will save you stripping the bike to replace the seal and clutch.

[David.]

Could the clutch release mechanism be faulty.

[simbo]

What's the level of the fluid in the master cylinder? If its too high it can cause the clutch to slip.

[Corker203]

My '09 began to slip towards then end of last season with under 50k miles on it. BMW shop wanted $3k to make the repair, excluding any seals that may have been bad, so I decided to tackle on my own.

After getting it opened up, and I mean opened up (splitting the bike in two), the clutch did not look that bad, and it was still within the allowable tolerances. But there were some frayed surfaces on the circumference of the fiction disc, and it looked dark to me. All of the seals were good, but the Slave Cylinder was replaced because it was leaking.

One thing that I found was that one of the valve cover gaskets was leaking, and you could see where the oil travelled back towards the rear of the bike and entered the clutch compartment through a circular vent hole. There was an amount of clutch disc dust stuck to inside of the clutch housing, and it appears that the oil from the valve cover may have been responsible.

I am in line with the other comments here, in particular the one about the age of the bike and your oil leak.

All went good with the repair, and its back on the road.

[SD1]

I agree that the mileage would almost preclude the friction disc itself wearing out under normal operation. As you may already know, its a bit of a job to get at the clutch but you can get a glimpse through the plastic dust cover on top. Might be worth a few bucks to buy an endoscope... pretty sure you could get it into the clutch housing through the dust cover.

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For $35 that would go a long way in helping to diagnose, oil contamination would be easy to identify.

And I think the oil seal leak is a pretty reasonable guess based on circumstances. I cant remember 100% but there are at least two, the one at the back of the motor and another on the gearbox, I think there may be at least one more????

I will say if you want to do it DIY it is not technically difficult, it is just tedious disassembly/reassembly. IIRC I spent a pretty legit 10hrs of actual hands on time over 4 days to complete. That said I worked methodically to make sure I didnt lose anything and that everything went back together properly. I did 99% myself, my neighbor helped me remove the rear frame, that was it. LOTS of solid comments and support from this site!

I used an Italian YouTube vid for the assist. I couldn't understand all of the Italian but the video of the process was very helpful.

If you are going to replace it, shop around, again, its not technically overwhelming, any reasonable and conscientious tech can do it, you can probably get an indie shop for much less.

Lastly, there are other clutch threads that suggest that the plates need to be replaced, unless you have a major meltdown or foreign debris contamination that clearly damaged the plates, no reason to replace those. I had a catastrophic failure (RTP) that shredded the friction disc and discolored and left materially burned on the disc. Simply resurfaced the plates and the clutch performs perfectly. The plates are hardened steel, they will take a lot of abuse.

[Corker203]

Did you notice any change in the operation of the clutch before putting the motorbike into storage? If so, perhaps it can provide a "window" as to what may be the root cause besides the leaking jug?

The season my clutch started acting up, I could smell burning similar to overheated brakes, and it was slipping while on an extended trip.